Here’s a look at the life of former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Birth date: May 15, 1937 Death date: March 23, 2022 Birth place: Prague, Czechoslovakia Birth name: Marie Jana Korbelova Father: Josef Korbel, diplomat Mother: Mandula Korbel Marriage: Joseph Albright (1959-1983, divorced) Children: Katharine, 1967; Anne and Alice (twins), 1961 Education: Wellesley College, B.A., 1959; Columbia University, M.A., 1968;  Columbia University, Ph.D., 1976 Religion: Raised Roman Catholic, converted to Episcopalian The first female secretary of state of the United States. Known for wearing brooches or decorative pins to convey her foreign policy messages. Her family escaped Czechoslovakia 10 days after the Nazi invasion. Albright learned later in life about her family’s Jewish heritage. 1976-1978 - Maine Senator Edmund Muskie’s chief legislative assistant. 1978-1981 - Serves as a White House staff member and congressional liaison for the National Security Council under Zbigniew Brzezinski in the Carter administration. 1981 - Senior fellow in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 1982-1993 - Serves a dual appointment at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service: research professor of International Affairs and director of the Women in Foreign Service Program. 1984 - Works as foreign policy coordinator for the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Walter Mondale. 1984-1993 - Vice-chairman of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. 1988 - Senior foreign policy adviser for the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis. 1989-1993 - President of the Center for National Policy. 1990 - Works as an interpreter and adviser to Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Havel during his first state visit. 1992 - Foreign policy adviser to presidential candidate Bill Clinton. January 27, 1993 - Is confirmed as the US ambassador to the United Nations. January 23, 1997 - Albright is sworn in as the 64th secretary of state. April 23, 1997 - Testifies on NATO expansion in hearings before the US Senate Armed Services Committee. October 23-24, 2000 - Visits Pyongyang, North Korea, becoming the highest-ranking US official ever to visit the country or meet its leader, Kim Jong II. January 20, 2001 - Albright leaves office when Clinton’s second term ends and President George W. Bush is inaugurated. 2001 - Founds global strategy firm The Albright Group LLC. Winter 2001-present - Serves as chairwoman of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. 2003 - Her book “Madam Secretary: A Memoir” is published. March 23, 2004 - Testifies during the 9-11 Commission hearings on what she and the Clinton administration did to combat al Qaeda and terrorism during Clinton’s eight years in office. 2005-present - Faculty member at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. 2006 - Her book “The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs” is published. January 2007 - Forms a hedge fund specializing in emerging markets, Albright Capital Management. 2008 - Her book “Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership” is published. 2009 - Her book “Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box” is published. 2009 - The Albright Group LLC merges with Stonebridge International, creating global strategic advisory firm Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG). Albright serves as co-chair. May 2010 - Albright chairs a NATO panel on the future of the coalition. The panel releases a report titled “NATO 2020: Assured Security, Dynamic Engagement.” June 18, 2010 - “Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection” an exhibition of over 200 of Albright’s famous brooches, opens at the Smithsonian. 2012 - Her book “Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948” is published. May 29, 2012 - Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. January 31, 2017 - Albright tells CNN’s Chris Cuomo she thinks President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban is “just flat anti-American,” and goes against America’s fundamental values. April 10, 2018 - Her book “Fascism: A Warning” is published. February 26, 2019 - During a House of Representatives committee hearing, states that she owes an apology to US Senator Mitt Romney for having mocked him when he said that Russia was America’s “geopolitical foe” during his 2012 presidential campaign. She says, “I think that we underestimated what was going on in Russia.” April 14, 2020 - Albright’s book “Hell and Other Destinations: A 21st Century Memoir” is published. February 23, 2022 - In a New York Times op-ed, Albright argues that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would be making “a historic error” in invading Ukraine and warns of devastating costs to his country. March 23, 2022 - After battling cancer, Albright dies at age 84.


NEW: Dahlia Yehia, 25, remembered for her artistic nature A man confessed to killing her, police in Nepal say Family posts, "We are devastated by this senseless loss of a beautiful life" Dahlia Yehia was an artist, a teacher and a searcher, describing herself like this on her blog, The Tea Devourer: “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for, and that’s how I want it to be for a while.” A few months ago she traveled to Nepal to backpack and help in the aftermath of April’s devastating earthquake. Yehia, 25, arrived July 20 and kept in touch with home through social media. When she didn’t contact anybody after a WhatsApp message on August 6, her family and friends became worried, according to the “Finding Dahlia” Facebook page her family and friends started to help find her. Last week, the family received the news they feared from the U.S. Embassy. Yehia was dead. Kaski District Police Superintendent Hari Bahadur Pal said a man hosting Yehia in his home confessed to beating her to death and dumping her body in a river. The man met Yehia through couchsurfing.com, a website that connects local hosts with travelers, Voice of America News reported. After being arrested on September 4, the suspect, Narayan Paudel, tried to kill himself by jumping out a police station window, police said. Authorities are still searching for Yehia’s body. They haven’t offered a motive yet. Yehia was remembered for her questioning spirit and artistic nature. “Dahlia was an artist, art was pretty much an extension of her being,” her friend Meghan Moharter said. “She was incredibly talented.” Yehia attended Kalamazoo College in Michigan and received a bachelor of fine arts in painting, her LinkedIn page says. She studied abroad in Ecuador, the college said in a press release. After graduation, she set out from Michigan for Phoenix, recounting the trip in her blog, where she also posted her artwork. “It was a 36-hour drive through snowstorms, mountains and beautiful landscapes.  The trip was pretty terrifying – the longest I’d ever driven at one time was six hours, I didn’t know anybody where I was going, and to say that I’m awkward and shy is the understatement of the year but this trip was just what I needed to feel like the last four years of college was good for something – cause God knows the job market wasn’t helping with that.” She found a house to share with two women in Phoenix through a Craigslist ad, the blog said. LinkedIn says she was employed in Phoenix as a woodworker, youth care worker and K-8 art teacher for about two years. She next took a job as a youth worker in Boston for a year and taught art at Sci-Tech Preparatory in Austin, Texas, LinkedIn says. The Facebook page for the school says, “The kids loved having her for their art teacher last year, especially the high school kids who went to the graffiti park downtown on city buses with their backpacks loaded with cans of spray paint!! We are all saddened by the loss of such a special spirit!” Questions remain about what happened in Nepal, the Himalayan nation devastated by an earthquake that killed at least 8,000 people. The  nation is heavily reliant on tourist dollars and is known to be open and friendly to travelers. Yehia was heading to Pokhara, Nepal’s second largest city. “She had just left a group of traveling companions to travel on her own to Pokhara,” the Finding Dahlia Facebook page said. “Dahlia kept in regular contact with friends and family for the entirety of her trip up until this point. She had also received treatment for a rash while in Thailand and mentioned that the rash had reappeared on August 6.” Austin art teacher murdered in Nepal - KVUE: Austin art teacher murdered in Nepal KVUE AUSTIN -- An Austin woman… http://t.co/S8UDEX13dy A police report was filed and police checked every hospital in the area. The State Department, U.S. Embassy and aid organizations were contacted. “We are devastated by this senseless loss of a beautiful life,” the Facebook page says. “For those who haven’t had the joy of spending time with Dahlia, know that she is a giver, lover, and humanitarian, who devoted her life to others less fortunate both domestic and abroad. “Even though Dahlia was taken from us much too soon, she surely made her mark on the world, and will be remembered lovingly by all of us.” The post ends with a quote from the Quran: “Indeed we belong to God, and indeed to Him we will return.” CNN’s Justin Lear, Mayra Cuevas and Sugam Pokharel in New Delhi, India, contributed to this report.


First lady Melania Trump, who had not been seen publicly for the past 24 days, attended an official White House event with President Donald Trump Monday afternoon. The event, a private East Room reception for more than 40 Gold Star military families, was not in and of itself an unusual activity for the first lady of the United States. However, the first lady’s absence made her appearance all the more newsworthy. In a statement Monday night, Trump said it was a privilege to welcome the military families to the White House, and she thanked them and military members more broadly for their service. “To all those who have lost loved ones in service to our country, our nation grieves with you,” her statement read. “It is a solemn reminder that we, the American people, are able to live as freely as we do because of the selfless sacrifices of our men and women in uniform.  We remain indebted to each of them and we honor them today, together, with their families.” Tonight @POTUS & I were honored to pay tribute to our fallen heroes.  Thank you to the Gold Star families that joined us in celebration & remembrance. pic.twitter.com/6oSh1t88G7 The Gold Star event on Monday was closed to the press, with no opportunity for media photos or video, a decision made out of respect for the military family members, Trump’s communications director Stephanie Grisham told CNN. It’s the same treatment a similar event the Trumps hosted last year got. A person inside the room told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny that the President made a lighthearted joke about the first lady’s extended absence from public view, saying the media was asking: “Where’s Melania?” Related article Melania Trump expected to attend Gold Star event at White House He went on for a minute or so, saying the media was speculating where she has been. “Did she leave him?” the President asked at one point, before pointing out that Melania Trump was, in fact, sitting in the front row. The riff was playful, but a bit awkward considering the event was to honor Gold Star families, who have lost loved ones at war. The President also talked about the strong economy during the event, the person inside the room said. The first lady’s lack of recent viewings, prior to Monday’s event, has created a storm of “where is she?” memes on the internet, and speculation on her whereabouts ran the gamut, from New York City to Palm Beach. She was, according a tweet Trump sent last week, at the White House, “feeling great.” Amid the scrutiny, and ahead of the Gold Star reception, Grisham told CNN there was nothing to the rumors, blaming the media for piquing public interest. “Mrs. Trump has always been a strong and independent woman who puts her family, and certainly her health above all else, and that won’t change over a rabid press corps,” said Grisham. “She’s confident in what she is doing and in her role, and knows the rest is just speculation and nonsense.” However, the volume of concern, and the cacophony of the conspiracy chorus, wasn’t solely from the media. Twitter was abuzz with theories from political observers, both on the left and the right, with a public anxious to see their first lady. Related article Melania Trump will not travel to G7, North Korea summits On May 10, the first couple welcomed home American hostages from North Korea. Smiling for cameras from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, Melania Trump wore a checkered suit and her ubiquitous high heels, appearing happy and well for the 3 a.m. celebration of citizens returning to American soil. Yet four days later, on May 14, the first lady’s office released the news that Trump had been admitted to Walter Reed Military Medical Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, for what her spokeswoman described as a medical procedure for a benign kidney condition. The first lady remained hospitalized for five nights following the procedure, which was successful and without complication, according to a statement issued by Grisham. However, Trump’s absence from public view would extend for several more days. Prior to her medical incident, the first lady’s popularity was on the rise, according to a recent CNN poll, and she was seemingly growing more comfortable in the spotlight, hosting her first official state dinner and announcing her formal platform initiatives.


North Korea has been a foreign policy headache for the Trump administration President Trump and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, spoke Sunday President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, have agreed to intensify economic and diplomatic pressure against North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un – or “Rocket Man,” as Trump nicknamed him – over his nation’s repeated nuclear and missile tests. The two leaders shared a phone call Sunday and their offices released a transcript of their conversation. “President Trump and President Moon committed to continuing to take steps to strengthen deterrence and defense capabilities, and to maximize economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea,” the White House said in a statement. Trump also tweeted about the phone call. “Asked him how Rocket Man is doing,” Trump said on Twitter on Sunday in an apparent reference to Kim. “Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!” I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad! With its constant nuclear and missile tests, North Korea has been a foreign policy headache for the Trump administration, prompting the United States to have a plan should tensions escalate. Just two days ago, North Korea fired a ballistic missile over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, the latest in a series of missile tests defying the international community. Trump has said the US and its allies will not be intimidated by the reclusive nation. During the 25-minute call, Trump and Moon condemned the latest missile launch by North Korea, pledging to work with the international community to implement the latest UN Security Council resolution. Related video How the Kim dynasty has shaped North Korea “The two leaders agreed to work closely and to put stronger and more effective sanctions and pressure on North Korea in cooperation with the international community,” South Korea’s presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said. Park added: “Additional provocations will only further isolate the country (North Korea) diplomatically and economically, and will eventually lead down the path of its own collapse.” North Korea’s latest missile launch renewed discussion in the Trump administration about how military force could be used to stop Kim’s development of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles. Kim had told his top officials that the goal of Pyongyang’s efforts “is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the US and make the US rulers dare not talk about military option,” according to the nation’s state media. Related video Trump's weeks of bluster on North Korea Last week, Trump and his top national security advisers said that there are military options available despite doubts from some experts. Former top White House aide Steve Bannon told a reporter in August that there are no military solutions for North Korea. “Forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. Speaking at Joint Base Andrews, the Air Force installation outside Washington on Friday, Trump declared that American military options were robust should they be required to respond to threats from Pyongyang. Trump has also threatened “fire and fury” in response to North Korea’s threats. CNN’s  Seo Yoonjung contributed to this report


Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone for more than an hour Sunday, agreeing to work closely to preserve the Iran nuclear deal, according to a statement from Elysee Palace. Macron said he wanted to see the original deal preserved but also called for further talks on areas the Trump administration has singled out for criticism, including “the control of nuclear activity beyond 2025,” according to the statement. A readout of the call provided by the Iranian government included an accusation from Rouhani that the US had breached the agreement by criticizing it ahead of President Donald Trump’s decision about whether to abandon the deal. Related article Macron thinks Trump will scrap Iran deal, calls US policy U-turns 'insane' The “current conduct of the United States would be in breach of the JCPOA,” Rouhani said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. He said that the Trump administration’s negative comments about the deal had created “fear and ambiguity for different countries and businesses for their relations with Iran,” possibly damaging the country’s economy. Rouhani’s comments are likely to further complicate efforts by European countries to keep the US engaged in the deal. Trump has set a May 12 deadline for the US and Europe to address the issues he has with the nuclear deal – under US law, the President has to recertify the deal every few months. The Iran deal, orchestrated by the Obama administration and signed in 2015, lifted sanctions on the Middle Eastern nation in exchange for the dismantlement of most of its nuclear program. But conservative leaders in the United States, especially Trump, have been harshly critical of the deal, calling it “insane.” Rouhani said that even if the deal remained in place despite Trump’s objections, it would no longer be acceptable to Tehran if matters continue “the way it has been going in the past two years.” However, he had also told Macron the deal is “not negotiable,” according to the Iranian statement. “The EU, including France, supports the nuclear agreement and we will stay in the nuclear agreement 100%,” Rouhani said. Macron’s conversation with Rouhani followed a flurry of diplomatic activity over the weekend, as the leaders of the United Kingdom and Germany joined their French counterpart in attempting to bolster the original 2015 accord. Following calls with Macron, both Germany’s Angela Merkel and the UK’s Theresa May agreed an emphasis had to be placed on preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “They [the three leaders] agreed that there were important elements that the deal does not cover, but which we need to address – including ballistic missiles, what happens when the deal expires, and Iran’s destabilizing regional activity,” a statement from the UK government said. On Sunday, newly appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, again reasserted opposition to the deal in it current form, calling Iran “the greatest sponsor of terrorism in the world.” Related article Pompeo uses meeting with Saudis as an opportunity to slam the Iran nuclear deal “We are determined to make sure it never possesses a nuclear weapon. The Iran deal in its current form does not provide that assurance,” said Pompeo, during a visit to Saudi Arabia. “We will continue to work with our European allies to fix that deal. But if a deal cannot be reached, the [US] President has said that he will leave that deal,” he added. Pompeo had previously said it was “unlikely” Trump would agree to keep the deal. Macron’s series of high-level calls follow his trip to Washington last week, where he attempted to personally convince Trump to stay in the Iran deal. Despite the warm displays of affection between the two leaders, the French leader finished his three-day trip to the United States uncertain he had changed Trump’s mind. Macron raised the possibility of negotiating an additional deal between the US and Iran, which would address Trump’s concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile program. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on April 23 it was “either all or nothing.” “European leaders should encourage President Trump not just to stay in the nuclear deal, but more importantly to begin implementing his part of the bargain in good faith,” he said on his official Twitter account.


Federal investigators and computer scientists continue to examine whether there was a computer server connection between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank, sources close to the investigation tell CNN. Questions about the possible connection were widely dismissed four months ago. But the FBI’s investigation remains open, the sources said, and is in the hands of the FBI’s counterintelligence team – the same one looking into Russia’s suspected interference in the 2016 election. One U.S. official said investigators find the server relationship “odd” and are not ignoring it. But the official said there is still more work for the FBI to do.  Investigators have not yet determined whether a connection would be significant. The server issue surfaced again this weekend, mentioned in a Breitbart article that, according to a White House official, sparked President Trump’s series of tweets accusing investigators of tapping his phone. CNN is told there was no Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act  warrant on the server. The FBI declined to comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. In addition, companies involved have provided CNN with new explanations that at times conflict with each other and still don’t fully explain what happened. The story – of a possible connection between computer servers – is a strange tale because there are no specific allegations of wrongdoing and only vague technical evidence. Internet data shows that last summer, a computer server owned by Russia-based Alfa Bank repeatedly looked up the contact information for a computer server being used by the Trump Organization – far more than other companies did, representing 80% of all lookups to the Trump server. It’s unclear if the Trump Organization server itself did anything in return. No one has produced evidence that the servers actually communicated. Slate and The New York Times were first to report the unusual server activity. The Times said the FBI had concluded there could be an “innocuous explanation.” And cybersecurity experts told CNN this isn’t how two entities would communicate if they wanted to keep things secret. But for those who have studied the data, the activity could suggest an intent to communicate by email during a period of time when ties between the Trump Organization and Russia are being closely scrutinized because of Russia’s alleged involvement in hacking the emails of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta. This issue intrigued a dozen computer researchers at a recent business conference in Washington, D.C. that pulled together the world’s top network operators, the ones who help run the internet. To them, it’s a strange coincidence that merits further scrutiny. Another computer researcher, Richard Clayton of Cambridge University, said it’s just plain weird. “It’s not so much a smoking gun as a faint whiff of smoke a long way away. Maybe there’s something else going on. It’s hard to tell,” said Clayton, who has independently examined the scant evidence available. Last year, a small group of computer scientists obtained internet traffic records from the complex system that serves as the internet’s phone book. Access to these records is reserved for highly trusted cybersecurity firms and companies that provide this lookup service. These signals were captured as they traveled along the internet’s Domain Name System (DNS). These leaked records show that Alfa Bank servers repeatedly looked up the unique internet address of a particular Trump Organization computer server in the United States. In the computer world, it’s the equivalent of looking up someone’s phone number – over and over again. While there isn’t necessarily a phone call, it usually indicates an intention to communicate, according to several computer scientists. What puzzled them was why a Russian bank was repeatedly looking up the contact information for mail1.trump-email.com. Publicly available internet records show that address, which was registered to the Trump Organization, points to an IP address that lives on an otherwise dull machine operated by a company in the tiny rural town of Lititz, Pennsylvania. From May 4 until September 23, the Russian bank looked up the address to this Trump corporate server 2,820 times – more lookups than the Trump server received from any other source. As noted, Alfa Bank alone represents 80% of the lookups, according to these leaked internet records. Far back in second place, with 714 such lookups, was a company called Spectrum Health. Spectrum is a medical facility chain led by Dick DeVos, the husband of Betsy DeVos, who was appointed by Trump as U.S. education secretary. Together, Alfa and Spectrum accounted for 99% of the lookups. This server behavior alarmed one computer expert who had privileged access to this technical information last year. That person, who remains anonymous and goes by the moniker “Tea Leaves,” obtained this information from internet traffic meant to remain private. It is unclear where Tea Leaves worked or how Tea Leaves obtained access to the information. Tea Leaves gave that data to a small band of computer scientists who joined forces to examine it, several members of that group told CNN, which has also reviewed the data. The corporations involved have different theories to explain the server activity. But they haven’t provided proof – and they don’t agree. Alfa Bank has maintained that the most likely explanation is that the server communication was the result of spam marketing. Bank executives have stayed at Trump hotels, so it’s possible they got subsequent spam marketing emails from the Trump Organization. Those emails might have set off defensive cybersecurity measures at the bank, whose servers would respond with a cautious DNS lookup. Alfa Bank said it used antispam software from Trend Micro, whose tools would do a DNS lookup to know the source of the spam. Alfa Bank said it brought U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant to Moscow to investigate. Mandiant had a “working hypothesis” that the activity was “caused by email marketing/spam” on the Trump server’s end, according to representatives for Alfa Bank and Mandiant. The private investigation is now over, Alfa Bank said. Computer scientists agree that such an explanation is possible in theory. But they want to see evidence. Alfa Bank and Mandiant could not point to marketing emails from the time period in question. “Mandiant has found evidence of an old marketing campaign, which… is too old to be relevant,” Alfa Bank said in a statement. CNN reached out to the Trump Organization with detailed technical questions but has not received answers. Cendyn is the contractor that once operated marketing software on that Trump email domain. In February, it provided CNN a Trump Organization statement that called the internet records “incomplete” and stressed that they do not show any signs of “two-way email communication.” That statement lends credibility to the spam marketing theory, because it says the Trump server was set up in 2010 to deliver promotional marketing emails for Trump Hotels. But Cendyn acknowledged that the last marketing email it delivered for Trump’s corporation was sent in March 2016, “well before the date range in question.” Spectrum Health told CNN it “did find a small number of incoming spam marketing emails” from “Cendyn, advertising Trump Hotels.” But it pointed to emails sent in 2015, long before the May-through-September 2016 time period examined by scientists. Spectrum Health said that it “has not been contacted by the FBI or any government agency on this matter.” Having the Trump Organization server set up for marketing also doesn’t explain why Alfa Bank and Spectrum would stand out so much. “If it were spam, then a lot of other organizations would be doing DNS lookups. There would be evidence of widespread connectivity with devices,” said L. Jean Camp, a computer scientist at Indiana University who has studied the data. Cendyn has also provided another possible explanation, suggesting a highly technical case of mistaken identity. Cendyn routinely repurposes computer servers – like the one used by the Trump Organization. Cendyn’s software, like its event planning tool Metron, sends email and thus relies on the 20 different email servers rented by the company. After “a thorough network analysis,” Cendyn has said that it found a bank client had used Metron to communicate with AlfaBank.com. But Alfa Bank starkly denies “any dealings with Cendyn.” And, it says, it’s unlikely that it received any emails from that server. “Mandiant investigated 12 months of email archives and it found no emails to or from any of the IP addresses given to us by the media.” On Wednesday, Cendyn provided another explanation to CNN. Cendyn claims the Trump Hotel Collection ditched Cendyn and went with another email marketing company, the German firm Serenata, in March 2016. Cendyn said it “transferred back to” Trump’s company the mail1.trump-email.com domain. Serenata this week told CNN it was indeed hired by Trump Hotels, but it “never has operated or made use of” the domain in question: mail1.trump-email.com. Upon hearing that Cendyn gave up control of the Trump email domain, Camp, said: “That does not make any sense to me at all. The more confusing this is, the more I think we need an investigation.” Other computer experts said there could be additional lookups that weren’t captured by the original leak. That could mean that Alfa’s presence isn’t as dominant as it seems. But Dyn, which has a major presence on the internet’s domain name system, spotted only two such lookups —  from the Netherlands on August 15. Alfa Bank insists that it has no connections to Trump. In a statement to CNN, Alfa Bank said neither it, bank cofounder Mikhail Fridman and bank president Petr Aven “have had any contact with Mr. Trump or his organizations. Fridman and Aven have never met Mr. Trump nor have they or Alfa Bank had any business dealings with him. Neither Alfa Bank nor its officers have sent Mr. Trump or his organization any emails, information or money. Alfa Bank does not have and has never had any special or exclusive internet connection with Mr. Trump or his entities.” The bank told CNN it is now trying to identify the person or entity who disseminated this internet traffic. “We believe that DNS traffic in mainland Europe was deliberately captured - in a manner that is unethical and possibly illegal – in order to manufacture the deceit,” it said. Fear has now silenced several of the computer scientists who first analyzed the data. Tea Leaves refused to be interviewed by CNN and is now “hiding under a rock,” according to an intermediary contact. Paul Vixie, who helped design the very DNS system the internet uses today, was quoted in the Slate story saying that Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization “were communicating in a secretive fashion.” Vixie declined to go on the record with CNN. Even the skeptics have unanswered questions. Robert Graham is a cybersecurity expert who wrote a widely circulated blog post in November that criticized computer scientists for premature conclusions connecting the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank. But he’s still wondering why Alfa Bank and Spectrum Health alone dominated links to this Trump server. “It’s indicative of communication between Trump, the health organization and the bank outside these servers,” he told CNN. “There is some sort of connection I can’t explain, and only they are doing it. It could be completely innocent.”

FBI investigation into Trump Organization and Alfa Bank server connection


The move is in response to recent North Korean provocations, a US official says Earlier this week, North Korea launched a Scud extended-range missile A US aircraft carrier-led strike group is headed toward the Western Pacific Ocean near the Korean Peninsula, a US defense official confirmed to CNN. The move of the Vinson strike group is in response to recent North Korean provocations, the official said. Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of US Pacific Command, directed the USS Carl Vinson strike group to sail north to the Western Pacific after departing Singapore on Saturday, Pacific Command announced. It is not uncommon for aircraft carriers to operate in that area, and the United States regularly deploys military assets, such as aircraft, to the region as a show of force. In fact, the Vinson was in South Korea last month for military exercises. Just days ago, North Korea launched a Scud extended-range missile, which US officials said exploded in flight. The regime also has recently conducted several missile engine tests as it works to improve its ballistic missile technology. In September of last year, North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear warhead. Pyongyang says it is pursuing nuclear weapons to defend itself from what it calls US aggression. News of the carrier move comes just after a summit meeting between US President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where North Korea was one of the top items on the agenda. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump and Xi agreed on the “urgency of the threat of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program” and agreed to work together to resolve the issue “peacefully.” Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, told Fox News on Sunday that it was “prudent” to move the strike group near the Korean Peninsula because “North Korea has been engaged in a pattern of provocative behavior.” McMaster said on “Fox News Sunday” that Xi and Trump agreed in their meetings that “it is unacceptable” for North Korea to be nuclear-capable and the Korean Peninsula must be denuclearized. Earlier this year, China called on both North Korea and the US to tone down tension on the Korean Peninsula – North Korea by suspending its nuclear weapons program and the US by stopping military exercises with South Korea that inflame the Pyongyang regime. Days before the summit, Trump warned that the US was prepared to act unilaterally to stop North Korea’s nuclear program from advancing further should China be unwilling to use its leverage over Pyongyang. But analysts say any unilateral military options for the US concerning North Korea posed significant problems. While the US possesses overwhelming firepower compared to North Korea, an American strike on North Korea could expose South Korea to devastating casualties in retaliation, experts say. The Vinson strike group will operate in the Western Pacific rather than executing previously planned port visits to Australia, Pacific Command said. Reuters first reported the move of the Vinson group. The nuclear-powered, 97,000-ton Vinson, one of 10 active US aircraft carriers, has more than 60 aircraft and about 5,000 personnel. It is based in San Diego. Sailing with the Vinson are the guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy and the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, according to a statement from US Pacific Command. The destroyers and the cruiser are equipped with the Aegis missile defense system. The US Navy has tracked previous North Korean missile launches with Aegis, which can shoot down ballistic missiles like those North Korea has been testing. Another Aegis-equipped US warship drilled with similar vessels from the South Korean and Japanese navies off the Korean Peninsula last month in what the US Navy called “a trilateral missile warning informational link exercise.” CNN’s Brad Lendon contributed to this report.Correction: This story was updated to reflect the month North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear weapon.


Editor’s Note: Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Prize laureate in economics, is an economist and professor at Columbia University. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. Joseph Stiglitz: Oxfam report reveals that eight men have as much wealth as half the world; this is a moral issue He says corporations must fix this: pay taxes; lift workers with better wages; invest in companies, not just shareholder gains In recent years, business leaders at Davos, the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, have ranked inequality as one of the greatest risks to the global economy. They have recognized that it is not just a moral issue but also an economic issue. Of course, if ordinary citizens don’t have incomes with which to buy the products made by the world’s corporations, how can those corporations prosper? That’s consistent with the findings of the International Monetary Fund: that countries with less inequality perform better. If a majority of citizens feel that they are not getting what they view as a fair share of the economic gains, they may turn against our economic and political system, or at least those parts of it that they blame.  If a majority believes that globalization is hurting them, they may turn against globalization. The outcomes of the election in the US and the result of the referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union suggest that a rebellion may already be brewing.  And this is understandable: in the US, the average income of the bottom 90% has stagnated for nearly a quarter of a century. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, average life expectancy declined last year for the first time in more than two decades. In recent years, Oxfam has been keeping tabs on the growth in global inequality. In 2014, the anti-poverty organization painted a vivid image of a bus with the world’s 85 richest people – many of whom are in attendance at Davos, as it happens – who had as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population.  Each year since, that bus has been shrinking. This year, Oxfam revealed that such a large form of transport was no longer needed: a minivan with just eight men (and they are all men) would do. They have as much wealth as the bottom 3.6 billion people. Related video I'm black and I'm a member of the 1% Not surprisingly, the message has not been lost on these top executives meeting in Davos. For some, it is a moral issue; for all, it is an economic and political one. At stake is the future of the market economy as we know it. At session after session at Davos, executives have been grappling with the question: Is there anything that the world’s corporations can do about this scourge that threatens the political, social, and economic sustainability of our democratic market economies? The answer is yes. It begins with a simple idea: pay your taxes. This is the first element of corporate responsibility. Don’t resort to shifting taxes to lower tax jurisdictions. Apple may feel that it has been unfairly singled out on this score; it only did a slightly better job at tax avoidance than others. Related article Is income inequality 'morally wrong'? Don’t make use of the secrecy and tax havens, onshore or offshore, whether it’s Panama or the Cayman Islands in the Western hemisphere or Ireland or Luxembourg in Europe. Don’t encourage the countries in which you operate to engage in tax competition, a vicious race to the bottom where the real losers are the poor people and ordinary citizens around the world. It’s shameful when the president-elect of a country appears to boast that he hasn’t paid certain taxes for nearly two decades – suggesting that smart people don’t – or when a company pays .005% of its profits in taxes, as Apple did.  It’s not smart: it’s immoral. Africa alone loses $14 billion in tax revenues due to the super-rich using tax havens, Oxfam has calculated, noting this would be enough to pay for health care that could save the lives of 4 million children and to employ enough teachers to get every African child into school. Related video Report: Wealth gap is widening A second idea is equally simple: Treat your workers decently. A full-time worker shouldn’t be living in poverty. In Scotland, 31% of households where one adult works full time are still in poverty. Top executives in large US corporations now take home around 300 times what the same corporation’s median worker receives. That’s far more than in other countries or at other times – and the disparity can’t be explained simply by productivity differentials.  In many cases, corporate CEOs take home so much simply because they can – doing so at the expense not only of their workers but of the long-term growth of the company. Henry Ford understood the idea about good pay, but his wisdom seems to have been lost on some of today’s corporate executives. A third idea is equally simple but seems increasingly radical: Invest in the future of the company, in your employees, in your technology and in capital. Without such investment, there won’t be jobs in the future and inequality will only grow. Yet today, rather than investing profits back into the company, an ever-greater proportion is siphoned off to shareholders. In the UK, for example, 10% of profits were returned to shareholders in 1970; this figure is now 70%. Related video What will it take to boost middle class? Historically, banks (and the financial sector) performed the important function of raising money from the household sector, to be used by the corporate sector to build factories and create jobs. In the US, corporate borrowing now primarily funds dividend payouts. Last year, the British retail magnate Philip Green was grilled before a committee of parliamentarians for under-investing in his company. He extracted great wealth for himself but led the company into bankruptcy and left a pension deficit of hundreds of millions of pounds, for which he apologized. Though knighted, praised and paraded by successive governments as a beacon of British business, the description a committee of parliamentarians chose for him may be more apt:  the “unacceptable face of capitalism.” Corporations realize that how well they are doing is not just a product of the laws of economics. It is the result of the laws written in the capital of each country. That’s why corporations spend so much money lobbying. In the US, the banking sector lobbied for deregulation: they got what they wanted, and taxpayers had to pick up the tab for the consequences. Related video Celebrities tackle inequality in 'America Divided' Over the past quarter of a century, in many countries, the rules of the market economy have been rewritten in ways that have enhanced market power and increased inequality. Many corporations have done far better in “rent seeking”— getting a larger share of the national wealth through the exertion of monopoly power or extracting favors from government — than in anything else. But when profits come from such rent seeking, the wealth of the nation is diminished. Around the world, there are many corporations, led by enlightened leaders, who have long understood these maxims. They have understood that it is in their enlightened self-interest for there to be shared prosperity. Rather than lobbying for policies that increase rent seeking – with their corporate gains coming at the expense of others – they have realized that the only sustainable prosperity is shared prosperity, and that in those countries afflicted with ever growing inequality, the rules will have to be rewritten to encourage long-term investment, faster growth and shared prosperity.


Turkish forces on Monday shelled Islamic State and Kurdish forces in northern Syria, state-run news agency Anadolu reported. Soldiers struck ISIS position in Jerablus and struck the Democratic Union Party (PYD) positions in Manbij. Both cities are in Aleppo province and near the Turkish border. Turkish army targets Daesh, PYD positions in Syria https://t.co/w3Z0kovt4m Anadolu cited military sources who spoke on condition on anonymity because of restrictions on speaking to the media. The PYD is a Kurdish opposition party with links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK – an entity Turkey has been fighting for years. Related article Turkey backtracks on age of wedding bomber Turkey has experienced a string of deadly bomb blasts, blamed variously on ISIS and the PKK. Understanding Turkey’s catalog of enemies It called the targets it struck on Monday “terrorist Daesh and PYD positions.” Daesh is another term for ISIS. Kurdish fighters have become U.S. allies in the battle against ISIS in Syria and Iraq and played a major role in driving the group out of Manbij this month. The YPG, the military arm of PYD, is one of the groups in the alliance that ousted ISIS from Manbij.


Ceasefire would end five decades of civil war before final peace deal reached FARC has battled Colombian government in insurgency modeled after Cuban revolution Colombia’s government and FARC rebels announced a ceasefire agreement Wednesday that would end five decades of bloody conflict while negotiators reach a final peace deal. Colombian officials made the announcement in Havana, where the two sides have been negotiating since November 2012 to end the civil war that has killed or displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The ceasefire agreement will be signed Thursday in the Cuban capital by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, top commander for the FARC, the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, according to a statement from the Colombian government. Presidents Raul Castro of Cuba, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and Michelle Bachelet of Chile and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend the ceremony, the statement said. The longest-running insurgency in the Western Hemisphere, the FARC sought to emulate the Cuban revolution and install a Marxist-style government in Colombia. Critics accuse the rebels of engaging in drug trafficking and kidnapping to finance their guerrilla war. 3 missing journalists in Colombia freed, officials say Billions of dollars in U.S. counterinsurgency aid has helped the Colombian government turn the tide against the FARC, which suffered as top commanders were killed and thousands of foot soldiers abandoned the insurgency. At the beginning of peace talks, FARC rebels proposed a bilateral ceasefire, but Colombian government officials resisted the overture, saying the guerrillas had used previous ceasefires as an opportunity to take over large swaths of the countryside. Santos said Monday that he expected the final peace deal to be reached by July 20. A referendum then would be called for Colombians to vote on whether to accept or reject the agreement.

Colombian government and FARC ceasefire agreement


Anjali Lama is a transgender model from Nepal Lama walked on the runway at Lakmé Fashion Week, India's premiere fashion showcase She is the first transgender model to do so With strong stage presence and striking features, 32-year-old Anjali Lama looks at home among the sea of models at Lakmé Fashion Week in Mumbai. But with every step on the runway, she is making history. Born Nabin Waiba, as a boy growing up in the rural district of Nuwakot in Nepal, Lama was often severely bullied for having feminine tendencies. This week – as Anjali Lama – she became the first transgender model to grace the catwalk at India’s premiere fashion event. Lama has spent the majority of her life tackling discrimination and prejudice. As a child she was bullied at school, while at home she was pressured to conform to gender stereotypes by her father and brothers. “I enjoyed wearing women’s clothing, and at school I mostly had female friends. The kids at school used to mock me and say ‘he’s a girl.’ Then at home, my father would scold me, asking ‘what will you do with your life?’” At the age of 18, Lama moved to Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu, where her struggle with gender identity continued. She describes this period now as “mental torture.” “I was there for college but worked at a hotel and was fired because of my feminine behavior. They said I made the customers uncomfortable,” she tells CNN. A chance encounter, however, changed everything. “While I was living in Kathmandu, I was watching television and stumbled upon a show about transgender people. I thought to myself, ‘I’m like this too.’” Inspired by her discovery, Lama reached out to a group of transgender people, eventually stumbling upon Blue Diamond Society – a group in Nepal which advocates for sexual minorities. “I realized I’m not the only one, this is my society,” she says. Lama’s first foray into fashion was inspired by the very community of friends she established once she embraced her transgender identity. They encouraged her to consider a career in modeling and overcome her identity issues. “Coming out was a major step for me, so considering a career in modeling seemed like a long shot. But my friends insisted I try it out, and their encouragement made me feel good.” Lama got her first major break when she was featured on the cover of a Nepali magazine called Voice of Women. Yet she still faced resistance when she tried to develop her career further. From 'cow' to cover girl, model Winnie Harlow is changing beauty standards “I asked my agency why I wasn’t getting jobs. He said it is because I am transgender,” she says. “But I remembered what my mother told me about not giving up, and moving forward. I knew someone, somewhere will give me an opportunity.” In 2010 she was cast to walk for Nepalese designer Subexya Bhadel and made her catwalk debut. But her sights were set on going global, and walking India’s premiere fashion week became the next big step. While she was rejected the first year she auditioned, this year, she made the cut. The fashion industry often receives criticism for its lack of diversity. According to the Spring 2017 diversity report by The Fashion Spot, more than 70% of the models cast for New York, London, Paris and Milan fashion weeks were white. But, in recent years, traditional perceptions of beauty have been challenged – not only with regards to race but also body shape, age and sexuality. In January, Hanne Gaby Odiele – a Belgian model who has worked with high-profile clients such as Mulberry and Balenciaga – made headlines after revealing that she identifies as intersex. And it seems that organizations have started responding. Lakmé Fashion Week made diversity a key priority this year, specifically looking to cast unique faces and features. This season, alongside Lama, another gender neutral model will walk the runway in Mumbai. The organization has also put together what they call a “tag-free” show, which rejects labels and rigid categories. “Fashion is looked at as a closed society. People feel it is out of reach and untouchable. We want to change that” said Jaspreet Chandok, Vice President and Head (Fashion), at IMG Reliance, the event owners of Lakmé Fashion Week. This move, so far, has been a success. Chandok says that more plus size and transgender models have started to reach out to them for future castings. But for Lama, seeing a more diverse lineup on the catwalk is only half the battle. Once the curtains close, she hopes to encourage confidence in sexual minorities off the runway as well. “I just want to live life the way I want, and I’m not scared to do it.” This interview has been translated from Hindi. It has been edited for length and clarity.


A high court in Italy cited "glaring errors," "investigative amnesia" in investigation, prosecution of case Amanda Knox was jailed for four years as the trial dragged on Meredith Kercher was found dead in the apartment she shared with Knox in November of 2007 It’s been almost eight years since the lifeless body of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher was found half-dressed on the tile floor of her student apartment in Perugia, Italy. During that time, Kercher’s American roommate Amanda Knox and Knox’s boyfriend at the time, Italian citizen Raffaele Sollecito, were twice convicted and twice acquitted of murder for their alleged role in ending Kercher’s life. Italian court: ‘Stunning flaws’ in Amanda Knox case On Monday, Italy’s highest court issued the last word on the case in the form of a 52-page reasoning to justify why it decided to definitively throw out the convictions last March. Citing “glaring errors,” “investigative amnesia,” and “guilty omissions,” the five-judge panel said that the prosecutors who won the original murder conviction failed to prove a “whole truth” to back up the scenario that Knox, Sollecito and Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede killed Kercher. That original murder conviction in 2009 was overturned on appeal in 2011, but the high court threw out the acquittal two years later and ordered a new appellate trial, which found the pair guilty once again in 2014. Related video Fmr. Lawyer: Amanda Knox feels 'transcendent joy' That second guilty verdict was thrown out in March by Italy’s high court, finally ending the legal back-and-forth. In explaining the somewhat unconventional choice to throw out the case without ordering a new trial – which is how high courts in Italy generally rule when not confirming guilt – the judges said that due to the reasonable doubt and shoddy police work when initial evidence was collected, there was simply no way to go back and find any real truth. The judges found there was too much potential for contamination of the key forensic evidence. Amanda Knox: The fine line between guilt and innocence That included a knife with DNA on it originally attributed to both Knox and Kercher, and Kercher’s metal bra clasp, which some experts said had traces of Sollecito’s DNA on it. The knife, the judges said, was kept in a simple cardboard box by forensic police and the bra clasp sat for nearly six weeks on the floor in the room where Kercher was found before it was collected. The judges also agreed that while Knox testified that she was in the house at the time of the murder, the prosecution never effectively proved she was in the room where Kercher was killed, citing an “absolute lack of evidence related to their biological traces in the room or on the body of the murder victim.” Related video Amanda Knox: I am so grateful to have my life back In the end, the high court determined that reasonable doubt prevailed. The various murder trials and appeals came to different conclusions as the result of “stunning weakness or investigative amnesia and of guilty omissions of investigative activity,” the court found. Had it not been for these mistakes, the court determined, “in all probability, the defendants’ guilt, if it was to be, could have been determined from the earliest stages.” Instead, the court blamed the media and high profile attention on the case for putting pressure on local authorities in Perugia, effectively causing what the judges called a “sudden acceleration” during the initial stages of the investigation. CNN exclusive: Amanda Knox says, ‘I did not kill my friend’ “Certainly the unusual hype of the story, due not only to the dramatic mode of death of a 22-year-old, so absurd and incomprehensible in its genesis, but also to the nationality of the people involved meant international repercussions,” the judges wrote. “That has meant that the investigations suffered a sudden acceleration, which, in the frantic search for one or more culprits to be delivered to international public opinion, certainly did not (facilitate) seeking the truth.” Meanwhile, Guede, who was convicted in a fast-track trial in 2008, is nearly halfway through his 16-year sentence. He remains the lone person convicted of a murder that his own panel of high court judges ruled was committed by three people. As a matter of law, that means there are two killers still at large, which is a point Guede’s lawyers have been arguing since the case was closed in March. Related gallery The Knox-Sollecito retrial The high court did end its lengthy ruling by upholding a slander conviction against Knox, stemming from her initial accusation that Patrick Lumumba, her Congolese pub boss, was involved in Kercher’s murder. The slander charge carries a three-year sentence, which Knox served during her four-year incarceration. That greatly limits potential damages she can claim against the Italian state for wrongful incarceration. Sollecito, however, is already preparing a libel suit for his four years in precautionary custody, which his lawyers argue was unjust and for which the state should compensate him. On Monday, Knox issued a statement on her website saying that she is “deeply grateful that the Italian Supreme Court has filed its opinion and forcefully declared” her innocence. “This has been a long struggle for me, my family, my friends, and my supporters. While I am glad it is now over, I will remain forever grateful to the many individuals who gave their time and talents to help me,” her statement said. Kercher’s family, which has long held that Knox and Sollecito were involved in Meredith’s murder, said through their lawyer that they, too, can now hope to move on.


Daddy Yankee donated $100,000 to Puerto Rico's food bank He also was able to get 200 gallons of diesel fuel to the food bank Eyleen Gonzalez lost everything in her home after Hurricane Maria. She has no running water. No electricity. Barely any cell service to communicate with family. Her house is “destroyed.” Her only valuable possession left is her puppy, Lena. But for just a moment on Saturday, Gonzalez forgot about life, its worries and Puerto Rico’s long road ahead. “Daddy Yankee! Oh my God!” she said, beaming with a smile. “It’s exciting to see and believe that he’s helping the people in Puerto Rico because not everyone has a heart like him.” Daddy Yankee, the Puerto Rican pop star who co-sang the wildly famous song “Despacito,” flexed his celebrity power in more ways than one Saturday. The musician, whose real name is Ramon Luis Ayala, donated $100,000 to the Food Bank of Puerto Rico, with that amount confirmed by the food bank and Daddy Yankee’s representatives. The money provided food to roughly 9,000 families in Toa Baja, an impoverished town of 80,000 people near Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan. Related article 'Despacito' singer: Puerto Rico needs your help Hurricane Maria pummeled Toa Baja. Leafless trees surround the low-lying town. Not a single household has electricity. Only 25% has running water and 50% of gas stations are back up and running. Most of the supermarkets have reopened but are rationing food, according to Toa Baja Mayor Betito Marquez. Each family on Saturday received 59 pounds of food, not including rations of water too. The box of food included rice, pasta, tuna, beans, beef and milk. Food Bank officials say it’s enough to feed a family of four for a week. Many in Toa Baja had been living day to day, waiting in long lines for food and water. The box of food meant the world to Casandra Rodriguez, a housewife and mother of two whose husband is an electrician. Like many in Toa Baja, she’s living without basic necessities and says her home was “completely destroyed” by Hurricane Maria. “Thanks to God, we’ve received enough support,” says Casandra, tearing up with the box in her hands. “I lost everything.” Daddy Yankee pulled off another feat earlier Saturday morning. Food Bank Director Ivonne Bernard was worried around 10 a.m. before the pop star arrived. She only had two hours of diesel gas left to power the generator that was refrigerating 25,000 pounds of food. The Food Bank’s frozen food section was choked full of mangoes, pork, lettuce, pineapple and a variety of other items. Bernard insisted: The Food Bank had the money to pay for diesel. She had also reached out to Puerto Rican government officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. They couldn’t tell her when, or if, diesel was coming. Related article Puerto Ricans fire back at Trump for critical tweets “We have the money, but they’re not supplying, they’re not bringing it,” Bernard lamented around Saturday morning. If the food bank ran out of fuel, “I would feel very sad, because we’re not going to be able to continue to provide relief to the Puerto Rican people,” she said. Then, Daddy Yankee arrived. As he toured the food bank, Bernard mentioned the issue. The musician immediately alerted his entourage. They got on the phone right away. Within minutes, they told her 200 gallons of diesel fuel was on its way to the food bank. Bernard said that would be enough for four days. “We got the diesel! We got the diesel!” the pop star proclaimed at the Food Bank. “We can’t wait for the government.” FEMA did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.


More than half a million Rohingya have fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State since August, pouring into Bangladesh with horrific stories of atrocities. Separated from the rest of Myanmar by a rugged mountain chain, the region, once known as Arakan, has for most of its history been a distinct political entity. The Rohingya trace their history here as far back as the eighth century and it’s also home to the Rakhine, a predominantly Buddhist ethnic group. Here’s a short history of the mostly Muslim Rohingya and some of the key events that have led to what the United Nations says is the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis. Sources: CNN, Rakhine Commission, UN, International Crisis Group


Editor’s Note: Supriya Venkatesan served six years active duty in the US Army, including a 15-month deployment to Iraq. She is a freelance writer based in Seattle, and is working on a book based on her experiences in the military. The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own. Supriya Venkatesan: Having served in the US military in Iraq, I have shown my devotion to this country Despite this sacrifice and the warmth I found in the military, the current political climate makes me fearful, she writes Two days after 9/11, I watched as the news continued to replay images of steel towers crumbling in flames. I looked at the screen from my perch at the hostess stand of a swanky Italian restaurant in downtown Chicago, where I worked. I had just begun my shift, and my manager pulled me aside. “We are overstaffed, and we have to lay you off,” he said.  Even as a 16-year-old, I understood that hostesses don’t usually get laid off. I was being treated like hundreds of others who were suddenly out of work – their only fault: sharing the same South Asian features as me. In those days, stories circulated of Indians, and those who looked Muslim, as victims of not only employment bias, but also hate crimes and revenge killings. After holding odd jobs in food service, I joined the US Army as a teenager because I couldn’t afford college on my own. But joining the military provided me with much more than tuition assistance. I got a family and a new community that was entirely devoid of racism. In basic training, a white boy from rural Alabama shared that he had never seen a black person before, and now he not only knew black people, but had made friends with them. As I continued my career living in barracks in South Korea, Iraq, Kuwait and all over the United States, I always thought how remarkable it was that in the hallways you would hear hip-hop, country music and reggaetón – and occasionally Bollywood from my stereo. There was a Chinese-American in my unit who grew up without the concept of God, and we talked theology. I cooked chicken tikka masala for my battle buddies, and they devoured it. A Peruvian-American soldier taught me salsa and bachata, and soon I was an expert. Friends who I would have never made outside the military taught me new ideas, shared their food and music, opened up their hearts and had my back when we deployed to Iraq. Related article I learned the hard way how to stop hate We not only learned about each other’s backgrounds, but embraced the differences, and for that we were stronger. There was safety within the gates of a military installation. The military has a saying: We are not black or white or brown or yellow. We are green. That is the color that bound us. But outside this safety net a different world awaited me. In 2004, I was traveling through Atlanta’s international airport while in uniform and was held for a special screening and pat down. My white peers, also in uniform, were upgraded to first class for being in uniform. That stung. My uniform, the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice, was not seen by the civilian sector. I was viewed as a threat then, and these days I am seen as an even bigger threat. A few weeks ago, white nationalists held a massive rally a few steps away from my apartment building near Westlake Park in Seattle. I had planned to go play in the park with my 2-year-old as we usually do, but suddenly I was too scared to leave my home. The other day, my stepfather told me that one of his Chinese-American colleagues was assaulted by a white person while hiking in the nearby mountains. The perpetrator has not been caught. Related article 5 years after Sikh attack, extremism still isn't taken seriously enough These incidents aren’t just local. They’re everywhere. And while the number of hate crimes appears to be tapering off in 2017, we don’t yet have all the data. What we do have are moments like those in Charlottesville, Virginia, which remind us bigotry is alive and well in this country. Whereas in the military I found acceptance of diversity, in civilian life I am constantly reminded of the differences that divide us. And I am scared every single day I leave my home. I fear for my other friends of color. But I am not only afraid of the repercussions of racial judgment, I’m also concerned about the threat of violence. As a veteran, I cannot tell you the depth of disgust I feel when I realize there are people in this country I defended – by going to war – who believe they are racially superior. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook In the military, we saw beyond skin tone, our faiths and country of origin. We were patriots, and that was enough. I wish civilians could see beyond the hate in their hearts and know people like me are not the enemy. Instead of being divided, we could come together and simply be Americans.


After the first airstrike hit near a hospital in eastern Idlib, Syria, no one was injured, according to one local man. But then the warplane returned. “Run, the plane is coming back,” aid workers can be heard saying on video, right before the next explosion hits. Activists say the incident was a “double-tap.” That’s when attackers strike, wait for first responders to arrive and then hit the same spot. A dozen people were killed in the incident, which was caught on video by the Syrian Civil Defense, a humanitarian aid group. The Syrian-American Medical Society, which runs the hospital, says the strikes were launched by Russian warplanes. Russia strongly denies the claim, saying it is not targeting civilians during its military operations inside Syria. Russia began airstrikes in Syria in September to help the government of Bashar al-Assad Assad fight terrorists, Russia says. Some Russian airstrikes have appeared to hit areas controlled by various rebel groups, including some that are supported by the United States. Why Russia is pressing the ‘accelerate’ pedal in Syria This is the third report in a week of hospitals being targeted in and around Aleppo, Syria. Video from a rescue group shows what it says is an unexploded cluster bomb. Russia denied on Thursday that it used cluster munitions. Assad’s regime has been accused of using cluster bombs in the past, accusations the government has denied. Russian ambassador: Assad regime may  have fallen to ISIS without us


Chronic fear can cripple rational thought and cause long-term health issues Terrorists need to create fear to prove their relevance and recruit members, experts say People can counter their fears by putting terror into perspective, they say Your brain on constant fear is not a pretty sight. What is supposed to be a lifesaving instinct becomes anchored in your body, flooding your system with corrosive hormones that can damage your health, affect the way you think and change the decisions you make. Terrorists are counting on that effect. They want you to be full of fear. Of them. All the time. They think it proves they’re relevant. And they’ll do just about anything to try and make that happen. “Fear is the primary psychological weapon underlying acts of terrorism,” said Daniel Antonius, director of forensic psychiatry at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Buffalo, New York. “It is this fear, or the anticipation of future acts of terror, that can have serious effects on our behavior and minds.” The ISIS terror playbook is filled with ever-escalating acts, each more horrifying than the last. “Jihadi John,” a man with a familiar English accent, cutting off the head of American James Foley, was so barbaric we can barely comprehend it. Yet it was soon followed by double beheadings, then more than 20 at a time, escalating into mass drownings and even the burning of victims while still alive. Just in case we become desensitized or write terror off as the demonic acts of a few psychopathic men, ISIS is training young children to commit atrocities. All these tactics are deliberate, according to experts. “Women and children aren’t supposed to be killers,” said Dr. Eric Hollander, clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. “The more there are deviations from expectations, from civilized behavior, the more impact terrorism has. It rewards them with more recruits. And it feeds their ultimate goal: to try to get people to give up.” Terrorism expert John Horgan agrees. “It’s psychological warfare,” he said. “Pure psychological warfare.  They don’t just want to frighten us or get us to overreact, they want to be always in our consciousness so that we believe there’s nothing they won’t do.” It’s also no accident, experts said, that terrorists in Paris stuck several locations, one after another, or that more than one bomb detonated at the Brussels Airport. “Multiple attacks heighten the psychological terror that occurs,” Hollander said. “If you look at the videos from Brussels, after the first bomb, there was screaming and yelling, people were in terror. When the second bomb went off, there was complete silence. People shut down. They were psychologically crippled.” People are hard-wired to respond to danger. It’s actually an ancient system, often called the reptilian brain, honed over centuries to keep us safe. We hear a scream and instantly, without conscious thought, our autonomic nervous system sends a signal from our senses to the fear center of the brain, the amygdala. Hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline jump-start our body – the heart starts to race, breathing comes more quickly and sweat breaks out. We’re ready to flee or fight. A split second later, through an entirely different channel, more information arrives in the brain, and we must decide: Is the threat real? We decide, we act, and after the threat is over, our system calms down. Problem solved. We’re back to normal. But if we’re on constant guard, stress begins to take its toll. First, we don’t think as clearly, with fear overcoming our ability to reason. “We seem to get stuck,” Hollander said. “President Obama can say our chances of getting killed in an act of terrorism is smaller than in an auto accident. But somehow that doesn’t quite work in calming our fears.” Other parts of the brain can activate, such as the fronto-striatal-thalamic brain circuit, which triggers obsessive thinking, or the anterior cingulate cortex, which can put us in a constant state of alertness. “We’re told to ‘see something, say something,’ so now people scan the environment and look for things that don’t seem right,” Hollander said. “Or we obsess and then develop habits and rituals to ward off bad things. That can be watching TV over and over again to get more information, reading all we can in the media, and all of this is focused on warding off harm.” Antonius of the Jacobs School of Medicine agrees. “Fear is a complex psychophysiological emotional experience that results in alterations in mood, temperament, motivation and personality,” he said. “Over time, the chronic experience of fear can morph into serious psychological distress that eventually may develop into a mental disorder.” Or even a physical one. A 2014 study looked at 1,700 “apparently healthy active Israeli adults” to see how they cope with the threat of terrorism. Those who showed the most fear had resting heart rates 10 to 20 beats faster than the norm due to changes in a brain chemical that also acts as a brake to the inflammatory system, the study found. Fortunately, studies show that after an initial period of shock, grief and even depression, the vast majority of us appear to be resilient to terrorism’s tactics. “From a psychological or a brain perspective, something very interesting happens,” said Horgan, the author of “The Psychology of Terrorism.” “We actually return to normal pretty quickly. It’s very difficult for a terrorist movement, even one as powerful as the Islamic State, to maintain a constant level of fear and anxiety in the audience.” Experts said we can speed up our healing by seeking support and connections within our community. For example, the mass outpouring of solidarity in the streets of Paris and on social media across the globe the morning after those attacks in November was a critical step. “That’s important,” Horgan said. “It’s equally important, however, for you do the old cliché – to get back to work and make sure the trains run on time. To get back to normal right away.” Antonius added, “Compelling research has also shown that whether an individual’s response is primarily fear versus anger may have a significant impact on their behavior. “In the context of anger, people tend to exhibit greater levels of optimism and a preference for confrontation, whereas with fear comes greater pessimism and preference for using conciliatory measures to de-escalate conflict.” Oddly enough, experts said attacks such as those in Paris, Nice and Brussels are also borne out of fear. A terrorist’s fear. “Terrorist groups live in constant fear of being seen as irrelevant or outdated,” Horgan said. “So the Islamic State works very, very hard at just, to put it crudely, staying in the news.” See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter. That’s necessary, Horgan said, because potential recruits go online to do their homework, “and make an informed choice about who the cool gang is right now. So the Islamic State is ensuring they are still the only game in town as far as recruitment is concerned.” Horgan pointed to al Qaeda as an example. “Over the past two years, al Qaeda has gone from being the biggest bully on the block to yesterday’s movement,” he said. “The group that was responsible for 9/11. Who could have thought that they’re just seen as old hat in the eyes of 20-something, angry young Muslims for whom the Islamic State is the only game in town.”


Britain’s membership in the European Union has died, age 44. The relationship is no more after years of the UK secretly pining for its sovereignty. Beloved by some, tolerated by most and long detested by others, the ever-intricate marriage was wrenched apart by referendum last year. The formal process will take two years and the costs could run into the tens of billions for Britain, but there is no going back. Starved of compromise when it needed it most, Britain spent the last years with the EU in and out of relationship therapy, surviving on an insufficient drip of concessions from the bloc. The last gasp came in the early hours of June 24 when 51.9% voted for termination. It held on through life support until the triggering of Article 50. But now the EU 28 is no more. Related article EU leaders mark 60th anniversary with new declaration of unity It wasn’t always this way. European suitors, known then as the Common Market, wooed a war-weary Britain, enjoying an on-again, off-again courtship that was almost derailed by a disapproving patriarch: French President Charles de Gaulle. His death paved the way for romance to blossom. Britain’s defenses were finally broken down, and in 1973, a full marriage took place. Britain finally partnered with a like-minded equal – at least that was the understanding. First came the honeymoon: Prosperity grew, the growth gap between Britain and founding members – Germany, France and Italy – began slowly to close. Incrementally, the UK became less the “sick man of Europe.” Indeed, this side of the relationship blossomed until the financial crisis. But over time, the nuptials didn’t deliver the expected parity. Fisherman, farmers and car manufacturers were among the many to complain. From the get-go, the Common Fisheries Policy allocated dwindling sea stocks away from Britain’s fishermen into the arms of the continental beau. Over time, this became an open sore – a touchstone of the relationship going wrong. British fleets were badly hurt, ports put idle and Europeans hove closer to British shores than they’d ever been allowed to before. What started as a tiny national bleed was never cauterized in time, becoming in some fishing communities an ugly hemorrhage – a place where the ills of the relationship could fester and find voice. So too for farmers in 1984, who railed at the Common Agriculture Policy. European subsidies and pricing were perceived to be undermining livelihoods and changing the British landscape. On the industrial landscape there was upheaval as factories closed. Car manufacturer British Leyland, once a giant that strode the land, became a casualty of continental competition. It’s hard to say when the rot in the relationship really set in, but by degrees, dissatisfaction and disaffection grew. For some, the relationship became uncomfortable when the European Community began evolving toward the EU. In 1990, after years of political resistance, Britain signed up to the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. It was supposed to prevent big swings in value between currencies across the EU to make it easier for members to trade with each other and ultimately introduce a single currency. Two years later, Britain was forced to withdraw when it was unable to prevent the pound from crashing. Related article Article 50: UK's path to Brexit, explained The union’s open borders and single market – demanding the free flow of goods, services, money and people – came in to force in 1993, unlocking a dormant disease. It was not just a stealth agenda to stitch one another in to the same suit, but it also paved the way for economic migrants to leave behind their poorer, less well-serviced lives and cross Europe in search of their dreams. Whether it was true or not, many in Britain felt their country was the one in the relationship doing all the giving. What was once a waltz of joy between embracing lovers was becoming increasingly a stagger between estranging partners as wounds, sores, disease and imbalance were taking their toll. Then, after unexpectedly winning the 2015 general election, David Cameron had to fulfill an agenda promise and set an ultimatum for Brussels, hoping that things were not beyond repair. Instead, he severed his own Achilles, limped off and left the now hopeless partnership battered, dead and buried. Britain’s departure from the EU’s arms leaves the other lovers in this struggling union to keep the dance going. The EU, clinging ever tighter, searching for a stronger embrace, is unwilling to let any others go.

Britain's membership in the European Union


Not long after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria, regime military aircraft hit targets in the besieged Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, activists said Saturday night. “Warplanes carried out airstrikes targeting areas in the town of Shifouniya in Eastern Ghouta,” the UK- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said without giving details on casualties or damage. There was no immediate mention of airstrikes on the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency. CNN has not verified  the occurrence and timing of the airstrikes. Earlier, after the ceasefire vote, Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari said the regime would continue to go after what it deemed terrorist groups. “We practice a sovereign right of self-defense, and we will continue to fight terrorism wherever it is found on Syrian soil,” he said, according to SANA. A truce would allow for the delivery of emergency aid and the evacuation of the wounded in some of Syria’s hardest-hit areas, including Eastern Ghouta. Diplomats said Saturday’s vote ended up being a bit of a showdown between Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, and her Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia, over the timing of a ceasefire. Related video Voices from Syria's Eastern Ghouta Moscow remains a staunch advocate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The diplomats said the United States fought to keep language in the resolution that called for an immediate start to the ceasefire and unfettered humanitarian access without delay. The Russians kept trying to water it down to delay implementation, the diplomats said. In the end the Russians relented and the language on an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian access were retained, the diplomats said. They said they are skeptical the Syrian regime will comply but are hopeful the resolution could be a turning point. Speaking right after the vote, Haley took a jab at Russia, saying the Security Council was late to respond to the crisis. “On Thursday, in an effort to stall, Russia called for an open meeting on the humanitarian situation in Syria.  At that meeting, 14 members of this council were ready to impose a ceasefire. But Russia obstructed the vote again,” she said. “And then yesterday (Friday), this council sat around for hours, ready to vote, only to have Russia delay yet again. Every minute this council waited on Russia, the human suffering grew.” Haley said the bombing continued as the negotiations dragged on. “In the three days it took us to adopt this resolution, how many mothers lost their kids to the bombing and shelling? How many more images did we need to see of fathers holding their dead children? All for nothing, because here we are voting for a ceasefire that could have saved lives days ago.” Nebenzia said the timing in the original proposals was not feasible. “It was not possible to achieve these directives or instructions without any concrete agreement for the warring parties in Syria and not arrive at a ceasefire,” he said. “This kind of an unrealistic approach will in no way help to address the pressing humanitarian situation in Syria. What is necessary is for the demands of the Security Council to be underpinned by concrete, on-the-ground agreements.” He indicated he didn’t think the cessation of hostilities would be immediate, saying people need to be “realistic.” “We would like to encourage the parties to work for it, to engage in the implementation,” Nebenzia said. He also pointed out the resolution does not dissuade military operations against designated terror groups. Ja’afari reiterated that the regime has called on rebel fighters in Ghouta to put away their weapons and let civilians escape to safety, SANA reported. The death toll soared while diplomatic maneuvering was underway. More than 520 people have been killed and 2,500 wounded since Sunday in the relentless bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, according to a statement from Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières. “Our hospital is full, and we already got hit twice,” a doctor with the humanitarian organization said Saturday on Twitter. #URGENT “Our hospital is full, and we already got hit twice. When the patients started overflowing, we reassigned another location. We are 250 people and we have nothing to eat”Desperate #doctor's testimony from #EastGhouta #Syriahttps://t.co/kilAdzWJe5 Syrian activists said the regime fired thousands of artillery shells and rocket fire Friday night and Saturday, including incendiary bombs. “They were bursting in the sky, and the colors were white and dark orange,” said Siraj Mahmoud, a spokesman for the White Helmets rescue group. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said shelling by “incendiary substances” caused fires in Eastern Ghouta. Around 400,000 people are in hiding as the Damascus suburbs have been pounded with shells, mortars and bombs since Sunday night. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for the warring sides to honor the temporary truce. “I welcome the Security Council’s resolution on a ceasefire in Syria and call for all sides to allow the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid,” Guterres tweeted. Related video Activist describes crisis in Eastern Ghouta Most of the dead are women, children and the elderly, Dr. Fayez Orabi, head of the enclave’s health department, told CNN in a series of WhatsApp messages. “It’s difficult to have a precise count because of the internet and communications are weak and the shelling and bombing are 24 hours,” Orabi said. “During writing this message to you more than 20 rockets have fell around us,” he added. Dr. Ayman Issa, a surgeon at Kafr Batna central hospital in Eastern Ghouta, said a ceasefire, if it does happen, would allow staff at the medical facility to get something substantial to eat, to get a chance to clean up, and to, most importantly, treat patients and get them home. Meanwhile, armed rebels in Eastern Ghouta used “dozens of mortar and rocket shells and sniper fire” to target residential neighborhoods in Damascus, SANA reported Saturday. The attacks injured a number of civilians and caused material damage, according to SANA. Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, said he hopes the ceasefire will provide a much-needed respite for Ghouta. “It is important that all sides comply with the terms of the resolution and allow humanitarian aid and medical evacuations. But it is only a small step in the right direction,” he said. CNN’s Richard Roth, Elise Labott, Khareem Khadder, Elizabeth Joseph, Steve Almasy, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Taylor Barnes, Olivia Kiely, Kwegyirba Croffie and Bijan Hosseini contributed to this report.

UN Security Council resolution on Syria ceasefire


The 9-year-old has been in HIV remission for most of his life Understanding his biology may one day help other children come off HIV treatment A 9-year-old South African child diagnosed with HIV when he was 1 month old has been in HIV remission for 8½ years – without regular treatment. This is the first reported case of a child controlling their HIV infection without drugs in Africa and the third known case globally. Soon after diagnosis, the child was placed on antiretroviral treatment, or ART, for 40 weeks, at which point treatment was stopped and the child’s health was monitored. Blood tests in late 2015 revealed the child is in HIV remission, meaning levels of the virus in the blood are undetectable using standard tests. Subsequent testing of samples dating back to the child’s infancy confirm remission was achieved soon after treatment was stopped. Related video The turbulent history of HIV/AIDS Treatment was paused as part of a larger research trial investigating the potential for early ART to decrease infant mortality and reduce the need for lifelong treatment among newborns infected with HIV. “This is really very rare,” said Dr. Avy Violari, head of pediatric clinical trials at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. Violari is the child’s doctor and presented the findings at the 9th International AIDS conference on HIV Science in Paris on Monday. “By studying these cases, we hope we will understand how one can stop (treatment),” Violari told CNN. There is no cure or vaccine against HIV, and lifelong treatment for children comes with the risk of potential toxicity, side effects and the need for daily adherence, which becomes harder during the teen years. The child, who was not identified, was part of a study known as the Children with HIV Early Antiretroviral Therapy, or CHER, trial, which ran from 2005 to 2011. More than 370 infants infected with HIV were randomly assigned to immediately receive ART for either 40 weeks or 96 weeks. A third group were not placed on immediate treatment, but instead received treatment according to standard guidelines at the time. When the trial began, standard treatment was based on the level of immune cells damaged by the virus, known as CD4 cells, within the body. Current guidelines recommend immediate treatment, irrespective of CD4 cell count. Related article Teenager controls HIV infection without drugs for more than 12 years In infants infected with HIV close to birth, progression of the disease occurs very rapidly within the first few months of life and can often lead to death, according to the World Health Organization. An estimated 110,000 children died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2015, according to UNAIDS. Pediatricians also worry about the side-effects and health impacts of lifelong treatment with antiretroviral drugs for those who survive. More than 1.8 million children were living with HIV in 2015, according to UNAIDS, and 150,000 children became newly infected, the majority of which were in Africa. The CHER trial set out to investigate whether mortality rates could be reduced, but also whether earlier treatment could keep children healthy enough to enable them to come off treatment for certain periods. “We were hoping to make it a slower-progressing disease,” said Violari. Related gallery Patients zero: Disease victims who were blamed for outbreaks The study found mortality decreased by 76% and HIV disease progression reduced by 75% among the infants who received treatment immediately, for 40 or 96 weeks. The group receiving standard treatment saw an increase in mortality based on interim results, so that arm of the trial was stopped early. Children receiving early treatment in the trial needed to go back onto it, on average, after two years, Violari said, with cases ranging from needing it immediately to needing it after four years. An estimated 10 children have not had to go back on treatment, she said, as their viral loads are fairly low – between 1,000 to 3,000 per milliliter of blood – meaning they are healthy, in clinical terms. But virus levels in the 9-year-old case are undetectable. “The child is the only child showing remission,” said Violari. “We cannot see virus in the blood using standard techniques … we can see fragments of the virus in the cells,” she said, adding that these fragments appear not to be able to replicate, for now, giving hope the child may stay this way. “This child is unique.” The South African child is the third reported case of long-term HIV remission in a child after early, limited treatment with antiretroviral drugs. The first case was a Mississippi baby, a girl born in 2010, who received ART just 30 hours after birth until she was 18 months old, at which point HIV remission was achieved. The baby sustained remission for 27 months, until 2015, when she rebounded and the virus was found in her blood, crushing hopes that this approach could be the route to a “functional cure” for HIV. Related article Virus detected in baby 'cured' of HIV Next came the 2015 case of a French teenager, now 20, whose mother was HIV positive. The French child was given antiretroviral treatment soon after birth, stopped treatment at age 6 and has maintained undetectable levels of the virus in her blood since. Asier Saez Cirion from the Institut Pasteur in France, who presented the findings on the teenager in 2015, confirmed to CNN this week that the teen is still in remission and maintaining good health, meaning she has been controlling her virus for more than 13 years. Now comes the case of the 9-year-old in South Africa, in remission for more than eight years, but after just 40 weeks of treatment. Violari stressed, however, these cases are extremely rare and that people infected with HIV should by no means come off their treatment. “Not everyone can achieve remission,” she said. Three adults have also been reported to achieve remission to date, known as the Boston patients and Berlin patient, but all received bone marrow transplants for this result, not early treatment with antiretroviral drugs. The two Boston patients rebounded, leaving Timothy Ray Brown, the Berlin patient, as the only person to be clinically cured of HIV. “This (case in South Africa) tells you this is possible in some babies, to see long-term remission,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, which funded the CHER trial and ongoing followup on these infants. Related article HIV cure study provides insight into 2008 case “The real question will be what percentage of babies treated early will achieve this result? We don’t know,” he said. Fauci believes this kind of outcome only becomes important if you have a considerable proportion of babies protected, making it applicable as a potential therapy approach. “You always get an outlier,” he said. In this case, the outlier being the 9-year old. “Further study is needed to learn how to induce long-term HIV remission in infected babies,” Fauci said. Violari agrees that this new remission case is not applicable to all infants with HIV, but instead that something unique about his biology and immune system helped him protect himself from the virus, aided by starting treatment early. Related article These children have a built-in defense against AIDS He developed an effective immune response to the virus early on, she said, and treatment then protected the child. “I think the early treatment aided it,” she said. Her team now hopes to investigate the child, and others from the original CHER trial along with HIV-negative children to try to elucidate just what is unique about the biology enabling a child who has been treated to then suppress the virus indefinitely – and independently – known as a post-treatment controller. “We need to see where the differences lie,” she said, adding that this insight could be used to inform vaccine design or new treatment approaches, such as the use of neutralizing antibodies to help people suppress the virus. We could develop a product given to people in combination with ART so people can eventually stop ART, said Violari. This would not be because they are cured, but because virus levels are low enough, or undetectable, to help them stay healthy without the need for drugs. “It’s a long shot,” Violari said. “But we can look at what’s different.” Fauci agreed that extensive evaluation of immune regions of these cases could help scientists find something special to guide inducing this in others. “That’s being intensively studied now,” said Fauci. “We have the outcome, we just need to get there.” “We are delighted and excited by what happened with this child … we need to extrapolate (from this) to the benefit of other children on antiretroviral drugs,” said Dr. Mark Cotton, professor of pediatrics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, who co-led the study. “Africa is still the epicenter of the epidemic and more babies are acquiring HIV than anywhere else.” Cotton hopes his team presenting these results will boost morale, both among cure researchers and those managing treatment programs for children across the continent. Dr. Deborah Persaud, professor pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States, agreed this discovery will become useful in terms of treating HIV-infected infants. “This offers hope for the field,” she said. “Every case like this keeps optimism around perinatal infection.” Related article Life as a teen who was born with HIV Persaud is part of team that reported the case of the Mississippi baby in 2013 and continues to care for the child and track progress. She agreed with Violari’s team that there is something unique about the South African child’s biology, because their viral levels began coming down even before the child received treatment. “This suggests there was an immune mechanism at play here,” she said. “Somehow, there was early control of the virus.” The three cases to date all form part of this era in which rare examples of remission are coming to light and providing valuable insight for HIV cure researchers. They serve as proof of concept that this can occur, she said, stressing that this is far from the norm. “Many kids around the world have been treated early and are not off treatment,” she said. A current trial, known as IMPAACT P1115 and funded by the US NIH, is providing treatment to HIV-infected infants within 48 hours of birth, further exploring options to eventually enable children to come off ART, even if just for a few months at a time, and investigate the potential for remission. See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter. Almost 400 infants have been enrolled across nine countries. The first cases might be eligible to stop ART later this year, according to the NIH. While Persaud said remission cases are likely to be the exception to the rule, she added that the long-term hope is to go from the need for daily ART, which involves potential toxicity and the need for adherence, to children being able to come off treatment for extended periods. Even not taking drugs for three months of life, some adults say is a big step for them, she said. “This can make living with HIV less burdensome … and just make life a lot more livable.”

early antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV-infected infants