A Florida family court judge on Tuesday granted custody to the father of a baby girl at the center of a dispute with US relatives of the infant’s deceased mother. In a case that local media compared to the protracted 2000 custody battle for Elian Gonzalez, Family Court Judge Migna Sanchez-Llorens ruled that the child, Valeria, is the biological daughter of  Yoelvis Gattorno, who lives in Cuba, and that he can take the baby to Cuba once she is cleared medically. Valeria was born prematurely last month and her mother, Yarisleidy Cuba Rodriguez, 34, died during childbirth at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, CNN affiliate WPLG reported. The judge also ruled that Valeria’s 15-year-old sister, who lives in Miami-Dade County and is not Gattorno’s biological daughter, will be allowed to visit the baby. Nirobis Pacheco, a cousin with whom the baby’s mother had been staying until her death, had temporary custody of the child until Tuesday’s decision. The judge decided that Gattorno can eventually take the baby to his native Santa Clara in the central Cuban province of Villa Clara, where he lives. The father told the court he wants the girl identified as Valeria Gattorno Cuba. Pacheco told WPLG last month that Rodriguez, who was born in Cuba, did not want her daughters to grow up there. “Her dream was always to be here with her daughters and move forward,” Pacheco told the station. Rodriguez, a Cuban citizen, had obtained a US visa through a special lottery and planned to petition Gattorno to come to the United States to with be with his family, Pacheco told the station. She died before the process was completed. “She was a special person,” Pacheco told the station. “We were always together from a young age.” Pacheco told the station that she took temporary custody so the baby wouldn’t have to go to a foster home. “The law says that Valeria should be with her father,” Pacheco said last month. “She has to be with her father. That’s the logical thing. … I would never be closed off to that.” The case differs from that of Elian Gonzalez, who was born in Cuba and was 6 years old when he was found in the water on Thanksgiving Day 1999 off the Florida coast. Valeria was born in the United States, where her mother was already living. Elian’s mother, Elizabeth, and nine other people who were taking part in a clandestine journey, drowned after their rickety boat capsized in high seas while they tried to make their way from Cuba to the United States. Elian’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, fought to bring the boy back to Cuba, with the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro leading massive protests on the island demanding Elian’s return from relatives of his mother in Miami. The case became a flashpoint in the already boiling feud between supporters and opponents of Castro’s revolution. As the two sides fought out the high-profile case in court, US immigration officials decided to put Elian in the custody of his father, who had come to the United States to press for his son’s return. Elian’s relatives in Miami refused to hand him over, and then, in a nighttime raid, armed federal agents stormed the home of his uncle and seized the boy. Elian was reunited with his father and after more court proceedings – ending with the Supreme Court rejecting the Miami relatives’ efforts to get him back – father and son flew home to Cuba, where Elian still lives.


Melania Trump has not made a public statement since January 12 That's the same day news broke of a possible payoff from her husband's lawyer to porn star Stormy Daniels First lady Melania Trump, in a change of plans, will not be joining President Donald Trump on his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this week. East Wing communications director Stephanie Grisham confirmed to CNN that the first lady’s decision to forgo the trip was based on “scheduling and logistical issues.” The year in Melania A week ago, Grisham told CNN the first lady would be attending the annual meeting of influential financial leaders and business titans in a show of support for her husband, who intends to give remarks during his visit. Related article Exclusive: Trump expected to invite France's Macron for first state visit of his presidency The President’s own trip to Davos was also in flux until several hours ago, due to the government shutdown, which has been now been resolved. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders had said Monday that if the government reopened, Trump would keep his promise to attend. “The President’s delegation will leave tomorrow, and the President will continue on his trip later in the week,” she said, in the event of the shutdown ending. Related article CNN Poll: Melania Trump's approval numbers top the President's Melania Trump has not made a public statement since January 12, when news of a possible payoff from her husband’s lawyer to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The first lady did, however, depart with the President later that day to Mar-a-Lago for the long holiday weekend, although she was not spotted with him during two evening dinners hosted by Trump, one with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and another with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & his service to this great country.  I am honored to be First Lady of a nation that continually strives for equality & justice for all. #MLKDay She tweeted on January 15 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, something her husband was criticized for not doing. This has been a year filled with many wonderful moments. I’ve enjoyed the people I’ve been lucky enough to meet throughout our great country & the world! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/MMRi72ENd0 On Saturday, Melania Trump marked the one-year anniversary of her husband’s inauguration by tweeting an image to mark the occasion that did not include the President, but rather was of herself, her arm linked with a military escort, at Trump’s inaugural swearing-in ceremony. She posted that the past year had been filled with “many wonderful moments,” but she did not mention the President by name.


John Kasich disparaged President Barack Obama plan to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Obama's proposal would move the majority of detainees to other countries, but some to the U.S. It didn’t take long for candidates hoping to replace President Barack Obama to weigh in on his plan to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Republican presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Tuesday he “profoundly disagrees” with the proposal. “These are people, some of them are the worst of the worst. Why would we send them into our country?” Kasich told Fox News Tuesday. “I profoundly disagree.” The President’s plan, submitted to Congress on Tuesday, would move the majority of detainees to other countries, while moving those who are deemed too dangerous to an undetermined detention facility in the United States. RELATED: Obama still plans to shut Guantanamo. Can he? Ben Carson, speaking to CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Tuesday afternoon, said he wouldn’t close Guantanamo until a better location was found to interrogate detainees. “Where do we have that can take these prisoners of war?” Carson asked. “I’m not seeing what the alternative is, quite frankly.” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio conflated Obama’s proposal to shut the facility with turning over the Guantanamo military base, where the prison is located, to the Cuban government. “We are not giving back an important naval base to an anti-American, Communist dictatorship,” Rubio said. “We are not going to close Guantanamo,” he said Tuesday while on the campaign trail in Las Vegas. “In fact, we shouldn’t be releasing people there now. These are enemy combatants … Not only are we not going to close Guantanamo, if we capture a terrorist alive, they are going to Guantanamo and we are going to find out everything they know.” Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security adviser, said last week the administration is not planning to return Guantanamo to Cuba, saying it “is not on the table as a part of our discussions.” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, also on the presidential campaign trail, also weighed in on the closing of Guantanamo, comparing the situation to when former President Jimmy Carter signed the Panama Canal Treaty, laying the groundwork for Panamanian control of the canal. “Four decades ago Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal, we built it, we paid for it and then a feckless left-wing president gave it away. Well Mr. President, you don’t have the authority to give away vital military assets, and if you do that, you will be held accountable by the next president for undermining the national security of this country,” said Cruz. The White House is already facing opposition from Republicans on Capitol Hill. Rubio also announced he is co-sponsoring a bill aimed at preventing the transfer of the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay to the Cuban government. Under the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Protection Act, the President would have to receive congressional approval before “terminating, abandoning, or transferring the 45 square mile lease of land or waterways at the facility.” Further complicating matters for the White House, Obama recently signed the Defense Authorization Act and a Defense appropriations measure into law, which contain provisions preventing the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. The White House is expected to say those provisions are unconstitutional. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who visited the prison during a 2014 trip to Cuba, lauded Obama’s proposal and sought to use the issue to contrast himself against rival Hillary Clinton. “I am encouraged to see that the President is sending Congress a plan to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison,” he said in a statement. “As I have said for years, the prison at Guantanamo must be closed as quickly as possible. Others, including my opponent, have not always agreed with me.” Sanders’ statement noted he was one of only three senators to vote in 2007 against barring the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to America; then-Sen. Clinton voted for the amendment that kept the prison open. CNN’s Theodore Schleifer contributed to this report

President Barack Obama's plan to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay


American department store Macy’s sparked a fierce debate on Thursday, when it launched a line of “modest clothing” that featured hijabs. The Verona Collection was founded by fashion photographer Lisa Vogl, after she converted to Islam in 2011, and struggled to find modest, fashionable clothing. The brand stands for “women’s empowerment and taking pride in one’s Muslim identity,” according to its website. Macy’s decision to stock Vogl’s line came after US retailer Nike released a “Pro Hijab” for Muslim athletes, and fashion brand American Eagle’s limited-edition denim hijab, which sold out. While the department store’s efforts to be inclusive were applauded by some online, others criticized it for legitimizing the hijab – a religious headscarf that has been politicized in some parts of the world in recent years and closely tied to women’s rights issues. Over the past few months in Iran, for example, some women have removed their headscarves in public to protest the country’s compulsory hijab law.  At least 29 people were arrested in the capital, Tehran, for their involvement in the protests. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a US-based Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, said Macy’s had “come under attack online by Islamophobes who routinely attack any manifestation of Islam in American society.” CNN reached out to Vogl and Macy’s, but they had no comment. New York-based Iranian activist and journalist Masih Alinejad launched a social media campaign, #MyStealthyFreedom in 2014, inviting women to post pictures of themselves without a hijab. CNN invited Alinejad to debate this contentious topic with Palestinian-American civil rights activist and Women’s March co-chair Linda Sarsour, who is based in New York and chooses to wear the hijab. Their responses have been edited for brevity. Linda Sarsour: For me my hijab is my choice, it’s my identity. I don’t leave my home without it because it makes me feel whole. And I’m very proud, every single day, of what I represent when I walk out to the streets of New York City or around the country. In my family I have four sisters, all four of my sisters do not wear hijab and they are just as Muslim as I am, and I love them no matter what they choose to do. Masih Alinejad: I don’t wear hijab now, but I remember when I was a kid, hijab meant everything to me. I always had the feeling that it was a link between me and my mother and my community and my people. It was my identity. I threw away my headscarf in my teenage youth – but in secret – when I found that it was not my identity, that it was because of the discriminatory law, social pressure, family pressure and emotional pressure. LS: To give Muslim woman the choice to be able to buy hijab at a major department store for me shows inclusivity, it gives women the opportunity to shop mainstream and not have to always be so siloed and go to specific retailers. MA: If Macy’s or Nike, Dolce & Gabbana, H&M, they choose to sell [hijab] that’s really their choice. When I see that you’re promoting hijab I have two different feelings, it makes me happy that you are supporting my mother [who wears hijab], but it reminds me that the women of Iran are being ignored by the government of Iran, and they use this small piece of cloth, hijab, as the most visible symbol of oppression. LS: [Macy’s is] doing this because it’s a good business decision and because they know that there is a market and that Muslim women are a big consumer base in America. So of course this is not a human rights campaign on behalf of Macy’s. We can hold both positions and say we respect your mom who chooses to wear hijab and also respect the women who choose not to wear hijab and stand up against governments who oppress women. MA: I don’t see any Muslim communities in the West being loud and condemning compulsory hijab, especially you, when people of Iran are putting themselves in danger and risking their lives. I was loud enough to condemn both the burkini ban and travel ban, but I never saw the feminists in the West condemning compulsory hijab when they go to my country… They go to Iran and they obey it … All I see is double standards and hypocrisy. LS: I will say on a personal level that I’ve been very vocal in support of Iranian women. For me, hijab is only a form of oppression when a government forces it on people, when a father forces it on his daughter or when a husband forces it on his wife. For me, as a woman who chooses to wear hijab, it is not a form of oppression and I will not be pushed into a position by anyone to say that hijab is a form of oppression. MA: Twenty-nine women who practiced civil disobedience, who peacefully took off their hijab, they are in prison. It’s a global issue and we should all condemn it. We shouldn’t let any feminists in the West downplay our cause and say this is a small issue, it’s not. A 2nd woman arrested in #Iran for protesting forced #hijab by taking off her headscarf.Name: Narges Hosseini  #نرگس_حسینیWomen are removing their hijab, posting it with the hashtag #دختران_خیابان_انقلاب meaning #GirlsOfRevolutionSt where #VidaMovahed first took off her hijab. pic.twitter.com/lLbeI5TZMo LS: Sister, I think I think the issue here is not whether or not we think it’s important … the issue is the narrative. In the United States, we as Muslim woman are attacked saying that we are upholding a system of oppression by wearing hijab. So we have a narrative we have to fight by saying we stand with women who choose not to wear hijab, and I will unequivocally say here that I stand with the brave courageous woman in Iran who are standing against compulsory hijab, but they also need us to create a narrative that says you also stand with my right as a Muslim woman in America who is having to endure Islamophobia. MA: It’s important if you care about human rights, women’s rights, you cannot use the same tool which is the most visible symbol of oppression in the Middle East and say that this is a sign of resistance [in the United States]. LS: A woman in Iran takes the risk of not wearing a hijab based on the laws there and has to risk that – we in the United States, Muslim women, risk wearing hijab. We have an exponential rise in hate crimes against Muslim women in hijab. If you could look at FBI statistics, [there are] unfortunately many assaults against women in hijab, women getting their hijabs ripped off. MA: Millions of girls will be kicked out from school if they don’t wear hijab, from the age of seven. We get kicked out from our country if we don’t wear hijab. We get lashes, we get fined, we go to prison. But show me how many countries that if women wear hijab will get lashes, how many countries if you wear hijab you get kicked out? How many countries in the world do you know that if you wear hijab you will be beaten up by morality police? MA: I’m coming from a country where for four decades the Islamic Republic of Iran wrote its ideology message on our bodies. We won’t be able to get an education from the age of seven if we don’t wear it. We won’t be able to live in our own country. LS: Hijab is solely a spiritual practice, but unfortunately there have been people who have taken it, including governments, to control women’s bodies. I hope we end this conversation by saying that you and I are actually a lot closer in what we believe that we think we are. Editor’s note: This story has been updated to add more of Masih Alinejad’s answers for further clarity.


Karen Pence is the second lady of the United States Her platform is art therapy Second lady Karen Pence has a message and a mission: Art therapy is not just arts and crafts. “From children with cancer to struggling teens to grieving families to people with autism to military service members experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, to those with eating disorders,” Pence said Wednesday. “Art therapy is changing lives and it is saving lives.” Pence formally unveiled her “Art Therapy: Healing with the HeART” policy platform and outlined goals for her work as second lady while speaking in Tallahassee, Florida, at Florida State University, which offers a Masters of Science in art therapy. #ArtTherapy is not well-known, but hope to change that. @floridastate art therapy program one of best in US. Happy to roll out my initiative pic.twitter.com/C97szkglL0 Pence is seeking to “elevate the profession so that people understand art therapy is a mental health profession.” “It is not arts and crafts. It is not therapeutic art. When I get out my watercolors and I turn on some music, that makes me feel better. People think that’s what we’re talking about. That is not art therapy,” she said. “For art therapy, you have to have the art and the client and the therapist, the trained therapist who has a clinical psychology background, who is somebody who can lead their client through the process.” Great meeting the art therapists and children of military service members benefiting from the Expressive Arts Group on the base in Hawaii. pic.twitter.com/BUHu7Y8oCJ The second lady wants people to understand that art therapy is an option for those dealing with trauma, and she is also hoping to use her platform to encourage more people to consider art therapy as a profession. Pence first became interested in art therapy over 10 years ago, visiting and later joining the board for Tracy’s Kids, a program for children with cancer in Washington. The second lady is an artist herself, specializing in watercolors of homes and historical buildings. Pence has a master’s degree in art education and taught for 25 years, 12 of which as an art teacher. She recently illustrated a children’s book about her family’s pet rabbit, out early next year. Related article Vice president's pet rabbit hops into book deal She emphatically stated: “I am not an art therapist. And I want everybody to know that, because an art therapist must be an expert in human development, psychology, counseling theories and techniques. However, I did know that I wanted to get involved.” Pence has already signaled her platform would be a significant priority: She’s made more than 20 art therapy-focused appearances since her husband assumed office. Wednesday’s announcement caps a jam-packed few weeks for Pence, visiting art therapy programs and exhibits across the country, including MercyFirst in New York, the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Maryland and New Directions for Veterans in California. Great to learn how New Directions for Veterans in Los Angeles is helping our country's heroes heal through art therapy. pic.twitter.com/Ctas8Ac2Nr When she traveled to Hurricane Maria-ravaged Puerto Rico with her husband, Pence came bearing 100 pounds of clay, and participated in an art session with children impacted by the hurricane and an art therapist. Took 100 pounds of clay to Puerto Rico after we heard the art therapist needed clay for the children impacted by #HurricaneMaria. pic.twitter.com/rc86X9ppdO Pence has also made art therapy a hallmark of her trips abroad with her husband, Vice President Mike Pence, visiting art therapy programs in South America, Asia, Australia and Eastern Europe. Interesting discussion with art therapists in Jakarta. They shared some encouraging stories. Keep up the good work! #SLinAsia #ArtTherapy pic.twitter.com/wXAHOA8KUN Pence said the Office of the Second Lady will continue to collaborate with the Art Therapy Association of America, art therapists, academics, military and veterans organizations and medical experts, and she will continue to speak publicly, visit art therapy programs, advocate for the conducting of more research showing its benefits, and share stories of art therapists and programs. She is also starting a blog on whitehouse.gov about her visits to spread the word. Glad to talk about art therapy at @BillingsClinic. Encouraged by the enthusiasm and interest in art therapy programs. pic.twitter.com/xdCsH8plXu Following her remarks, Pence was set to tour the art therapy program at Canopy Cove Eating Disorder Treatment Center in Tallahassee. Next week, she will return to Florida to speak about art therapy at the Creative Forces Summit in Tampa and then travel to Buffalo, New York, to participate in the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival.


North Korean official says country will not put nuclear weapons on negotiating table Diplomats from Seoul and Pyongyang talk briefly in Manila North Korea has accused the United States of “trying to drive the situation of the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war” after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted new sanctions Saturday in response to Pyongyang’s long-range ballistic missile tests last month. The measures aim to make it harder for North Korea to make money across the globe. They target North Korea’s primary exports – including coal, iron and seafood – and attempt to cut off its additional revenue streams by targeting some of its banks and joint ventures with foreign companies. The forceful comments, made in a statement released via the country’s permanent mission to the United Nations Monday, condemned the sanctions in the “strongest terms” declaring the resolution a “wanton infringement upon the sovereignty of the country.” Speaking at the ASEAN Regional Forum on Monday, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho blamed the US for the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and said Pyongyang’s “possession of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles is a legitimate option for self-defence in the face of a clear and real nuclear threat posed by the US.” “We will, under no circumstances, put the nukes and ballistic rockets on the negotiating table,” Ri said, adding Pyongyang would “teach the US a severe lesson” if it used military force against North Korea. North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency said the country’s missile launches were a “stern warning to the US,” and warned Washington against “believing that its land is safe across the ocean.” “(North Korea) will make the US pay dearly for all the heinous crimes it commits against the state and people of this country,” KCNA said. In other developments: RELATED: New North Korea sanctions are unlikely to make Kim blink US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the new UN measures were a stern message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that the international community is united in its commitment to see a Korean Peninsula without nuclear weapons. “We hope again that this ultimately will result in North Korea coming to a conclusion to choose a different pathway, and when the conditions are right that we can sit and have a dialogue around the future of North Korea so that they feel secure and prosper economically,” Tillerson said at a news conference in the Philippines capital, where he was attending a regional security meeting. Weapons experts say the two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), fired on July 4 and July 28, were theoretically capable of reaching the mainland United States. But they were both fired at a lofted angle, likely to avoid hitting land (both ICBMs landed in the waters off the coast of the Korean Peninsula.) Pyongyang sees its weapons program as the key to preventing US-led attempts at regime change, and the July missile tests showed Pyongyang may have passed an important threshold in its quest to obtain the ability to hit the US with a nuclear warhead. Some analysts have expressed doubt, however, that sanctions can stop the North Korean missile and nuclear programs, due to the regime’s ongoing commitment to its nuclear program – which they believe would be the last thing that would see spending cuts – and the rapid progress they’ve made in recent years. North Korea is governed by a military-first policy enshrined in its constitution. According to a statement from Russia’s foreign ministry, top diplomat Sergey Lavrov met with his North Korean counterpart at the forum. “Lavrov called on all parties involved to show the utmost restraint in order to avoid the implementation of negative power scenarios on the Korean Peninsula and immediately start searching for a political and diplomatic settlement through a comprehensive solution of the peninsula’s problems, including its denuclearization,” the statement said. North Korea has long maintained it wants nuclear weapons and long-range missiles in order to deter the United States from attempting to overthrow the regime of Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang looks at states like Iraq – where former dictator Saddam Hussein was overthrown by the United States, and Libya – the country’s late leader, Moammar Gaddafi, gave up his nuclear ambitions for sanctions relief and aid, only to be toppled and killed after the US intervened in the country’s civil unrest – and believes that only being able to threaten  the US homeland with a retaliatory nuclear strike can stop American military intervention. Tillerson is one of 27 global diplomats in the Philippines capital for the forum. His counterparts from Seoul and Pyongyang also are  in attendance and briefly spoke at a gala dinner Sunday night. The short conversation between South Korea’s Kang Kyung-wha and North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho, though unlikely to lead to a diplomatic breakthrough, represents the first known high-level encounter between the two Koreas since South Korea President Moon Jae-in took office in May. Kang told CNN the meeting was “unplanned” and only lasted a “couple of minutes.” “This regional forum is one of the few chances the North Koreans and South Koreans have to interact,” said Jean Lee, a global fellow for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the former Pyongyang bureau chief for the Associated Press. But according to South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing an unnamed government source, Ri told Kang during their meeting Sunday that South Korea’s offer of talks “lacked sincerity.” Moon has long been a proponent of greater dialogue with Pyongyang in order to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Foreign policy of South Korea from 1998 to 2008Policy of engagement with North Korea on economic and political issuesTwo South Korean Presidents traveled to PyongyangEarned South Korean President Kim Dae-jung a Nobel Peace PrizeFewer North Korean nuclear and missile tests during this periodUltimately failed to stop North Korean nuclear program Foreign policy of South Korea from 1998 to 2008Policy of engagement with North Korea on economic and political issuesTwo South Korean Presidents traveled to PyongyangEarned South Korean President Kim Dae-jung a Nobel Peace PrizeFewer North Korean nuclear and missile tests during this periodUltimately failed to stop North Korean nuclear program As an aide to President Roh Moo-hyun, Moon helped craft the so-called “Sunshine Policy,” which called for an increase of engagement in the political and economic spheres. “Ultimately, President Moon Jae-in is a strong believer on dialogue and wants to get things on a different track with North Korea,” said John Delury, an associate professor at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of international Studies in Seoul. South Korea’s former foreign minister, Yun Byung-se, also talked briefly with Ri at the same forum a year ago. The White House said that Trump and Moon spoke on Sunday Washington time about the sanctions and “affirmed that North Korea poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, South Korea, and Japan, as well as to most countries around the world.” Just completed call with President Moon of South Korea. Very happy and impressed with 15-0 United Nations vote on North Korea sanctions. When asked how long Pyongyang would need to stop launching missiles for – or if they would need to start dismantling their nuclear weapons program before talks – Tillerson said “we’ll know it when we see it.” “The best signal that North Korea could give us that they’re prepared to talk would be to stop these missile launches. We’ve not had an extended period of time where they have not taken some type of provocative action by launching ballistic missiles,” Tillerson said. “This isn’t about a specific number of days or weeks. This is really about the spirit of these talks and when they can demonstrate they’re ready to sit with the spirit of finding a way forward in these talks by no longer conducting these missile tests,” Tillerson said. “It is all about how we see their attitude toward approaching a dialogue with us.” But the US has long said it would agree to talk only if North Korea agrees to denuclearization – something many analysts believe is unlikely with North Korea’s weapons program having progressed as far as it has. China, North Korea’s main ally and economic benefactor, said Sunday that the situation on the Korean Peninsula had reached a “critical point of crisis,” but added that it was a “turning point for negotiations.” “Sanctions are necessary but in no way the ultimate purpose. Imposing fresh sanctions is aimed at bringing the conundrum back to the negotiation table,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. ASEAN foreign ministers also issued a joint statement condemning the missile tests and calling for “the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” CNN’s Richard Roth at the United Nations; Ivan Watson in Manila; Taehoon Lee in Seoul; Sol Han in Hong Kong; and Emma Burrows in Moscow contributed to this report


Editor’s Note: Joshua A. Geltzer and Luke Hartig served as senior directors for counterterrorism at the National Security Council from 2015-17 and 2014-16, respectively. The opinions expressed in this commentary are theirs. The horrific images of our fellow Americans forced into orange jumpsuits and beheaded by masked terrorists under the desert sun have been seared into our national consciousness. Nothing can bring back to their families the loved ones they’ve lost. But, with two of the suspected terrorists allegedly responsible for these murders now in custody, a measure of justice can be done. Yet, months after their capture, the fate of these detainees (who both deny involvement with ISIS) remains uncertain.  There appears to be a debate within our government about which country should hold these men accountable and – if it’s the United States – where to send them: to federal court for criminal prosecution or to Guantanamo Bay. As former career national security professionals in the US government, we have worked with colleagues across the government to figure out how best to handle terrorist suspects captured overseas. Sending these two to Guantanamo wouldn’t be smart and it wouldn’t be just – it would at a minimum be justice delayed, and more likely justice denied. The idea of sending these suspects – Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, believed to share responsibility for the deaths of Americans James Foley, Adbul-Rahman Kassig, Steven Sotloff and Kayla Mueller – to Guantanamo appears tied to the notion of prosecuting them before military commissions, rather than in federal court.  But Guantanamo’s military commissions have proven disastrous. They have obtained only a handful of convictions, with others reversed on appeal.  And they are currently in full meltdown mode, with the Defense Department lawyer overseeing them recently fired for reasons now publicly disputed, the lawyers in one case resigning en masse out of concern that the government was surveilling conversations with their client (which government prosecutors deny), and the judge in that case indefinitely postponing proceedings until someone tells him what to do next. Related article As ISIS fight ends, Brits should take the 'Beatles' back The families of 9/11 victims are still, all of these years later, waiting for the alleged perpetrators to go on trial at Guantanamo.  Forcing the same endless wait on the families of murdered hostages makes no sense. While these individuals await military trial at Guantanamo, they could cause real problems for our government. First, they’d cost millions of dollars per year to be held at Guantanamo – in contrast to the $86,000 per year it costs our government to hold each prisoner at Colorado’s Supermax facility. That’s in part because of the incredible burden of operating a prison on a small piece of an island not our own; and it’s in part because, as detainees under the law of war, these individuals would be entitled to conditions at Guantanamo far more comfortable than those afforded prisoners at Supermax. Second, these would be Guantanamo’s first detainees associated with ISIS rather than al Qaeda or the Taliban, and they could challenge in federal court whether they’re legally detained as such. That, in turn, could put before a federal judge the government’s entire theory of the authority for its critical, continuing campaign against ISIS, a theory that some legal commentators have questioned. The government is already trying to avoid litigating pending cases that challenge this same legal theory. Why give these guys a shot at bringing this question to the courts? Third, the prospect of detaining at Guantanamo these two men – former British nationals nicknamed “The Beatles” because of their British accents – could raise diplomatic complications with our closest ally, which previously faced domestic political outrage over the protracted detention at Guantanamo of former and now once-again British resident Shaker Aamer. Related video ISIS claims responsibility for Paris stabbing Fourth, even a military commission conviction could potentially be thrown out on appeal, as half of those already obtained at Guantanamo have been already.  Finally, if the military commissions never come to fruition – as looks increasingly likely for some detainees already at Guantanamo – and these individuals are held indefinitely under the law of war, eventually they may be entitled to their release if the armed conflict with ISIS concludes. That’s a truly terrifying prospect. So, what’s the alternative to Guantanamo? It’s prosecution in federal court, where more than 660 defendants have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes since 9/11. The life sentence imposed in March on former high-ranking al Qaeda member Muhanad al-Farekh and the November 2017 conviction of one of the perpetrators of the Benghazi attack showed, yet again, that the federal courts can deliver swift justice and lengthy sentences, even in complicated cases involving terrorists captured overseas. Of course, we don’t know the precise strength of the government’s case against the two captured “Beatles,” and even the government may not know that until it concludes its full investigation. But, assuming there’s a case to be made, the federal courts are the place to make it and see justice done. That’s not just our experienced view; it’s also governing US policy, which requires our government to “diligently seek to ensure that hostage-takers of US nationals are arrested, prosecuted and punished through a due process criminal justice system in the United States or abroad for crimes related to the hostage-taking.” Related video Trump reverses Obama policy on Guantanamo Bay Reasonable people can disagree on the merits of keeping Guantanamo open and of sending new detainees there.  But the question of what to do with the alleged murderers of US hostages should be solely focused on two things: seeing justice done and respecting the wishes of the families for prosecution. One potentially viable alternative to federal prosecution or Guantanamo would be for the British government to prosecute these men. Both are former British nationals and appear to have British blood on their hands, as well. Depending on the strength of the evidence, as well as the specifics of British criminal procedure, American and British prosecutors may deem this option more likely to bring justice to the families. Perhaps these considerations could justify that result; but the first choice for our government should be to see justice done for Americans right here in America. All told, bringing these individuals to Guantanamo would inject uncertainty into their fate, impose costs and tough legal challenges on our government, and infuriate our anti-Guantanamo British allies whose citizens also appear to have died at their hands – all with the possibility of eventual release. Perhaps most importantly, it would contradict the wishes of the families of the hostages allegedly murdered by these men. In contrast, and especially if British prosecution is unavailable, prosecuting them in federal court carries the prospect of seeing justice served, swiftly and for all to see.

sending the alleged terrorists to Guantanamo Bay


Editor’s Note: Candida Moss is a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame and co-author of “Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Childlessness and Procreation” (Princeton University Press, 2015). The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. Moss: Francis walked a tightrope between promoting traditional Catholic positions  and advancing social justice concerns The Pope deftly handled the public appearances, sending the messages he wanted his audiences to receive, and they applauded To put it in American terminology, it was a home run. Or a slam dunk. Or, given the multiplicity of issues, it was a hat trick. Throughout his visit, Pope Francis walked a tightrope between promoting traditional Catholic positions on bedroom ethics and religious freedom, and advancing social justice concerns like immigration, opposition to the death penalty and arms trade, and concern for the homeless. And everyone – from crowds to Congress – applauded him for it. In many ways he was all things to all people, in tone as well as content. The lofty philosophical language of his address to the United Nations (“aprioristic”? “declarationist nominalism”?) was followed by the emotional sensitivity and heartfelt depth of his words at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Francis had a message and method for communicating with everyone. With so many engagements over the course of the past week, Francis also had the opportunity to demonstrate a remarkable sense of timing. His support for the Iran nuclear deal, only alluded to in his address to Congress, became explicit when he took the stage in front of the United Nations. And his concern that Western society enforces ideological consistency became increasingly apparent during the visit. Understating hot-button issues in sensitive venues, only to circle back to them on other occasions, was, in many ways, a hallmark of the trip. Scheduling was also strategic in his dealings with church matters: He met privately in Washington with the Little Sisters of the Poor (a group currently suing the government over the  requirement in Obamacare that employers provide contraception) before publicly praising women religious (who had been censored by U.S. bishops for their seemingly liberal views) at St. Patrick’s on Thursday night. And he commended bishops for their courage in handling the sex abuse scandals, before convening privately with survivors of abuse. The delicate balance between private and public, conservative and liberal, was navigated with great care and greater public relations savvy. Related video Pope Francis meets with victims of sexual abuse Perhaps most surprisingly, Francis exhibited an exquisite sense of what kind of language and icons speak to the American people. The repeated self-references to his status as an immigrant, the gestures to American heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, and the appeal to the specifically American value of religious freedom made his speeches connect in ways that sheer charisma did not. Francis certainly did his homework, using common denominators like the Golden Rule and concern for our children to win over the ambiguously Christian moral majority. And while there were winners and losers (immigrants and the environment coming out top, Native Americans languishing at the bottom of the rankings), it was a visit that had something for everyone. It was, without a doubt, a success for the Holy See and Pope Francis. But, long term, what will be the impact of this historic visit? In religious quarters, the big winners were the U.S .bishops. Francis praised them not only for their courage in facing up to the sex abuse scandals but also for their charitable activities and their record in supporting immigration reform. His criticisms of them were subtle. In his arrival remarks at the White House, he referred to the U.S. bishops’ efforts to promote religious freedom. Between this and his refrain that religious freedom must be defended, the bishops can feel assured that they are on the right course. For the laity, the primary practical message was to pray. Francis’ practice of asking others to pray for him – something that he told everyone from small children to illustrious politicians – is one of the most poignantly humble aspects of his persona. But it was also a practical instruction. Before his lunchtime meeting with the homeless in Washington, he described prayer as something that erased differences of race, ethnicity, and class. Related article Pope Francis, a man of courage and love While his personal conduct witnesses to a whole host of behaviors he would like others to adopt, his direct message for the moment was to pray. This is something that Catholic groups will seek to capitalize on in the next year. In the political arena, there was something for everyone. Everyone, that is, except the United Nations, which was reprimanded for exploitative lending and ideological colonization with respect to gender identity and, perhaps, contraception. Republicans and Democrats alike will find things to latch onto in Francis’ words. The more vocal pushback from sourpuss conservatives should not convince us that Francis is politically liberal. He is not. These complaints are merely a witness to the ways that some U.S. Catholics, spoiled by the easy alliance between the church and the Republican Party in the past 20 years, feel irritated by Francis’ language about sustainability and wealth distribution. What we can and should expect is a race to appropriate Francis’ message on both sides of the aisle. His language about religious freedom will be music to the ears of the supporters of Kim Davis. Bernie Sanders, for his part, has already used Twitter to position himself as just to the right of Pope Francis. For the next 12 months, Francis will serve as a scriptural resource for aspiring presidential nominees and will have proven that he is more than just a tweetable pope. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion. Read CNNOpinion’s Flipboard magazine.


Japan's first lady makes a surprise visit to Pearl Harbor Rumors that her husband may follow suit refuted by top Japanese official The wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made a surprise visit to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, where Japanese planes launched an attack on a US naval base in 1941. The visit by Akie Abe Sunday quickly sparked rumors that her husband may follow suit later this year in what would be a landmark move that could strengthen ties between Japan and the US. These claims, however, were denied Monday by Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshide Suga who asserted that Akie Abe stopped by Pearl Harbor for a personal visit, before attending a forum on maritime environment in Hawaii. The Japanese first lady posted 11 photographs from her visit on her public Facebook page Monday that showed her praying, laying flowers on a memorial and shaking hands with a veteran during her two-hour visit to the USS Arizona Memorial on Oahu Island, where 1,177 military personnel were killed. 真珠湾のアリゾナ記念館にて、お花と祈りを捧げました。 現代ビジネス http://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/49502 https://www.nps.gov/valr/index.htm Jeffrey Kingston, the director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo, predicted that Aki Abe’s visit to Pearl Harbor would be well received in the US. “She prayed and made a gesture of contrition,” Kingston said. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 severely damaged the US Pacific fleet and pulled the United States into World War II. 真珠湾のアリゾナ記念館にて、お花と祈りを捧げました。 現代ビジネス http://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/49502 https://www.nps.gov/valr/index.htm Internationally, Japan’s first lady is known for her outspoken and flamboyant manner. She actively supports LGBT affairs and has attended a rally to denounce hate speech against ethnic Koreans in Japan, according to Kingston. She is not associated with her husband’s hardline revisionist stance on history and opposes his support for nuclear power, he added. Her Facebook page boasts over 97,000 followers. Related video Obama becomes first sitting president to visit Hiroshima In May 2015, Abe said he had no firm plans to reciprocate President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima in May 2016 by visiting Pearl Harbor. “When Obama made his gesture of contrition at Hiroshima, he was showing Abe that the path forwards stems from recognizing the past,” said Kingston. Brad Williams, a professor of Asian history and international studies at City University in Hong Kong corroborated this view. He said that a future visit by Abe to Pearl Harbor would strengthen diplomatic ties between the US and Japan. Kingston said, however, that a future Abe visit to Pearl Harbor might not be welcomed by everyone. “He represents a historical viewpoint that downplays Japanese misdeeds and that might not down well with certain groups in the US,” he said.

Japan's first lady Akie Abe's visit to Pearl Harbor


A newly discovered photo appears to show Amelia Earhart after her crash landing, some experts say But other experts remain unconvinced the photo proves anything A newly unearthed photo showing blurry figures on a dock may shed light on the 80-year-old mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart. A new History channel documentary quotes experts who say the image shows the famed pilot survived her 1937 crash in the Pacific. But other experts told CNN they aren’t convinced and say the photo is just another in a long history of unproven theories about the aviator’s disappearance. “I don’t blame people for wanting to know,” said Dorothy Cochrane, curator for the Aeronautics Department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “It is one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century because she was so well known.” Earhart, the pioneering aviator who became the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic, famously disappeared with her navigator Fred Noonan on July 2, 1937, while attempting to fly to Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. Her fate has been a figure of fascination, and professional and amateur investigators have offered many theories over the years on what happened to the daring pilot. The photograph, recently discovered in the National Archives by former US Treasury Agent Les Kinney, allegedly shows Earhart and Noonan among a group of people on a dock on Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Publication of the image comes in advance of the network’s two-hour special, “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence,” which airs Sunday. An expert in facial recognition said the hairline of a man standing at far left in the photo matches that of Noonan, while the torso measurements and short hair of a person sitting on the dock matches that of Earhart, according to a clip shown on NBC’s “Today.” The expert came to this conclusion by comparing Noonan’s nose, teeth and hairline to the man in the image. He then used Earhart’s torso measurements to compare her with the other figure. The documentary also says that a blurry form in the background, on the far right beyond the bow of the large ship, appears to be Earhart’s plane. The photo could support the documentary’s theory that Earhart and Noonan crashed in the Marshall Islands and were captured by the Japanese military. This means the duo could have died in Japanese custody on the island of Saipan rather than in a crash landing, according to the History channel. The image would corroborate witness accounts who have previously said they saw the Electra aircraft land and the pair in custody, History says. It also supports speculation surrounding pieces of metal discovered in 2014, which were thought to be a part of the plane. A light aircraft revolution takes off But other experts aren’t convinced the image proves much of anything. The Smithsonian’s position, according to Cochrane, follows the commonly held belief that Earhart and Noonan had communications problems and couldn’t find Howland Island. They then ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific Ocean somewhere near there, she said. Anything further than that is largely unproven theorizing, she said. “It’s not the exciting theory. It’s not the attention grabber,” she said. “I would prefer to think that she had more of a quick exit via a crash in the ocean rather than capture by the Japanese … but that’s neither here nor there. (That’s just) wishing her a speedy end rather than a nasty one.” Cochrane said she has seen the new photo from the History documentary and called it “interesting” but “not definitive.” “People take photos and interpret them, and they’re free to do that,” she said. “It has not persuaded me.” Richard Gillespie, a board member of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), was similarly skeptical of the documentary’s photo, which he became aware of more than a year ago. “I don’t believe there is legitimacy to this,” he told CNN. Related article Amelia Earhart's last chapter was as a heroic castaway Gillespie said he looked into the photo and believes the person sitting down has too much hair to be Earhart and that the alleged Noonan figure has the wrong hairline. Gillespie and TIGHAR have their own theories about Earhart’s fate that don’t square with the documentary. They think the aviator survived a rough landing on Gardner Island, a remote atoll in the southwestern Pacific, but died soon after. “We believe she died as a castaway,” he said. “All evidence points to that. We have a photo that forensic analysts have looked at – a photo taken three months after Earhart’s disappearance – and we can’t say for sure but it appears to be her landing gear … that matches the records of the flight.” In any case, Earhart’s disappearance remains an intriguing mystery that appears to have no firm conclusion in sight. “The world was following her,” Cochrane said. “So it is really someone (who) drops off the face of the Earth. Naturally everyone wants to know what happens.” Airplane geeks should check out these 5 bases and museums Swiss aviator’s pictures show a bygone Africa and Middle East Vintage photos from the golden age of air travel CNN’s Laritza Salazar contributed to this report.


Mohammad Abdulazeez' mother claimed she was beaten by husband during marriage She and shooter's father ended dispute a month later, with stipulations The 24-year-old man who killed five U.S. service members and wounded two others in Chattanooga came from a violent home, according to allegations made by his mother in court documents obtained by CNN. Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez grew up in a home where his father, Youssuf S. Abdulazeez, according to divorce papers filed by his mother, had beaten her repeatedly, sometimes “severely,” leading Rasmia Abdulazeez to file for divorce and seek a restraining order in February 2009. The mother alleged in the divorce filing that Youssuf Abdulazeez sought to take a second wife. Mohammad Abdulazeez, who was killed by Chattanooga police after his rampage Thursday, would have been 18 years old at the time of the filing of  the court papers, in which his mother states he and his four siblings witnessed the violence in the home. The divorce papers were filed by the mother in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and state that Youssuf Abdulazeez “has repeatedly beaten Plaintiff, including at times in the presence of children. On one occasion, he beat Plaintiff so severely that she has fled the marital home and went to a Crisis Center.” The mother also alleged that the father “has sexually assaulted the Plaintiff in the marital home when the children have also been in the home,” and that occasionally, he was “physically and verbally abusive towards the children, striking and berating them without provocation or justification.” At one point, Rasmia Abdulazeez’ brothers came to Chattanooga from Kuwait and Washington, D.C. to “work out family difficulties,” but that after they returned “Defendant has become more abusive,” according to the complaint filed by the mother. In the court papers, Rasmia Abdulazeez claims that her husband “…intends to take a second wife, as permitted under Islamic law, in the parties’ native State of Palestine.” Rasmia Abdulazeez was seeking custody of the couple’s minor children because, according to her, she did not work and her husband only gave her a few dollars a week. Despite problems described by the mother in the papers, the case was all dropped and an agreement signed by both husband and wife was filed to end the dispute within several weeks, the papers show. In the agreement to end the dispute, the “Husband agrees to not inflict any personal injury, harm, or insult upon the Wife or upon any of the children of their marriage.” In those documents the elder Abdulazeez also “agrees to be responsible for financially supporting the family and paying for the day-to-day expenses associated with the family’s residence… and the needs of the members of the household.” The FBI hasn’t released much information on Mohammad Abdulazeez, saying it doesn’t yet know what motivated Thursday’s bloodshed, but it is working on an assumption. “We will treat this as a terrorism investigation until it can be determined that it is not,” said FBI Special Agent Edward Reinhold. People who knew Mohammad Abdulazeez said they were stunned to hear he was the man who went on such a violent, murderous spree, when he sprayed a military recruiting center at a strip mall with bullets on Wednesday, then drove more than 7 miles to assault a Navy Operational Support Center. Mohammad Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait in September 1990, during the Iraqi invasion of that country, Kuwait’s Interior Ministry said Friday, but he was also a holder of a “temporary Jordanian passport,” according to a Jordanian government source. They explained that Abdulazeez was a Palestinian who used the temporary Jordanian passport as a travel document. Jordan issued such temporary passports to Gazans and some other Palestinians. But the officials stressed he is not considered to be a Jordanian citizen. Abdulazeez was in Jordan in 2014, when he visited an uncle there; it is believed he spent months there on his visit. The father, Youssuf Abdulazeez, is believed to have left Jordan and came to the United States in 1982, according to Jordanian officials. Law enforcement officials told CNN the father’s name came up during a FBI terror-financing investigation in the 1990s, and the FBI fully investigated him in 2002 for alleged financial support of overseas groups, but both investigations were closed with no charges brought against Youssuf Abdulazeez. Numerous efforts by CNN to reach the father, Youssuf Abdulazeez, for comment about the divorce papers and allegations were unsuccessful. He did not appear to have an attorney or make any court filings during the civil proceedings with his wife.


In Courtney Maum’s “Touch,” fictional trends forecaster Sloane Jacobsen struggles with her world’s increased focus on technology while she craves real human contact, and maybe even love. An adopted thirty-something whose parents have died, Nina Popkin searches for her biological mother and the rest of her family along the way in “The Survivor’s Guide to Family Happiness,” by Sandi Shelton under the pen name Maddie Dawson. Erin Wathen’s latest book, “More Than Words: 10 Values for the Modern Family,” challenges readers to practice the family values of inclusion, hope and love that she finds in the heart of the Christian Gospel. Perhaps because there is so much that is tearing us apart, the same themes of connection and community and the attempt to understand how we can do better recur in so many recent works of fiction and nonfiction. And what better books to pack as travelers head out on vacation this summer? Chosen by some of today’s most popular and interesting authors, some of these books may be an easy lift for a lazy day at the beach. But many also attempt to understand the conflicted world in which we find ourselves. Sometimes called a modern Jane Austen, author Elinor Lipman writes characters whose search for love and meaning are both witty and serious, comic and at times heartbreaking. “The new Anita Shreve, ‘The Stars Are Fire.’ I raced through it, and it’s a wonderful page turner,” says Lipman, whose latest novel is the charming “On Turpentine Lane.” “I couldn’t put it down. I sent one to my brand-new daughter-in-law and one to my sister-in-law.” “The other one I’m recommending I finished this morning,” says Lipman, who talked to CNN in late May. “Dinner with Edward” is Isabel Vincent’s memoir about a friendship that developed over dinners with her friend’s elderly father. “I bought three of them so far as gifts already,” says Lipman. “It’s about food and cooking and friendship.” Sandi Shelton loves “People Like You,” Margaret Malone’s debut collection of short stories. “Malone’s characters are funny and unhappy and self-sabotaging and honest and brave,” says Shelton, who writes under the name Maddie Dawson. “I couldn’t stop reading these stories and now I find myself missing them, so I go and reread them over and over. I want to go over to Malone’s house and cook her meals and do her grocery shopping so that she has time to write more books, because the world needs more of her writing.” Shelton also recommends “All the Good Parts” by Loretta Nyhan, calling it “a funny story that has depth and wisdom and heartbreak, all rolled into one book, just like life.” It’s the story of a 39-year-old single woman who decides she wants a baby and proceeds to sort through a bunch of potential fathers to decide which one to choose, taking her family’s opinions into account. “Nyhan writes lovable, exasperating, real-life characters, people so real you half expect to run into them on the street.” “I ask a lot from my summer reads,” says Courtney Maum, author of “Touch.”  “I want to be challenged, persuaded, seduced and entertained.” That explains why one of her recommendations is Jimin Han’s “A Small Revolution.” “It’s a harrowing – yet hopeful – fictional exploration inside the head of a gunman holding college students hostage,” Maum says. “Bring along the equally necessary essay collection ‘Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times,’ edited by Carolina De Robertis, to hear some of our nation’s greatest voices championing optimism and kindness as an antidote to uncertain times.” Need some hope? Try “Wait Till You See Me Dance” by Deb Olin Unferth. “No one can resist Unferth’s masterful distortion of the American dream with a set of unforgettable mistake-makers who aren’t quite past redemption.” It’s no surprise that Erin Wathen, author of “More Than Words” and senior pastor at St. Andrew’s Christian Church in Kansas City, Missouri, recommends books that make us aware of the power of community. In Fredrik Backman’s “A Man Called Ove,” a widower plans to take his own life to join his wife in the hereafter. “But the pesky neighbors keep butting in at exactly the wrong time – or rather, the right time,” Wathen says. “This is a deeply human read about the transformative powers of community. It is warm without being too precious.” In “Ready Player One,” Ernest Cline creates “a dystopian future in which society spends most of its collective time in a virtual reality,” says Wathen. “The creator of that virtual world dies, leaving behind a virtual quest: Find prizes hidden within the intricate gaming system, and ultimately inherit his empire.”  The movie version of this 2011 novel releases next year. With her latest cookbook, “100 Days of Real Food: Fast & Fabulous,” Lisa Leake is teaching people to cook real food with real ingredients. Those meals also bring families together around the table. (Try her first cookbook, “100 Days of Real Food,” to make pulled pork and chicken stock overnight in the slow cooker.) That’s why it makes sense she’d recommend a book that gets kids to eat (she has two). “‘French Kids Eat Everything’ by Karen Le Billon is an inspirational account of the author’s own experience moving from North America to France with two young kids in tow,” she says. “The book will help reframe your thinking when it comes to tackling picky eating.” When she’s not cooking or reading about cooking, Leake loves memoirs. “Breaking Night” by Liz Murray “gives you a window into what the author’s childhood was like with irresponsible, drug-addicted parents,” she says. “I couldn’t put this book down toward the end when her life finally started to turn the corner. The way the community came together to support this young stranger in need is enough to restore one’s faith in humanity.” Acclaimed author and History Channel host Brad Meltzer writes best-selling thrillers for adults – his latest is “The House of Secrets.” But he has more recently carved out a niche as a children’s author with his “Ordinary People Change the World” series. His most recent book in the series is “I Am Jim Henson.” It may be hard for an author to admit, but Meltzer does: “I have three reluctant readers in my house.” With “Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth” by Judd Winick, it didn’t matter. “This wonderful graphic novel about a robot boy who comes to Earth is the only book that all my kids loved, absolutely loved,” he says, calling it “full of heart in a robot body.” This summer, Meltzer predicts that millions of kids will go see the “Captain Underpants” movie. He will, too. “But don’t let it dissuade you from reading Dav Pilkey’s amazing new ‘Dog Man’ series, which my son absolutely devoured, about a dog who is put in the body of a police officer. Like ‘Robocop’ for kids, with a dog, and a cop, and laughs.” In the picture book genre, Meltzer loves “What Do You Do With An Idea” by Kobi Yamada. “It gives me faith in the universe and shows the power of ideas. It’s a book I want my kids to read, but also to live.” Is that what you really want to read on the beach this summer? For guidance, we turn to Stacy Finz, who often sets her characters in the rugged California mountains. Her latest book, “Falling Hard,” released April 1, while her next book, “Need You,” releases July 25. She recommends Robyn Carr’s latest work, “Any Day Now,” set in a rustic campground off the beaten track in the Colorado mountains. “Carr has a gift for taking serious subject matter, wrapping it in an uplifting story and tugging at a reader’s heart,” says Finz. Finz also recommends Lori Wilde’s “Million Dollar Cowboy: A Cupid, Texas Novel,” calling it “pure romance with a whole lot of sexy,” says Finz. “I discovered her books long before I became a romance writer and haven’t been able to put them down since.”


Swedish prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Assange in August 2010 He has been holed up at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has begun giving a statement in the presence of a Swedish prosecutor regarding allegations he sexually assaulted two women in the country six years ago, WikiLeaks tweeted Monday. The questioning took place in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the 45-year-old Australian has been holed up since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden. “After UN & court findings condemning 6 years of abuses by Sweden against Assange, Sweden finally takes his statement for the first time ever,” the official WikiLeaks account tweeted. Wikileaks also released a statement Monday, complaining that Assange’s Swedish lawyer, Per Samuelson, was not notified or summoned to attend the session, which it called a “clear breach of process.” The statement said that there were many “irregularities in Sweden’s preliminary investigation, which the UN has described as ‘excessive and unnecessary’ .” “Sweden’s failure to progress the preliminary investigation until now has resulted in a gross breach of Mr Assange’s right to be presumed innocent and has fatally harmed his ability to meaningfully defend himself,” the statement said. A throng of journalists awaited Swedish prosecutor Ingrid Isgren as she arrived at the embassy Monday to attend the questioning of Assange on the sexual assault allegations made by two female WikiLeaks volunteers in Sweden. Under the arrangement made between Sweden and Ecuador – the result of years of complicated diplomatic and legal negotiations – Sweden prepared a list of questions for an Ecuadorian prosecutor to ask Assange and his legal team in the presence of Isgren and a Swedish police investigator. A DNA sample was also to be taken during the visit, subject to Assange’s consent, according to the terms of the arrangement. After the questioning, Ecuadorian officials would file a report on the interview to the Swedes, who would then decide whether or not to file charges. Isgren left the embassy more than three hours after she arrived Monday, and returned about an hour later. The interview is the latest twist in a long legal saga that has played out since Swedish prosecutors first issued an arrest warrant for Assange in August 2010, and began seeking his extradition. Assange, who has denied the sex assault allegations, has said he fears extradition to Sweden could result in another extradition to the United States, where he could face the death penalty if he is charged and convicted of publishing government secrets through WikiLeaks. Related video Assange: We are working on hacking Trump's taxes After British courts ruled in support of Assange’s extradition to Sweden, Ecuador granted the WikiLeaks founder  political asylum in August 2012. This year, Assange’s legal team has intensified its calls for Sweden to adhere to a non-binding opinion by the United Nations working group on arbitrary detention, which stated in February that his confinement in the embassy should be considered as arbitrary detention enforced by Sweden and Britain. But in September, a Swedish court ruled that the arrest warrant for Assange on allegations of rape still stood – the eighth time the European arrest warrant had been tested in a Swedish court. A small group of Assange supporters gathered outside the embassy Monday. Once a hero to many on the left, Assange has faced criticism for WikiLeaks’ intervention in the US presidential election, releasing a trove of hacked emails from Democratic organizations and figures that were damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The Obama administration said it was confident Russia was behind the hacks, and Ecuador temporarily cut off Assange’s Internet access in the embassy in response to his activities. Ecuador takes responsibility for cutting internet to Assange Many of Assange’s supporters have called on President-elect Donald Trump to pardon Assange when he takes office. But despite Trump having claimed “I love WikiLeaks” on the campaign trail, it is unclear whether Assange’s fortunes will change under his presidency. CNN’s Claudia Rebaza contributed to this report.


"Liberation Day" is a documentary about one of the first Western rock bands to play North Korea. Laibach is a Slovenian industrial rock band known for inciting controversy. Growling “Sound of Music” covers while decked out in military uniforms, Laibach was one of the first Western bands to perform in North Korea. It was an ironic juxtaposition, a politically provocative band performing to an audience of 1,500 in a closed communist society. “One goal was simply to see if it could be done,” said Morten Traavik, the director of a new documentary about the 2015 concert. The Slovenian industrial rock band is well known for inciting controversy, with rally-like concerts, even projecting porn clips over old propaganda video. Their name is taken from the German name of the Slovenian capital under Nazi occupation. It was Laibach’s first and only trip to North Korea. They toured around the country and band member Ivan Novak said he saw “poverty and elegance,” but none of the “cynicism, negativism” and “pornography” he sees in the West. “When you are there, you really feel like you are in the Truman show,” Novak said. “It is a kind of existing utopia that it looks likes it is functioning.” Censors regularly hung around their practice sessions, suggesting many concert edits. Laibach obliged, deleting nude imagery and half of their show, from 18 songs to nine and 90 minutes to 45. The lineup included some of their own songs like “The Whistleblowers,” a version of the Korean song, “Arirang” and “Sound of Music” covers, but their tribute to the North Korean song “We Will Go to Mount Paektu” was cut. Censors said it would cause “complete mayhem.” “That censorship is not as cunning as censorship in the West,” said Novak. “If you go on YouTube, they tell you this and this videos are not appropriate for advertising, so that is a form of censorship in the West…. But in North Korea … it’s purely aesthetical things really, this explosion is too heavy.” “Liberation Day,” the documentary about the show was released last year, and is currently being shown in film festivals all over the world. The documentary details Laibach’s path to North Korea and how the band dealt with outdated technology, censorship and clashing cultures once they were there. “It was kind of a no-brainer, that Laibach’s totalitarian aesthetics, their story and everything about them made it the most challenging and, at same time, the most familiar, to bring to North Korean ears,” said Traavik. During the 2015 show, when the camera pans to the audience, many of the North Koreans look confused. “It’s a very normal reaction to any Laibach show anyway,” said Traavik, on the phone in Barcelona while promoting the documentary at the city’s film festival. Reviews of the documentary are mixed, calling the film everything from “thoughtful” to “bizarre.” Related article Laibach rocks Pyongyang with the 'Sound of Music' Novak hasn’t been back since, but director Traavik has traveled to North Korea more than 20 times, directing other art projects like students in an accordion version of A-ha’s “Take on Me,” a Norwegian festival and a DMZ academy, bringing European artists into North Korea for a symposium. He also has a very different take on North Korea, describing it as a “third world country posing as a super power.” “This country cannot be a threat to anybody but itself,” he said.


The administration is trying to explain the way a cash payment was handled as leverage for the prisoners US officials deny the payment was a "ransom" for US prisoners Obama administration officials described a tense and hectic 48 hours in January in a call with reporters Friday, when the release of four American prisoners from Iran – already agreed to in principle – seemed anything but certain. The call was an attempt to help explain the way a $400 million cash payment – part of a settlement in another dispute – was handled as leverage for the prisoners. The payment has been criticized as ransom for the prisoners, a charge the administration sought to debunk Friday. “There was truly a profound lack of trust on this very difficult prisoner exchange track,” a senior administration official said of the secret talks with Iran, “and even over the final 48 hours, there were repeated indications that our people may not actually ever be permitted to leave Iran.” In those crucial hours, the official said, the Iranians leaked information about the deal to the media, detained the American prisoners at the airport as they were preparing to leave and even led negotiators to believe they might return the prisoners to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Also of concern, the official said, was the disappearance in the final hours of Yeganeh Salehi, an Iranian citizen who is married to released Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and was included in the exchange. According to the official, her whereabouts were even unknown to delegation of Iranian negotiators in Geneva, Switzerland, leading some to speculate there might have been internal attempts within Iran to sabotage the deal. “So a number of things were going on which caused us great concern,” the official said. Around the same time, issues were popping up in the US. Iranian prisoners – some of them dual citizens – who were being released from US jails in exchange for the Americans were refusing to return to Iran, raising suspicions on the Iranian side, the official said. “One of the Iranian-Americans in a US prison then refused his pardon initially,” said the official, “and the Iranians in Geneva said that, unless he accepted his pardon, they would not release our people. … The Iranians thought we were pulling a fast one on them, because why would this guy not accept his pardon?” It was under these circumstances, the official said, that the US decided to hold up a $400 million payment to Iran, which they owed as part of settlement in a Hague tribunal case and had planned to make on the same day as the exchange to take advantage of the momentum of the moment. “It would have been irresponsible under these circumstances for us to move ahead with the separate Hague settlement and subsequent payment unless and until we knew the Americans were free,” the official said. “What we thought and hoped would be a smooth culmination day ended up being hardly that.” When a video emerged earlier this month that purportedly showed the payment of $400 million on the same day the prisoners were released, the Obama administration was hit with accusations they’d paid a ransom for the Americans. At the time, officials denied there was any connection between the payment and the exchange. But when The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the money had been held until the prisoners were let go, the narrative began to change. On Thursday, the State Department’s spokesman, John Kirby, said the US used the $400 million as “leverage” to address concerns Iran might renege on the release. Nevertheless, officials insist the payment was not a “random” or a “quid pro quo” as some critics have deemed it.


Two British journalists and their guide, all working for Vice News, are charged in Turkey They're accused of "knowingly and willfully helping the armed terrorist organization," a semiofficial news agency reports Vice News says the journalists were unjustly detained; rights groups call for their immediate release A Turkish court has charged two Vice News journalists and their “fixer” with a terrorism offense, several days after they were detained in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, a heavily Kurdish area. The three, held last Thursday, were charged late Monday with “knowingly and willfully helping the armed terrorist organization without being a part of its hierarchical structure,” according to Turkey’s semiofficial Anadolu news agency. It didn’t name the organization they were allegedly aiding. The reporters’ treatment has raised questions about the Turkish government’s commitment to freedom of expression. Vice named the two British journalists as Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury but did not identify the fixer – a journalist acting as a translator and guide. However, he was named by Anadolu as Mohammed Ismael Rasool. “Today the Turkish government has leveled baseless and alarmingly false charges of ‘working on behalf of a terrorist organization’ against three Vice News reporters, in an attempt to intimidate and censor their coverage,” Kevin Sutcliffe, Vice’s head of news programming in Europe, said in an online statement. “Prior to being unjustly detained, these journalists were reporting and documenting the situation in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakir.” The journalists’ driver was also detained but has since been freed, said Vice News, a U.S.-based news outlet. Anadolu reported that the prosecutor’s office started an investigation after a tipoff that three foreign journalists were recruiting for terror organizations, specifically ISIS. However, the investigation is now leaning toward a relationship with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, according to Anadolu. Turkey and the United States list the PKK as a terrorist organization. Anadolu said that a police record includes footage of members of the PKK’s youth wing, YDG-H, with weapons, Molotov cocktails and homemade bombs, as well as interviews with masked YDG-H members. Police also found a day planner with explanations and translations of PKK structures, it said. Hanrahan told police that the day planner included his research as a reporter, and Pendlebury said that he’d shot footage as a war reporter but that he did not know that the people in the footage were associated with any organization, according to Anadolu. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Diyarbakir authorities to release the trio immediately and allow them to resume their work. “The renewed clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish separatists in the volatile southeast are of public interest to both domestic and international audiences,” said Nina Ognianova, the committee’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Authorities ought to protect, not gag journalists on the job.” The Committee to Protect Journalists said its research indicated that broadly worded anti-terror laws in Turkey have allowed authorities to conflate the coverage of banned groups and sensitive topics with anti-state activity. “Talking to all parties involved in a conflict is just good journalism,” Ognianova said. “Being ‘in close contact’ with their sources is what reporters do.” Freedom of speech group PEN International warned that the journalists’ detention was part of a worrying trend in Turkey, particularly with regard to coverage of the banned PKK and tensions in Turkey’s heavily Kurdish areas. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to carry out journalistic duties in Turkey,” said Zeynep Oral, president of PEN Turkey. “In a period of uncertainty, both in the country and in the region, we are in the greatest need of freedom of expression and the right to know. We ask for justice and the immediate release of journalists doing their jobs.” Rights group Amnesty International also called on Turkish authorities to release the journalists immediately. Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher, slammed their detention as “yet another example of the Turkish authorities suppressing the reporting of stories that are embarrassing to them.” The UK Foreign Office said it was providing consular assistance and was “in touch with the relevant authorities” after the arrest of the two British nationals in Diyarbakir. Asked about the British journalists’ situation, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said: “Freedom of expression, including for journalists, and due process are key elements in every healthy democracy and are enshrined, in fact, in the Turkish Constitution as well as Turkey’s (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) commitments and Turkey’s international human rights obligations. “So as Turkey’s friend and NATO ally, we urge Turkish authorities to ensure their actions uphold universal democratic values, including due process, freedom of expression, as well as access to media and information.” CNN’s Zeynep Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul, and Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London. CNN’s Khushbu Shah and Alexander Felton contributed to this report.


China views Taiwan as a renegade province "Everything is under negotiation, including 'One China,' " Trump said Friday China’s Foreign Ministry firmly pushed back Saturday against President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that the “One China” policy on Taiwan is negotiable, calling it the “political foundation” of the relationship between the US and China. China views Taiwan as a renegade province and, since 1979, the US has acknowledged Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China, with US-China relations governed by a set of protocols known as the “One China” policy. “The ‘One China’ principle is the political foundation of Sino-US relations and it is non-negotiable. We urge the relevant side in the US to recognize the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue and abide by the pledges by successive US administrations from both parties,” spokesman Lu Kang said. He was responding to a question about Trump’s remarks Friday in The Wall Street Journal in which he said, “Everything is under negotiation, including ‘One China.’ “ “The pledges include adopting the ‘One China’ policy, adhering to the principles in the three Sino-US joint communiques and properly handling the Taiwan issue. Only doing so would prevent the healthy and stable development of Sino-US relations as well as bilateral cooperation in major areas from being affected,” Lu added. Chinese state media slams Tillerson over South China Sea The Chinese official highlighted the international community’s view on the issue in a statement. “There is only one China in the world. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory and the People’s Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing China,” Lu said. “These are facts recognized by the international community and no one can change this.” China’s foreign ministry lodged a complaint last month with the United States after a phone call between Trump and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen overturned decades of diplomatic protocol, because there are no formal diplomatic relations between the US and the province. At the time, Trump said he was merely accepting a congratulatory call from the Taiwan leader, tweeting, “Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call.” CNN’s Steven Jiang and Sara Mazloumsaki contributed to this report.


In seven days, aircraft and boat patrol teams searched a total of 16,571 square miles Survivors marooned for eight days with 'limited supplies' Two stranded mariners were rescued after a US Navy aircraft crew spotted three vital letters etched into the sand while flying over a deserted beach in Micronesia: “SOS.” The US Navy alerted a Guam search and rescue team identifying the uninhabited location, the Coast Guard in Guam said in a statement Friday. The survivors, who were marooned for eight days with “limited supplies and no emergency equipment on board,” were picked up Friday and transferred to Nomwin atoll, according to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard received a report about an 18-foot vessel with two people aboard missing since August 19. The ship left Weno Island two days earlier en route to Tamatam Island – but the castaway pair never made it. In seven days, the aircraft and boat patrol teams searched a total of 16,571 square miles before rescuing the boaters, who have yet to be identified, the Coast Guard said.


CDC: More than 5,500 people in Puerto Rico have been diagnosed with the Zika virus Photographer Carolyn Drake didn't see any panic when she visited in July When photographer Carolyn Drake arrived in Puerto Rico under the weight of the muggy July heat, she was prepared to cover the U.S. territory’s growing number of Zika cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that more than 5,500 people in Puerto Rico have been diagnosed with the Zika virus, including over 600 pregnant women. But despite the epidemic, Drake didn’t observe anyone panicking during her five-day trip. “I didn’t see people spraying their clothes or being hyperaware,” she said. “Their main concern was not trying to prevent themselves from getting Zika. It’s not like everyone is putting screens on their windows and running around with repellant every day.” The CDC says approximately 80% of people who are infected with Zika don’t exhibit any symptoms, so the number of those affected is likely much higher. Pregnant women face the most-known threat, as an infection could lead to a birth defect known as microcephaly, in which the child is born with a small brain and head. Microcephaly can lead to developmental issues and even death. Drake examined a wide range of life during her short time in Puerto Rico, with her visits including beaches, restaurants and health clinics. In one clinic Drake visited, couples and expectant mothers filled the room to the brim while a TV reporter peppered a doctor with questions about Zika in English. Packets were distributed with repellant and pink mosquito nets. Drake was only allowed to photograph the educational aspects of these clinics. Due to privacy laws, she was not allowed to interview anyone there with Zika. Drake was eating in a restaurant with her translator when they met Rosio Cancel, a young woman who had just been diagnosed with Zika. The only reason Cancel had even discovered she had contracted the illness was because she had her blood tested a few days prior when she went to donate blood for a friend. Drake spent the day talking to Cancel and listening to her explain why she’s not that concerned about Zika. Social mediaFollow @CNNPhotos on Twitter to join the conversation about photography. A year ago, Cancel had chikungunya, another mosquito-borne illness that she said was much worse. She was left with joint pain and aching muscles. As for her bout with Zika, she took a day off work and then was back in the restaurant the next day. Cancel was much more interested in talking about the relations between the United States and Puerto Rico than she was about the Zika she had just been diagnosed with. During her stay, Drake encountered outreach programs set up to educate people about how they can protect themselves from Zika. In the parking lot of a Home Depot, she photographed a table that was set up with repellant sprays, tubes and a beaker holding mosquitoes for demonstration. Drake also saw mothers spraying their children down at birthday parties. But for the most part, Drake noticed many Puerto Ricans proceeding as usual. Daily life drummed on. People filled the city streets eating at restaurants with their loved ones. They soaked up the sun and salty breezes on the beach with their friends, and they went to work to provide for their families. “It is really hot and muggy in Puerto Rico, so the idea of people wearing long-sleeved shirts and closing their windows is not even conceivable,” she said. “Most places I went are not screened. …  I can’t make a generalization about what the Puerto Rican people are like, especially after just five days there. I can just offer a glimpse based on my particular experience.” Carolyn Drake is a photographer based in California and represented by Magnum Photos. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.


In a move surely intended to put Washington on notice China’s military has put on a show of force in the South China Sea, new satellite images show, with drills at sea and in the air to reinforce its claims in the contested region. Analysts said the images, provided by Planet Labs Inc and date-stamped March 26, showed China’s only operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, accompanied by dozens of other vessels in the South China Sea, just south of the Chinese island province of Hainan. While the aircraft carrier has visited the South China Sea before, it was unusual to see such a large number of Chinese naval vessels training together in the area, Collin Koh, research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ Maritime Security Program, told CNN. “I would say this is the new normal and this will not be a one-off show of force,” he said. China said Friday that it would conduct live-fire military drills in the South China Sea at an undisclosed future date, adding they weren’t “targeted toward any specific country or aim,” state media reported. The Global Times, a state-run tabloid, said the Liaoning would likely take part. However, it wasn’t clear if the photos were of the drills announced last week. The Chinese military has not released any official information on the Liaoning’s movements. The carrier group is only the latest in a series of military maneuvers by the Chinese government in March. Images on Chinese state media showed armored amphibious vehicles training in the waters of the South China Sea on Monday and Tuesday. On Sunday, China’s state media announced air force exercises had been carried out over the South China Sea and the West Pacific. On March 21, the Liaoning aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait towards the South China Sea, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. A US State Department official told CNN the United States was concerned about China’s lack of transparency around its military exercises and “associated strategic intentions.” Koh said the flurry of military activity was the result of a newly-empowered Chinese President Xi Jinping following through on his plans for the country’s armed forces. “This show of force is not just to symbolize that China is ready to fight … There is a lot more resolute determination on the part of China to push the military to much greater degrees of readiness,” he said. The United States conducts regular Freedom of Navigation operations (FONOP) in the South China Sea to reinforce their rights to sail unimpeded through the area. On Friday, the guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin sailed within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese artificial island at Mischief Reef, provoking a stern reaction from China’s Foreign Ministry, which called it a “military provocation.” Related article US destroyer sails close to contested island in South China Sea Ian Storey, senior fellow at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, told CNN that while there was likely no connection between China’s drills and the US’ most recent FONOP, the Trump administration had increased the number of operations since it came to power. “It may be in response to this series of Freedom of Navigation operations, rather than just one,” he said. In the past week, a group of Chinese H-6K bombers, Su-35 fighter jets and other aircraft conducted a series of aerial maneuvers and strike tactics in the South China Sea, state media announced on Sunday. They also conducted drills with bombers and fighter jets over Japan’s Miyako Strait. Koh said many of the navy vessels captured on satellite photos were difficult to identify individually due to the low resolution of the images. “These 40 plus vehicles we see in the pictures all belong to a carrier strike group, mostly comprised of the major surface combatants like the frigates and destroyers, possibly one or two submarines, but the remaining vessels (are hard to determine),” he said. Related article US aircraft carrier in Vietnam for historic visit aimed at Beijing The South China Sea is one of the most disputed regions in the world – the Chinese government has laid down claims to a large swathe of territory in the region, which overlaps with the territory of Vietnam and the Philippines, among others. To strengthen its position in the region, Beijing has built and militarized artificial islands in the Paracel and Spratly island chains. A 2016 international court ruling found the Chinese government had no legal basis to its claims of historic rights. Related article 'Weaponizing capital': US worries over China's expanding role in Africa Storey said in the past 18 months the Chinese government had achieved a number of victories in the South China Sea. “They’ve been successful in getting southeast Asian countries to forget about the tribunal ruling, and they’ve applied pressure on Vietnam to stop oil drilling in certain blocks,” he said. In addition, their military capabilities at sea are only continuing to grow, according to Koh, with at least 40 new ships commissioned in the past year. The Chinese Navy is preparing to take their second, but first domestically built, aircraft carrier, on its first sea trial, possibly as early as April. The US State Department official said China’s actions to militarize the South China Sea threatened to “undermine regional stability.” “We urge all claimants, including China, to manage and resolve disputes peacefully, without resort to threats, coercion, or intimidation,” he said.


Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a House panel Thursday that “this thing needs to conclude,” potentially in reference to the special counsel’s Russia probe that he has recused himself from. The answer, before the House Appropriations Committee, came following a question from Republican Rep. Evan Jenkins of West Virginia about the need to investigate allegations concerning Hillary Clinton, the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email server investigation, and abuse of surveillance authorities. Jenkins said a “double standard” exists between the department’s handling of those issues, and its appointment of a special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation – so it’s not immediately clear what Sessions was speaking to. “Look, I think the American people are concerned and the President is concerned. He’s dealing with France and North Korea and Syria and taxes and regulations and border and crime every day, and I wish, this thing needs to conclude,” Sessions said. Sessions continued to underscore that the Justice Department has provided unprecedented access to the Hill regarding the Clinton and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act questions and stressed that “we have an entirely new top leadership at the FBI.” But he added, “I do not think we need to willy-nilly appoint special counsels, and as we can see, it can really take on a life of its own.” “If there’s wrongdoing uncovered, we’ll act on that. But we have got to be careful. We don’t smear everybody if somebody made some errors, and some of the errors could be disciplinary matters rather than prosecutorial matters,” Sessions said. Asked about the comment, Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said, “I’d imagine he was saying that it’s in the public interest to have the special counsel’s investigation concluded as soon as possible.” Sessions also said the Justice Department inspector general’s report on the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation should be ready soon. “The inspector general will have a report before long, a few weeks maybe, and we will do our duty at the Department of Justice to ensure that justice is done,” he said. Sessions has repeatedly faced pressure from Republicans on Capitol Hill and the President over the Justice Department’s handling of the allegations around Clinton and alleged abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In March, Sessions revealed that he had appointed John Huber, the US attorney in Utah, to oversee an investigation into the issues. Huber wields significant power as a federal prosecutor – with the ability to bring charges and convene a grand jury – and the move to bring him in was met with encouragement by Republican leaders. Sessions faced questioning from the left Thursday over a different decision: Whether or not he would recuse himself from the Justice Department investigation into the President’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Asked by Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey of New York why he had decided to not step back from the Cohen probe given its ties to the special counsel’s Russia investigation, which Sessions is recused from, Sessions demurred. “Presumably you read that in the media somewhere. Media, it’s often inaccurate, and much of what I see in the print is inaccurate,” Sessions said. “Let me just say this quite clearly to you: I will honor the commitment I made to recuse myself from matters that I should recuse myself from, and I intend to do that faithfully. I have made that commitment and I have done so. I have not violated any commitment in that regard.”