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  • 5 derailed train cars carrying hazardous material at risk of exploding are no longer burning, official says | CNN

    5 derailed train cars carrying hazardous material at risk of exploding are no longer burning, official says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Five train cars that contained vinyl chloride, a potentially explosive chemical, are no longer burning after a train derailment in Ohio, a Norfolk Southern official said Tuesday.

    The burning stopped after a controlled release of the unstable, toxic chemical Monday at the train derailment site in East Palestine, near the Pennsylvania border.

    Four of those five cars have been cleared from the wreckage, and crews are working to remove the fifth car, Norfolk Southern official Scott Deutsch said Tuesday.

    The train, which partially derailed Friday, had more than 100 cars. About 20 of those cars were carrying hazardous materials, said the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident.

    “There have been no reports of significant injuries – either in the initial derailment or in the controlled detonation last night,” Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson said Tuesday.

    But it’s not yet clear when residents who were ordered to evacuate can return home, East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick said Tuesday.

    “Once the Ohio Department of Health, the United States Environmental Protection Agency in conjunction with the East Palestine Fire Department and Norfolk Southern Railroad have determined that this is safe for East Palestine residents to return to their homes – and, quite frankly, once I feel safe for my family to return – we will lift that evacuation order and start returning people home,” Drabick said.

    Three days of anxiety about a potentially deadly explosion culminated in a loud boom Monday, when crews started the controlled release of vinyl chloride into a pit to burn it away.

    A large plume of black smoke shot up toward the sky and the operation went as planned.

    “The detonation went perfect,” Deutsch said. “We’re already to the point where the cars became safe. They were not safe prior to this.”

    Vinyl chloride is a man-made chemical used to make PVC and it burns easily at room temperature.

    It can cause dizziness, sleepiness and headaches; and has been linked to an increased risk of cancer in the liver, brain, lungs and blood.

    Breathing high levels of vinyl chloride can make someone pass out or die if they don’t get fresh air, the Ohio Department of Health said.

    The train derailment Friday led to a massive inferno and increased pressure inside the hot steel.

    By Sunday evening, the burning wreckage threatened a catastrophic explosion capable of spewing toxic fumes and firing shrapnel up to a mile away, officials said.

    Mandatory evacuations were ordered over several square miles straddling the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

    After the breach, officials detected “slightly elevated” readings of the phosgene and hydrogen chloride in the burn area and “only one minor hit for the hydrogen chloride downwind of the burn area” within the exclusion zone, the EPA’s James Justice said Monday evening.

    Such readings were expected after the controlled release, Justice said.

    As for East Palestine’s water supply, no impacts to the waterway were detected as of Monday evening, an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency official said.

    A team will continue to monitor the air and water quality in the area, officials said.

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who had also called for evacuations, said Monday evening that air and water quality is being monitored closely and no concerning readings had been detected so far.

    But he told Pennsylvanians who live within 2 miles of the East Palestine derailment to keep sheltering in place with their windows and doors closed Monday evening.

    Derailed train cars smoldered Monday in East Palestine, Ohio.

    The derailment has upended life in East Palestine, a village of about 5,000 people. Schools have been closed for the rest of the week, and some residents haven’t been home since the initial evacuation orders Friday.

    When the Norfolk Southern train crashed in East Palestine, about 10 of 20 cars carrying hazardous materials derailed.

    One rail car carrying vinyl chloride became a focus of concern when its malfunctioning safety valves prevented the release of the chemical inside, a Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency official said.

    That meant “the car’s just building pressure inside the steel shell, and that’s a problem,” Deutsch said Monday.

    But after the controlled release, “There’s no pressure now in the cars,” he said.

    On Monday afternoon, charges were used to blow small holes in each rail car, allowing the vinyl chloride to spill into a flare-lined trench.

    While the cause of the derailment remains under investigation, National Transportation Safety Board Member Michael Graham said Sunday that there was a mechanical failure warning before the crash.

    “The crew did receive an alarm from a wayside defect detector shortly before the derailment, indicating a mechanical issue,” Graham said. “Then an emergency brake application initiated.”

    Investigators also identified the point of derailment and found video showing “preliminary indications of mechanical issues” on one of the railcar axles, he said.

    The NTSB has requested records from Norfolk Southern and is investigating when the potential defect happened and the response from the train’s crew, which included an engineer, conductor and conductor trainee.

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  • A freight train derailment in Ohio puts US infrastructure back in a bruising spotlight | CNN Politics

    A freight train derailment in Ohio puts US infrastructure back in a bruising spotlight | CNN Politics

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    A version of this story appears in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    On the eve of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, American infrastructure is back in the worst kind of spotlight.

    The fiery derailment of train cars carrying hazardous chemicals on the eastern edge of Ohio has led to an evacuation zone across both Ohio and Pennsylvania.

    Five of the derailed train cars are carrying vinyl chloride – a chemical that is currently unstable and could explode, hurling toxic fumes into the air and shooting deadly shrapnel as far as a mile away, officials said.

    “There is a high probability of a toxic gas release and/or explosion,” Columbiana County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin warned. “Please, for your own safety, remove your families from danger.”

    The derailment is, of course, felt most acutely in the surrounding community, where residents who don’t evacuate face arrest. But the incident also highlights the exact kind of concern that led to a considerable investment in rail projects as part of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure law passed in late 2021.

    To better understand the derailment in Ohio, and how current or future legislation could help avoid similar situations, we turned to Najmedin Meshkati, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California.

    Our conversation, conducted over the phone and lightly edited for flow and brevity, is below.

    Since the fire in Ohio is still burning, investigators haven’t been able to walk around the crash site.

    But officials have identified the point of derailment and found video showing “preliminary indications of mechanical issues” on one of the railcar axles. The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating when the potential defect happened and the response from the crew.

    LEBLANC: What are the investigators going to be looking into here?

    MESHKATI: This accident will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is an independent federal safety investigation organization. They do a very good job and thorough job, independently.

    They will look at this accident from an interdisciplinary standpoint. They’ll look for equipment failure, they’ll look for mental fatigue, the signaling electronics, and also they will look at the human factors and organizational safety culture.

    The other organization that most probably will do an investigation is the Federal Railroad Administration, which is a regulatory agency, part of the Department of Transportation.

    NTSB typically does an excellent job, and the FRA. Hopefully they will come up with some recommendations to proactively address this issue.

    LEBLANC: How often do these recommendations actually turn into new policies or guidance?

    MESHKATI: That’s an excellent question without an excellent answer.

    The National Transportation Safety Board, they issue a report at the end of the year. They have something which is called the “most wanted list” that they put their recommendations for safety improvement for railroads on based on accident investigations.

    And then it’s up to these different organizations or private sector regulatory agencies to implement recommendations. Again, NTSB doesn’t have enforcement power. They can make recommendations.

    Rail travel is recognized as the safest method of transporting hazardous materials in the US, according to the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration.

    “The vast majority of hazardous materials shipped by rail tank car every year arrive safely and without incident, and railroads generally have an outstanding record in moving shipments of hazardous materials safely,” FRA says on its website.

    LEBLANC: How common is it for freight trains to carry hazardous material? Is it unusual?

    MESHKATI: No. They do that, and they do it fairly safely. Unfortunately, this type of thing happens, but they’re preventable because these are the types of accidents, if it’s a derailment – the causes of derailment are fairly understandable.

    It could be due to the mental fatigue or the tracks or it could be the speed or not following the procedures.

    Passenger and freight rail received $66 billion in the sprawling bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in 2021. Implementation, however, will take years.

    LEBLANC: Once fully implemented, will the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package help prevent derailments similar to this one? Is there other legislation that could help?

    MESHKATI: I think money and funding is important, but what we need – this is my personal opinion based on my 38 years of research – what we need in the railroad industry is dedicated, committed leadership to safety.

    You can throw around as much money as much as you want. But see, here is the thing – technological systems are composed of three subsystems: a human subsystem, organizational subsystem and technological subsystem.

    And they are like the three links in a chain. A chain breaks at its weakest link. We can put all the money that we have on the technological subsystems, get the better tracks, get better computers, get better positive train control and everything.

    But what about the human and organizational subsystems? We need to give adequate attention to them. And that’s where a committed, informed leadership comes into play.

    When a freight train travels across the country, two people are in the cab of the locomotive working to keep the train, its often hazardous and flammable contents, and the communities they are passing through, all safe.

    Now the railroads are saying that, given today’s modern technology, just one person is enough. But the rail unions say single-person crews pose a tremendous safety risk, not just to the engineer working alone in the cab for hours on end, but to all the communities the trains pass through.

    LEBLANC: What are your thoughts on this proposal to staff freight trains with just one person?

    MESHKATI: I have studied this issue for many, many years.

    I’ve seen the disastrous impact that the consolidation and crew reduction could have on the safety of technological systems. This is something that we need to learn from other industries and just curb our irrational exuberance for this because the technology is available.

    Yes, there is an AI technology that can monitor the routine pattern.

    “That’s why we don’t need a human” – this is a very simple-minded, irrational exuberance.

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  • More than 400 products including breakfast sandwiches and fruit cups recalled due to possible Listeria contamination | CNN

    More than 400 products including breakfast sandwiches and fruit cups recalled due to possible Listeria contamination | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    More than 400 food products sold under dozens of brand names were recalled due to possible Listeria contamination, the US Food and Drug Administration announced Friday.

    The recall by Fresh Ideation Food Group LLC includes ready-to-eat sandwiches, salads, yogurts, wraps and other products sold in nine states and Washington, DC, from January 24 through January 30.

    The Baltimore company said Friday that no illnesses have been reported so far.

    “The recall was initiated after the company’s environmental samples tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes,” Fresh Ideation Food Group said in its recall announcement.

    Eating Listeria-contaminated food can cause a serious infection that can lead to symptoms including fever, headache, diarrhea and vomiting, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    It’s most likely to sicken pregnant women and their newborns, adults aged 65 or older, and people with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC. “An estimated 1,600 people get listeriosis each year, and about 260 die,” the agency says.

    The recalled foods were distributed in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia, according to the FDA.

    The products – which included items like bacon, egg and cheddar muffins, breakfast croissants, tuna and chicken sandwiches, and fruit cups – were sold in stores, vending machines and by transportation providers, according to the company.

    “All recalled products have a Fresh Creative Cuisine label and/or identifier on the bottom of the label with the Fresh Creative Cuisine name and a fresh through or sell through date ranging from January 31, 2023 through February 6, 2023,” the company said.

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  • Buttigieg says he won’t seek US Senate seat in Michigan in 2024 | CNN Politics

    Buttigieg says he won’t seek US Senate seat in Michigan in 2024 | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday he will not run for the open US Senate seat in Michigan in 2024, in his most direct answer to date ruling out a potential bid.

    “No,” Buttigieg said when asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” if he would seek to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

    Buttigieg had previously indicated he would not pursue the seat, citing his current focus on his job in President Joe Biden’s Cabinet, but had stopped short of ruling it out altogether.

    “I’m planning to vote in that election as a resident of Michigan, but look, the job that I have is, first of all, I think, the best job in the federal government,” he told Tapper on Sunday.

    “This job is taking 110% of my time, and obviously I serve at the pleasure of the president. But as long as he is willing to have me continue doing this work, I’m proud to be part of this team,” Buttigieg added.

    Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, moved last year to Michigan, where the parents of his husband, Chasten, live.

    Democrats are defending 23 of the 34 Senate seats on the ballot next year, including three seats in states that backed former President Donald Trump by at least 8 points in 2020: West Virginia, Montana and Ohio.

    Besides Michigan, the party is also defending seats in other battleground states such as Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

    Potential Democratic candidates for Stabenow’s seat include Reps. Elissa Slotkin and Debbie Dingell, and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who drew national attention last year in a floor speech pushing back against anti-LGBTQ attacks from a Republican colleague.

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  • Judge reportedly allows Meta to move forward with VR startup acquisition, in blow to FTC | CNN Business

    Judge reportedly allows Meta to move forward with VR startup acquisition, in blow to FTC | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    A federal judge will not block Meta from buying a virtual reality tech startup, according to multiple reports, in a setback for the US government, which had alleged the deal would threaten competition in a nascent market.

    Tuesday’s decision, issued by the US District Court for the Northern District of California, is sealed. But according to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, the contents of the decision dealt Meta a victory by denying the US government’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the acquisition from closing. The New York Times cited two people with knowledge of the matter and the Wall Street Journal cited one person familiar with the ruling.

    CNN has not independently confirmed the contents of the court’s decision. The Federal Trade Commission, which had sued to block the deal last summer, declined to comment. Meta declined to comment, and several outside attorneys for the company didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

    The closely watched case involves Meta’s purchase of Within Unlimited, a virtual reality company and maker of a VR fitness app called “Supernatural.” The FTC’s suit had been seen as a major test for Chair Lina Khan, a critic of large tech platforms, as well as of the FTC’s unusual legal theory alleging that Meta’s deal would harm future competition in a rapidly evolving industry.

    According to the reports, the judge in the case also issued a separate order that delays Meta’s ability to close its deal for another week to allow the FTC to decide whether to appeal the ruling.

    A separate challenge to Meta’s deal is ongoing before an in-house administrative law judge at the FTC. That proceeding could continue despite Tuesday’s ruling, but whether agency officials intend to press ahead is unclear.

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  • Larry Summers: More likely the Fed can pull off a soft landing, but don’t get hopes up | CNN Business

    Larry Summers: More likely the Fed can pull off a soft landing, but don’t get hopes up | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    After a shocking jobs report, Larry Summers, treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, said he is more encouraged the Fed can pull off a soft landing, but cautioned it is a “big mistake” to think the economy is “out of the woods” on Fareed Zakaria GPS Sunday.

    Friday’s job’s report saw an astonishing 517,000 jobs added in January and unemployment tick down to 3.4%, the lowest since 1969. Economists had predicted 185,000 jobs, expecting a slower jobs market after almost a year of aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

    The Fed once hiked interest rates less aggressively this week, reflecting a sense inflation is cooling. It brings up the question: Can the United States pull off a soft landing, bringing down inflation without triggering a recession?

    Summers said it “looks more possible that we’ll have a soft landing than it did a few months ago,” but he has continued fears about inflation indicators that have come back to earth, but are still too high for his liking.

    “They’re still unimaginably high from the perspective of two or three years ago, and that getting the rest of the way back to target inflation may still prove to be quite difficult,” Summers said.

    Zakaria asked if triggering a recession was worth it to bring down inflation, if 3 to 3.5% inflation rates could become the norm.

    Summers said it’s a trade-off between short run reductions in unemployment, and permanent changes in inflation.

    “The benefit we can get from pushing unemployment low is on almost all economic theories and likely not to be a permanent one,” Summers said. “But if we push inflation up and those issues become entrenched, we’re going to live with that inflation for a long time.”

    The US has about 3 million people who have just stopped looking for work. Summers attributed it to older people who decided to retire earlier than normal patterns would suggest during COVID.

    He said there is a “grand reassessment” of the workplace post-COVID.

    “You don’t get to be a CEO if you don’t love being in the office,” Summers said. “And so CEOs want all their people to come back and be working, but lots of people like their dens better than they like their cubicles.”

    Summers also had advice for President Joe Biden as a debt ceiling crisis brews in Washington.

    “I would advise him that it’s not a viable strategy for the country to default on obligations,” Summers said. “That’s the stuff of banana republics, and that he’s not going to engage in any of that stuff.”

    The United States has an “utterly bizarre system” where Congress votes on budgets and then separately has to authorize paying the bills incurred by those budgets, Zakaria pointed out, adding a crisis could be on the horizon because House Republicans don’t want to pay the bills until President Biden agrees to spending cuts, even though budgets were set by both parties.

    Biden should insist “Congress do its job and approve the borrowing to finance the spending.”

    Summers noted it only takes a few responsible Republicans to raise the debt limit.

    “That some in the Republican Party may bow to the demands of the extremists does not mean that the President of the United States should do that.”

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  • A look at China’s history of spying in the US | CNN Politics

    A look at China’s history of spying in the US | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that violated American airspace this week has fueled a diplomatic crisis with the postponement of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned trip to Beijing.

    But the two countries have a long history of spying on each other.

    The US has sought to collect its own intelligence about the Chinese government, using methods that include flying surveillance aircraft over disputed islands claimed by Beijing, human sources and signal intercepts.

    Still, American officials have sought to distinguish US actions from what they say is the more brazen espionage being carried out by the Chinese government.

    US officials say Beijing uses every tool at its disposal to gain a strategic advantage over the United States, its primary geopolitical rival. But Chinese officials say a similar thing – Beijing has in the past repeatedly accused the US of espionage.

    China denies that the balloon currently above the US is involved in any kind of espionage, claiming it is a “civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes” that has been blown off course.

    Here’s what we know about how China spies on the US:

    While the suspected Chinese balloon spotted in the skies above multiple US states this week prompted an uproar from Republicans and Democrats alike, it is not the first time this kind of activity has been observed.

    A US official said Friday there had been similar incidents over Hawaii and Guam in recent years, while another official on Thursday said, “Instances of this activity have been observed over the past several years, including prior to this administration.”

    US officials have said the flight path of the latest balloon, first spotted over Montana on Thursday, could potentially take it over a “number of sensitive sites.” They say they are taking steps to “protect against foreign intelligence collection.”

    What’s less clear is why Chinese spies would want to use a balloon, rather than a satellite to gather information.

    Using balloons as spy platforms goes back to the early days of the Cold War. Since then, the US has used hundreds of them to monitor its adversaries, said Peter Layton, a fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia and former Royal Australian Air Force officer.

    But with the advent of modern satellite technology enabling the gathering of overflight intelligence data from space, the use of surveillance balloons had been going out of fashion.

    Or at least until now.

    Recent advances in the miniaturization of electronics mean the floating intelligence platforms may be making a comeback in the modern spying toolkit.

    “Balloon payloads can now weigh less, and so the balloons can be smaller, cheaper and easier to launch” than satellites, Layton said.

    Outside Malmstrom Air Force Base in central Montana, spread across 13,800 square miles of open plains, more than 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles stand at the ready, buried deep underground in missile silos. These Minuteman III rockets are capable of delivering nuclear warheads at least 6,000 miles away and are part of the US Strategic Command, which oversees the country’s nuclear and missile arsenal.

    Nestled among these silos are clusters of cell phone towers operated by a small rural wireless carrier. According to Federal Communications Commission filings, those cell towers use Chinese technology that security experts have warned in recent years could allow China to gather intelligence while also potentially mounting network attacks in the areas surrounding this and other sensitive military installations.

    Huawei, the Chinese company that makes the tower technology, is shunned by the major US wireless carriers and the federal government over national security concerns.

    Yet its technology is widely deployed by a number of small, federally subsidized wireless carriers that buy cheaper Chinese-made hardware to place atop their cell towers. In some cases, those cellular networks provide exclusive coverage to rural areas close to US military bases, CNN previously reported.

    In 2018, the heads of major US intelligence agencies – including the FBI and CIA – warned Americans against using Huawei devices and products. Security experts say that having its technology deployed so close to the nation’s arsenal of ICBMs could pose a far greater threat.

    In 2017, the Chinese government offered to spend $100 million to build an ornate Chinese garden at the National Arboretum in Washington, DC. Complete with temples, pavilions and a 70-foot white pagoda, the project thrilled local officials, who hoped it would attract thousands of tourists every year.      

    But when US counterintelligence officials began digging into the details, they found numerous red flags. The pagoda, they noted, would have been strategically placed on one of the highest points in Washington, just two miles from the US Capitol, a perfect spot for signals intelligence collection, multiple sources told CNN last year.  

    Chinese officials wanted to build the pagoda with materials shipped to the US in diplomatic pouches, which US Customs officials are barred from examining, the sources said.    

    Federal officials quietly killed the project before construction started.

    The canceled garden is just one of the projects that has caught the eye of the FBI and other federal agencies during what US security officials say has been a dramatic escalation of Chinese espionage on US soil over the past decade.        

    Since 2017, federal officials have investigated Chinese land purchases near critical infrastructure, shut down a regional consulate believed by the US government to be a hotbed of Chinese spies and stonewalled what they saw as efforts to plant listening devices near sensitive military and government facilities.    

    Some of the things the FBI uncovered pertained to Chinese-made Huawei equipment atop cell towers near US military bases in the rural Midwest.

    According to multiple sources, the FBI determined the equipment was capable of capturing and disrupting highly restricted Defense Department communications, including those used by US Strategic Command, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons.

    CNN has also reported that Beijing has been leaning on expatriate Chinese scientists, businesspeople and even students in the US, according to current and former US intelligence officials, lawmakers and several experts.

    There have been a number of high-profile arrests. In January, a former graduate student in Chicago was sentenced to eight years in prison for spying for the Chinese government by gathering information on engineers and scientists in the United States.

    Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese national who came to the US to study electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2013 and later enlisted in the US Army Reserves, was arrested in 2018.

    The 31-year-old was convicted last September of acting illegally as an agent of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) and of making a material false statement to the US Army.

    According to the Justice Department, Ji was tasked with providing an intelligence officer with biographical information on individuals for potential recruitment as Chinese spies. The individuals included Chinese nationals who were working as engineers and scientists in the US, some of whom worked for American defense contractors.

    Ji’s spying was part of an effort by Chinese intelligence to obtain access to advanced aerospace and satellite technologies being developed by US companies, the Justice Department said.

    Ji was working at the direction of Xu Yanjun, a deputy division director at the Jiangsu provincial branch of the MMS, the DOJ statement said.

    Xu, a career intelligence officer, was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison for plotting to steal trade secrets from several US aviation and aerospace companies. Xu was also the first Chinese spy extradited to the US for trial, after being detained in Belgium in 2018 following an FBI investigation.

    CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s first name.

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  • How to see February’s full snow moon | CNN

    How to see February’s full snow moon | CNN

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    Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.



    CNN
     — 

    Look in the night sky this weekend for February’s full moon, where it can be glimpsed around the world.

    It will reach peak illumination around 1:29 p.m. ET Sunday, but the moon will appear full from early Saturday morning through early Tuesday morning, according to NASA.

    The full moon is considered a micromoon because it appears slightly smaller than normal in our sky due to its distant location in orbit around Earth right now, according to EarthSky. January’s full moon was also a micromoon.

    The moon will still be very bright even though it’s 252,171 miles (405,830 kilometers) away.

    It is known as the snow moon, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, since February is associated with more snowfall in North America. The Arapaho tribe’s name for February’s full moon means “frost sparkling in the sun,” according to a guide compiled at Western Washington University.

    Wintry-sounding names for February’s full moon vary across other Native American tribes. The Comanche call it sleet moon, while the Lakota know it as cannapopa wi, which means “when trees crack because of cold.” The month was also associated with hunger and a lack of food sources, hence the Kalapuya tribe’s moon name atchiulartadsh, or “out of food.”

    Europeans have referred to February’s full moon as the Candles moon, connected to Candlemas on February 2, or the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ. The moon also occurs with the end of Lunar New Year celebrations, which is the Lantern Festival.

    The full moon falls in the middle of the month of Shevat and on the holiday Tu BiShvat on the Hebrew calendar, or “New Year of the Trees,” which is celebrated by planting trees and raising ecological awareness.

    Here are the rest of 2023’s top sky events, so you can have your binoculars and telescope ready.

    Most years, there are 12 full moons — one for each month. But in 2023, there will be 13 full moons, with two in August.

    The second full moon in one month is known as a blue moon, like the phrase “once in a blue moon,” according to NASA. Typically, full moons occur every 29 days. But most months in our calendar last 30 or 31 days, so the months and moon phases don’t always align, resulting in a blue moon about every 2½ years.

    The two full moons in August can also be considered supermoons, according to EarthSky. Definitions of a supermoon vary, but the term generally denotes a full moon that is brighter and closer to Earth than normal and thus appears larger in the night sky.

    Some astronomers say the phenomenon occurs when the moon is within 90% of perigee — its closest approach to Earth in orbit. By that definition, the full moon for July will also be considered a supermoon event, according to EarthSky.

    Here is the list of remaining full moons for 2023, according to the Farmer’s Almanac:

    • March 7: Worm moon
    • April 6: Pink moon
    • May 5: Flower moon
    • June 3: Strawberry moon
    • July 3: Buck moon
    • August 1: Sturgeon moon
    • August 30: Blue moon
    • September 29: Harvest moon
    • October 28: Hunter’s moon
    • November 27: Beaver moon
    • December 26: Cold moon

    These are the popularized names associated with the monthly full moons, but each one carries its own significance across Native American tribes (with many also referred to by differing names).

    Mark your calendar with the peak dates of meteor showers to watch in 2023:

    • Lyrids: April 22-23
    • Eta Aquariids: May 5-6
    • Southern Delta Aquariids: July 30-31
    • Alpha Capricornids: July 30-31
    • Perseids: August 12-13
    • Orionids: October 20-21
    • Southern Taurids: November 4-5
    • Northern Taurids: November 11-12
    • Leonids: November 17-18
    • Geminids: December 13-14
    • Ursids: December 21-22

    If you live in an urban area, you may want to drive to a place that isn’t full of bright city lights to view the showers. If you’re able to find an area unaffected by light pollution, meteors could be visible every couple of minutes from late evening until dawn, depending on which part of the world you’re in.

    Find an open area with a wide view of the sky. Make sure you have a chair or blanket so you can look straight up. And give your eyes about 20 to 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness — without looking at your phone — so the meteors will be easier to spot.

    There will be two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses in 2023.

    A total solar eclipse will occur on April 20, visible to those in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and Antarctica. This kind of event occurs when the moon moves between the sun and Earth, blocking out the sun.

    And for some sky watchers in Indonesia, parts of Australia and Papua New Guinea, it will be a hybrid solar eclipse. The curvature of Earth’s surface can cause some eclipses to shift between total and annular as the moon’s shadow moves across the globe, according to NASA.

    Like a total solar eclipse, the moon passes between the sun and Earth during an annular eclipse — but it occurs when the moon is at or near its farthest point from Earth, according to NASA. This causes the moon to appear smaller than the sun, so it doesn’t completely block out our star and creates a glowing ring around the moon.

    A Western Hemisphere-sweeping annular solar eclipse will occur on October 14 and be visible across the Americas.

    Be sure to wear proper eclipse glasses to view solar eclipses safely as the sun’s light can be damaging to the eyes.

    Meanwhile, a lunar eclipse can occur only during a full moon when the sun, Earth and moon align and the moon passes into Earth’s shadow. When this occurs, Earth casts two shadows on the moon during the eclipse. The partial outer shadow is called the penumbra; the full, dark shadow is the umbra.

    When the full moon moves into Earth’s shadow, it darkens, but it won’t disappear. Instead, sunlight passing through Earth’s atmosphere lights the moon in a dramatic fashion, turning it red — which is why the event is often referred to as a “blood moon.”

    Depending on the weather conditions in your area, it may be a rusty or brick-colored red. This happens because blue light undergoes stronger atmospheric scattering, so red light will be the most dominant color highlighted as sunlight passes through the atmosphere and casts it on the moon.

    A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur on May 5 for those in Africa, Asia and Australia. This less dramatic version of a lunar eclipse happens when the moon moves through the penumbra, or the faint, outer part of Earth’s shadow.

    A partial lunar eclipse of the hunter’s moon on October 28 will be visible to those in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, parts of North America and much of South America. Partial eclipses occur when the sun, Earth and moon don’t completely align, so only part of the moon passes into shadow.

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  • US authorities found young dolphin’s skull inside unattended bag at a Detroit airport | CNN

    US authorities found young dolphin’s skull inside unattended bag at a Detroit airport | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Federal authorities made a grim and unexpected discovery in an unattended bag last week at a Detroit airport.

    Inside, the bag held a young dolphin’s skull, the US Customs and Border Protection said in a news release Friday.

    The bag was separated from its owners while traveling and when it arrived in the US, a routine screening at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport revealed what appeared to be a skull-shaped object, CBP said in the release.

    “Upon further examination by CBP and US Fish and Wildlife Service officials, it was determined the skull was from a young dolphin,” the release said.

    The skull was turned over to US Fish and Wildlife Service inspectors for further investigation.

    “The possession of wildlife items, especially those of protected animals is prohibited,” Robert Larkin, the area port director, said in a statement. “We take wildlife smuggling seriously and work closely with our federal partners at the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect wildlife and their habitats.”

    There are restrictions and requirements around importing and exporting certain fish, wildlife and products that come from them – and it’s not the first time US authorities make a similar seizure.

    In December, CBP officers seized zebra and giraffe bones from a woman at Washington’s Dulles International Airport. The woman, who was traveling from Kenya, had kept the bones as souvenirs, authorities said at the time.

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  • Exclusive: Supreme Court justices used personal emails for work and ‘burn bags’ were left open in hallways, sources say | CNN Politics

    Exclusive: Supreme Court justices used personal emails for work and ‘burn bags’ were left open in hallways, sources say | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Long before the leak of a draft opinion reversing Roe v. Wade, some Supreme Court justices often used personal email accounts for sensitive transmissions instead of secure servers set up to guard such information, among other security lapses not made public in the court’s report on the investigation last month.

    New details revealed to CNN by multiple sources familiar with the court’s operations offer an even more detailed picture of yearslong lax internal procedures that could have endangered security, led to the leak and hindered an investigation into the culprit.

    Supreme Court employees also used printers that didn’t produce logs – or were able to print sensitive documents off-site without tracking – and “burn bags” meant to ensure the safe destruction of materials were left open and unattended in hallways.

    “This has been going on for years,” one former employee said.

    The problem with the justices’ use of emails persisted in part because some justices were slow to adopt to the technology and some court employees were nervous about confronting them to urge them to take precautions, one person said. Such behavior meant that justices weren’t setting an example to take security seriously.

    The justices were “not masters of information security protocol,” one former court employee told CNN.

    In a statement attached to the final report, the court called the leak a “grave assault” on the court’s legitimacy and the marshal of the court issued a road map to improve security.

    The report and the new revelations of weak protocols come as the court is trying to protect its own legitimacy after an embarrassing leak and allegations (prompted by the recent rash of high profile cases breaking along familiar ideological lines) that it has simply become another political branch. The 20-page report and its still secret “Annex A” raised some questions as to whether the entire investigation should have been outsourced to someone without close ties to the court.

    Former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff reviewed and endorsed the Supreme Court’s internal investigation into the leak. However, the court did not disclose Chertoff had been paid at least $1 million in recent years to perform security assessments for the court.

    The court declined to comment.

    In her report last month, Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley noted that the “court’s current method of destroying court sensitive documents has vulnerabilities that should be addressed.”

    Three former employees told CNN of loose security around burn bags that are supplied to chambers to deal with sensitive documents. A burn bag is a security bag that holds sensitive documents which will ultimately be destroyed by fire or shredding.

    There was no uniform rule that established a procedure for these paper bags with red stripes. Instead, the justices each have their own protocols. According to a source familiar with the court’s security practices, employees have the option to use the burn bags which are later taken to the basement of the building and emptied into locked bins so that they can be retrieved by a shredding company.

    Another source questioned how the burn bags were handled before they were collected. The source said some colleagues would staple a burn bag shut. Others simply filled them to capacity and left them near their desks. But some burn bags were simply left in the hallway outside of chambers, presumably so that they could be taken to the basement. It would not have been difficult, the source suggested, for someone with access to the non-public area of the court to access sensitive documents.

    Another vulnerability outlined by Curley was printer logs meant to track document production. A former employee highlights something that Curley did not detail: employees who had VPN access could print documents from any computer, making it difficult to track copies. Curley made an important concession in the report that some locally connected printers only logged the last 60 documents printed.

    A look at the timeline of the leak reveals how such a system would be problematic for investigators.

    That’s because the initial draft was distributed internally on February 10, 2022. But the leak investigation only started in May when Politico published the draft opinion. Some of those print logs would almost surely no longer exist because the 60-document threshold had been reached.

    Curley did not go into great detail, but she did suggest the court “institute tracking mechanisms” in the future.

    Another potential problem revolved – especially during Covid – around the possibility that opinions could leave the building. According to the report, Court Information System User Guidelines prohibit “attempting to leave facilities with Court Sensitive Information (hard copy or electronic) without proper authorization.”

    But during Covid many such regulations were necessarily relaxed. And even with the rule in place, one source said, there were no mechanisms to check what was actually being taken from the court. To be sure, the hallways in the areas of the court that are closed to the public were guarded and protected by doors with a numerical code necessary to enter, but the code wasn’t necessarily changed very often.

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  • Why did we get a monster jobs report if the economy is slowing? | CNN Business

    Why did we get a monster jobs report if the economy is slowing? | CNN Business

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    Minneapolis
    CNN
     — 

    The economy wasn’t supposed to add half a million jobs in January.

    In fact, a consensus poll of 81 economists expected job gains to land at around 185,000, according to Refinitiv. After 11 months of aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, the experts were naturally expecting the economy’s job gains to slow as higher borrowing costs percolated through the economy, slowing investment and growth and pushing companies to pull back on spending and hiring.

    And yet, even though it seemed impossible, the labor market is somehow getting tighter, said Rucha Vankudre, senior economist at business analytics firm Lightcast.

    “I think pretty much all the labor economists in the country this morning are shocked,” Vankudre said Friday during a webinar after the jobs report was released. I think the question on everyone’s mind is, ‘How can the labor market keep getting stronger and stronger, and how can this keep happening while at the same time we are seeing prices come down?’”

    Instead of lending credence to what was a bubbling belief in a soft landing, Friday’s jobs report only seems to beg more questions about not only the state of the economy, but also of the Federal Reserve’s attempts to hammer down high inflation.

    On Wednesday, the Fed concluded its first policymaking meeting of 2023 by green-lighting a quarter-point interest rate hike — the smallest since March — as a reflection of progress in its fight to lower inflation.

    The more moderate increase had been long telegraphed and came despite a hotter-than-expected December Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report, which showed job openings grew to more than 11 million, or 1.9 available jobs for every job seeker.

    Fed officials remain laser focused on wages and inflation, and are seeing some progress there, said Elizabeth Crofoot, Lightcast senior economist. Fluctuations are to be expected in any economic data, and it’s (always) important to remember that “one month does not make a trend,” especially for January data, she said.

    “I think [Fed officials] are going to say, ‘Let’s continue to keep our eye on the data,’ and they’re going to hold steady until they see that inflation rate come down,” Crofoot said.

    The January jobs report shouldn’t trigger a wholesale change of what Fed members are thinking or what they were planning on doing before this report, Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo, told CNN.

    “I think it suggests that the labor market remains still very strong, and there’s still a lot of wage pressures coming from that strong labor market that the Fed needs to contend with if it’s going to get inflation back to 2% on a sustained basis,” House said, noting the Fed’s target inflation rate.

    The Covid pandemic was a tremendous shock to global economies, and the US labor force is still showing the effects of historic employment losses, sudden shifts in consumer behavior, discombobulated supply chains, and efforts to return to a state of normality.

    The employment recovery since 2021 has been historically robust, with the monthly job gains larger than anything seen on record.

    January’s jobs report came with added complexity, because it included annual updates to populations estimates and revisions to employer survey data.

    “Now we know both [2021 and 2022] had faster job growth than we previously realized,” said University of Michigan economists Betsey Stevenson and Benny Doctor in a statement Friday. “The patterns remain the same: Job growth accelerated in the second half of 2021 before slowing in the first half of 2022 and slowing further in the second half of 2022.”

    The January reports also bring with them “seasonal noise,” said Joe Brusuelas, principal and chief economist for RSM US.

    “I’m advising policymakers and clients to ignore the topline number [of 517,000],” he said, noting it’s likely a function of seasonal adjustments and a reflection of swings in hiring activity and traditional cutbacks that take place from mid-December to mid-January.

    “That being said, even if a downward revision takes away 200,000 or so off the top, you still are sitting at around 300,000,” he added.

    “The job market is clearly too robust at this time to re-establish price stability; therefore, the Federal Reserve is going to have to not only hike by 25 basis points at its March meeting, it’s going to have to do so at the May meeting,” he predicted.

    Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting on February 01, 2023, in Washington, DC. The Fed announced a 0.25 percentage point interest rate increase to a range of 4.50% to 4.75%.

    Last summer, Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned that “some pain” (aka rising unemployment) would likely be felt as a result of the Fed’s sweeping efforts to tackle inflation.

    Yet Powell did not once utter the word “pain” during his press conference on Wednesday, said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst with Bankrate.

    “If they were to put money on it, I think Las Vegas oddsmakers would be doubling down right now on the soft landing scenario — not to say that’s the base case, per se, but the chances seem to be growing,” Hamrick said.

    “If anything, the global economic scenario has brightened in recent days and weeks — and we got a significant ray of sunshine with this January employment report, including all the revisions — but that’s not to say that consumers or businesses should be complacent with respect to an eventual risk of a recession,” he said.

    So for now, the chances of a soft landing remain unknown.

    “This is sort of a bumpy, turbulent ride to who knows where,” Crofoot said.

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  • DeSantis feud with Disney enters new phase as Florida lawmakers announce special session next week | CNN Politics

    DeSantis feud with Disney enters new phase as Florida lawmakers announce special session next week | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Florida lawmakers will return to the state Capitol in Tallahassee next week to finalize their efforts to strip the Walt Disney Company of its special governing powers, the latest round of the yearlong feud between Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the entertainment giant.

    In addition to settling Disney’s future, lawmakers in the GOP-controlled legislature will also consider changes to two other contentious DeSantis priorities – Florida’s new election police force and the state’s migrant transport program – to address legal concerns that have stymied their full impact, according to communications sent to members Friday afternoon by state House and Senate leaders.

    The flurry of action will take place in a special legislative session beginning Monday – just weeks before lawmakers were scheduled to assemble for the state’s annual legislative session. Legislative leaders did not clearly explain why lawmakers were rushing to take on these matters in advance of their regularly scheduled meeting. But DeSantis has already begun to lay out an ambitious agenda for the 60-day regular session beginning in March that could serve as a platform for a potential 2024 presidential campaign announcement later this year.

    If all goes according to the plan from Republican leaders, it could mean a new era is forthcoming for the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the government body created in 1967 that effectively gives Disney, the state’s largest employer, control over the land in and around its central Florida theme parks. DeSantis put Reedy Creek in his sights last year after Disney’s then-CEO, Bob Chapek, publicly criticized a bill to restrict certain classroom instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity that the governor later signed into law. At DeSantis’ demand, lawmakers voted during a special legislative session last April to dissolve Reedy Creek in June 2023.

    But lawmakers left town without a plan to unwind a half-century of Disney control or for how to ensure Orange and Osceola county residents wouldn’t be on the hook for funding Reedy Creek services or its $1 billion in debt. Amid the fallout, Reedy Creek told its bondholders that Florida could not dissolve the district without assuming its debts.

    In the months since signing the bill to end Reedy Creek, DeSantis has repeatedly offered assurances that taxpayers wouldn’t have to pick up the tab.

    Speaking at a news conference earlier this week, DeSantis said it was his intention for the state to assume control of the district.

    “We’re not going to have a corporation controlling its own government; that’s going to be reverted to the state,” he said. “Disney will not have governing self-governing status anymore. We’re going to make sure that there are no special legal privileges … and then making sure they’re paying their fair share of taxes and paying the debt.”

    As of Friday afternoon, the legislative framework to accomplish that had not been filed with the state. A spokesman for DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but House and Senate leaders said they were coordinating with the governor’s office.

    CNN has reached out to Disney’s corporate headquarters for comment.

    Florida lawmakers at the special session will also consider allowing the DeSantis administration to transport migrants from anywhere in the United States, a significant expansion of a program that gained national attention last year after Florida paid for two flights that carried migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. However, the program has stalled amid legal challenges over whether the DeSantis administration violated a state law limiting the transport to migrants from Florida.

    The change, if approved, could lift a significant legal hurdle that may allow the DeSantis administration to continue operating flights transporting migrants from border states to Democratic-leaning jurisdictions. The program appears to have gone dark since the September flights to Martha’s Vineyard. In his budget proposal released this week, DeSantis indicated that transporting migrants continues to be a priority of his immigration agenda, allocating $12 million for its continuation into 2024.

    According to a letter from Florida House Speaker Paul Renner’s office, the state House and Senate will consider giving DeSantis’ controversial new Office of Elections Crimes and Security the jurisdiction to prosecute crimes involving elections. The proposal comes after DeSantis initiated a crackdown on voter fraud that resulted in the arrest of 20 individuals but hit a legal snag when a judge dismissed a case against a Miami defendant on the grounds that state prosecutors had acted beyond their authority.

    The agenda for next week will reprise some of the most attention-grabbing actions from DeSantis’ first term as governor. The feud with Disney, the migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard and his new election force all thrust the Republican leader into the spotlight throughout 2022, garnering doting coverage from conservative media outlets and provoking widespread condemnation from Democrats in Florida and across the country.

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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  • Jim Jordan issues first subpoenas targeting Biden administration’s response to school board threats | CNN Politics

    Jim Jordan issues first subpoenas targeting Biden administration’s response to school board threats | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Friday subpoenaed the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Education for documents as part of its investigation into whether a Justice Department strategy to address threats against teachers and school officials was abused to target conservative parents.

    The flurry of subpoenas are the first from the Judiciary’s subcommittee dedicated to investigating the alleged weaponization of the federal government and are an early indication that the newly minted chairman intends to aggressively pursue its probe into the Biden administration’s response to rising tensions and threats of violence surrounding school board meetings.

    The subpoenas set a document deadline of March 1. The panel sent the subpoenas after initially sending letters to the agencies for voluntary cooperation on January 17.

    The allegations being investigated date to 2021, when protests and some violence erupted at school board meetings across the country. Most of the anger came from conservative parents who wanted to repeal mask mandates, opposed anti-racism courses and had concerns about LGBTQ policies.

    With that backdrop, the National School Boards Association wrote to President Joe Biden asking for federal help to address the violence and threats against school administrators. The group said that “these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism” and encouraged the Justice Department to explore which laws, possibly including the Patriot Act, could be applied.

    The group soon apologized for “some of the language” in its letter. But it quickly drew backlash, particularly among conservatives.

    Attorney General Merrick Garland had issued a memo in response – which didn’t cite the letter, compare parents to “terrorists” nor invoke the Patriot Act. It merely told the FBI and federal prosecutors to step up collaboration with state and local law enforcement on the issue.

    According to a report Jordan released last year, emails show that the Biden White House consulted with the NSBA on the letter before the group made its letter public. An independent review by NSBA concluded, however, that there was no “direct or indirect evidence suggesting the Administration requested the Letter” or reviewed the contents before the letter was sent.

    Other emails also show that the Justice Department sent an advance copy of Garland’s memo to the NSBA.

    The FBI later established a “threat tag” to internally track cases about school board threats under the same categorization. Republicans have seized on the “threat tag” to accuse the FBI of carrying out Biden’s desire to stomp out conservative speech at school boards. But the creation of an internal database does not mean the FBI initiated any sort of crackdown against parents.

    Judiciary Republicans are requesting Garland provide a paper trail of the DOJ’s communications with the White House, intelligence agencies and members of the National School Boards Association about alleged violence at school board meetings.

    The subpoena also calls for a number of documents relating to Garland’s directive for FBI and US attorneys’ offices to meet with federal, state and local law enforcement partners to discuss strategies for addressing the issue, focusing specifically on what meetings took place and what recommendations were made.

    A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. Three days after Jordan’s voluntary request to DOJ, a department official responded to the Ohio Republican that “we share your belief that congressional oversight is vital to our functioning democracy” and encouraged the committee to prioritize its document requests to elicit efficient responses, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

    The FBI subpoena specifically demands that Director Chris Wray produce a variety of documents, including communications related to meeting with US attorneys’ offices and “establishment of the Department of Justice’s task force.”

    Wray is also told to hand over all documents related to formal and informal recommendations created or relied upon by FBI employees in accordance with Garland’s October 2021 memo.

    The FBI said in a statement that the bureau “has never been in the business of investigating speech or policing speech at school board meetings or anywhere else, and we never will be,” adding that “attempts to further any political narrative will not change those facts.”

    “The FBI recognizes the importance of congressional oversight and remains fully committed to cooperating with Congress’s oversight requests consistent with its constitutional and statutory responsibilities. The FBI is actively working to respond to congressional requests for information – including voluntary production of documents,” the FBI statement read.

    Jordan’s subpoena to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona called on the Education Department to hand over any documents or communications related to a letter the National School Boards Association sent in September 2021.

    Jordan’s subpoena also called for any files related to Viola Garcia’s appointment to the National Assessment Government Board. Garcia was the president of the National School Boards Association and was one of two individuals who signed the September 2021 letter to Biden.

    An Education Department spokesperson told CNN that “the Department responded to Chairman Jordan’s letter earlier this week. The Department remains committed to responding to the House Judiciary Committee’s requests in a manner consistent with longstanding Executive Branch policy.”

    CNN has reached out to Garcia for comment.

    On Thursday, a day before the subpoena, the Education Department told Jordan’s team that the department played no role in crafting the letter from the National School Boards Association.

    “I would also like to reiterate – as the Department has repeatedly made clear – that the Secretary did not request, direct any action, or play any role in the development of the September 29, 2021, letter from the NSBA to President Biden,” Gwen Graham, assistant secretary for legislation and congressional affairs at the Education Department wrote in a letter obtained by CNN. Graham added that an independent review for counsel retained by the NSBA did not find any connection between the letter and Garcia’s appointment.

    Republicans gave Democrats on the committee a heads up that these subpoenas were coming, a source familiar told CNN. Democratic Del. Stacey Plaskett of the US Virgin Islands, the highest-ranking Democrat on the subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government, said the subpoenas were underpinned by “conspiracy theories” and said she is confident that what the Republicans have asked for “will once again disprove this tired right-wing theory.”

    White House spokesperson for Congressional Oversight Ian Sams said in a statement to CNN, “Chairman Jordan is rushing to fire off subpoenas only two days after the Judiciary Committee organized, even though agencies already responded in good faith seeking to accommodate requests he made. These subpoenas make crystal clear that extreme House Republicans have no interest in working together with the Biden Administration on behalf of the American people and every interest in staging political stunts.”

    Since the uproar at school boards became a major political issue in late 2021, Republicans have pushed the baseless narrative that Biden, Garland and Wray have weaponized federal law enforcement to attack innocent parents who care about education.

    House Speaker Kevin McCarthy falsely claimed that “Biden used the FBI to target parents as domestic terrorists.” Jordan has said Garland tried “to use federal law enforcement tools to silence parents.” This claim even came up in the GOP response to last year’s State of the Union. These claims have been repeatedly debunked by fact-checkers from CNN and other outlets.

    For his part, Garland has aggressively pushed back against Republicans’ accusations. He previously testified to Congress that the Justice Department isn’t using counterterrorism resources against parents and said it was ridiculous to equate “angry” parents to “terrorists.”

    When GOP senators grilled Wray about the “threat tag” matter at an August hearing, he defended the FBI.

    “The FBI is not going to be in the business of investigating speech or policing speech at school board meetings,” Wray said. “We’re not about to start now. Threats of violence, that’s a different matter altogether. And there, we will work with our state local partners, as we always have.”

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  • Balloon drama comes at precarious time in US-China relations | CNN Politics

    Balloon drama comes at precarious time in US-China relations | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken had no choice.

    Diplomatically and for domestic political reasons, it would have been impossible to go ahead with a planned visit to China in the coming days as what US officials have described as a Chinese surveillance balloon floated across the US.

    The drama dashed an attempt by the Biden administration to take some of the heat out of tense US-China relations. And it is yet another incident that will fuel a sense in Washington and Beijing that the world’s strongest superpower and its rising rival are heading toward an inevitable confrontation.

    China took the rare step of expressing regret for the “unintended entry” of what it called a meteorological civilian airship into US airspace.

    “The Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure,” the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said in a statement.

    Had Blinken gone to Beijing, his visit would have been dominated by the balloon incident to the detriment of other key issues in the relationship, including Taiwan and economic clashes. But politically, with Republicans up in arms over the incident, going ahead with the visit would have made President Joe Biden’s administration look like it wasn’t being sufficiently tough on China. Domestic politics in both Washington and Beijing play an important role in defining what is often described as the world’s most crucial diplomatic relationship.

    The Pentagon says it’s been tracking the balloon – the size of three buses, according to a defense official – for several days but made the decision not to shoot it down. It reasoned that the balloon was wafting well above commercial and military air lanes – and that it was not a huge intelligence threat.

    This seems a reasonable position since Chinese surveillance satellites with a far greater capacity for espionage are known to hover in space over the US. And officials said it’s not the first time the US has tracked one of Beijing’s balloons during this and previous administrations.

    This is hardly a DEFCON-1 situation. But the balloon offers a perfect glimpse into one of the most destructive factors driving the US and China toward confrontation. The politics of the world’s most critical geopolitical relationship are so torqued in both countries that any incident can set off a new round of recriminations. That’s what Blinken was traveling to Beijing to address.

    Washington is already in an uproar.

    Republicans – always keen to portray Biden as soft on China, even though he’s actually been at least as tough as ex-President Donald Trump – are up in arms over what they are portraying as a violation of US sovereignty.

    Retired colonel has a theory about why suspected Chinese spy balloon is over Montana

    “Information strongly suggests the (Defense) Department failed to act with urgency in responding to this airspace incursion by a high-altitude surveillance balloon. No incursion should be ignored, and should be dealt with appropriately,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

    House Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy – who has already warned China this week it can’t stop him visiting Taiwan if he wants – demanded a briefing about the balloon for the Gang of Eight congressional leaders.

    “China’s brazen disregard for US sovereignty is a destabilizing action that must be addressed and President Biden cannot be silent,” the California Republican said.

    It is fair to wonder why China sent a surveillance balloon over the US before Blinken’s critical visit, with both sides apparently keen to arrest the dangerous plummet in their relations. It seems far less likely this is a deliberate provocation since there’s reason to think China wants to turn down the heat too. Perhaps Beijing lost control of its balloon. Still, if a US balloon was being blown across the Chinese mainland right now, it’s likely President Xi Jinping’s government would wring maximum propaganda value out of the incident.

    China’s Foreign Ministry said Friday it was aware of reports of the incident but warned against “deliberate speculation.”

    “China is a responsible country. We act in accordance with international law. We have no intention in violating other countries’ airspace. We hope relevant parties would handle the matter in a cool-headed way,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.

    Meanwhile, Canada said on Thursday evening it is also tracking the balloon’s movements and working with their American partners, including the monitoring of a potential second incident.

    Going into the Blinken talks, there had seemed to be a small window to improve relations between the long, tense period that led up to Xi’s norm-busting securing of a third term in office, which may have contributed to a nationalistic Chinese attitude that worsened tensions with the US, and the next American presidential election. (White House races almost always degenerate into China bashing that angers Beijing.)

    But the atmosphere around the talks had already been soured by a memo by US Air Force Gen. Michael Minihan first reported by NBC last week, which warned that his “gut” tells him to be ready for war with China – and not just in theory, but in two years. That prediction doesn’t track with US government assessments of the geopolitical tussle in the Pacific or necessarily with events in the region. But it showed how isolated events can send Sino-US tensions soaring.

    Now, floating over that inflammatory atmosphere, we have a Chinese surveillance balloon. This incident may well turn out to be innocuous, but it’s another small drama that has not only ruined Blinken’s trip but will further fan the political flames that elevate hawks in Washington and Beijing who see what they want to see – an inevitable march toward conflict – and make that dangerous scenario more likely.

    This story has been updated with additional details.

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  • The US economy added a whopping 517,000 jobs in January | CNN Business

    The US economy added a whopping 517,000 jobs in January | CNN Business

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    Minneapolis
    CNN
     — 

    The US economy added an astonishing 517,000 jobs in January, showing that the labor market isn’t ready to cool down just yet.

    The unemployment rate fell to 3.4% from 3.5%, hitting a level not seen since May 1969 — two months before Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon — according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    Economists were expecting 185,000 jobs would be added last month, based on consensus estimates on Refinitiv.

    “With 517,000 new jobs added in January 2023 and the unemployment rate at 3.4%, this is a blockbuster report demonstrating that the labor market is more like a bullet train,” Becky Frankiewicz, president and chief commercial officer of ManpowerGroup, said Friday.

    The shockingly strong monthly jobs gain — a number that several economists cautioned was influenced by seasonal factors and is subject to future revisions — bucks a trend of five consecutive months of moderating job growth during the latter half of 2022.

    “The blowout 517,000 increase in total employment was almost certainly a function of seasonal noise and traditional churn in early-year job and wage environment and exaggerates what is already a robust trend in hiring,” Joe Brusuelas, principal and chief economist with RSM US, said in a statement.

    Nonetheless the juggernaut of a report may cause complications for the Federal Reserve, which has been trying to tame high inflation with higher interest rates, said Seema Shah, chief global strategist of Principal Asset Management.

    “Is [Fed Chair Jerome] Powell now wondering why he didn’t push back on the loosening in financial conditions?” Shah said in a statement. “It’s difficult to see how wage pressures can possibly soften sufficiently when jobs growth is as strong as this, and it’s even more difficult to see the Fed stop raising rates and entertain ideas of rate cuts when there is such explosive economic news coming in.”

    “The market is going to go through a roller coaster ride as it tries to decide if this is good or bad news. For now, though, looks like the US economy is doing absolutely fine,” she said.

    Still, the report also showed that wage growth moderated on an annual basis: Average hourly earnings fell 0.4 percentage points to 4.4% year over year. Monthly wage gains held steady at 0.3%.

    “It’s quite remarkable to see such a realignment of the employment picture coinciding with an easing of wage pressure,” Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate, said in an interview. “I think that might be part of this report that could help keep blood pressures down among Federal Reserve officials in the near term.”

    Additionally, average weekly hours jumped to 34.7 hours from 34.3, and employment in temporary help services rebounded after two months of declines, indicating further demand for labor, noted Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter.

    The report also showed an increase in the closely watched labor force participation rate to 62.4% from 62.3%. However, the increase in the share of people working or looking to work was a function of the BLS’ annual benchmark revisions to its household survey, one of two surveys that factor in to the monthly jobs report, noted PNC chief economist Gus Faucher.

    Had it not been for the revisions, that number would have been unchanged at 62.3%, he added.

    “The labor market is structurally tighter post-pandemic,” he said.

    Every January, the BLS makes revisions on its employment data to reflect updated population estimates and other factors.

    “On net, you saw stronger hiring in 2022 than what was initially reported,” said Sarah House, chief economist with Wells Fargo, told CNN.

    Average monthly job growth in 2022 was revised up from an average of 375,000 per month to 401,000, she said.

    Seasonality questions aside, other trends do align to support a strong January 2023 jobs report, Bankrate’s Hamrick said.

    “When you have a number of things lining up, almost like a crime scene investigation, it tends to lend some credibility to that question of believability,” he said of the surprising half-a-million-plus job gains. “What are the things that are lining up? The continued remarkably low level of jobless claims, the rise in job openings, the increase in labor force participation.”

    The gains were also widespread across industries, with job growth led by leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and health care, according to the BLS report.

    Industries that shed jobs last month included motor vehicles and parts (down 6,500 jobs), utilities (down 700 jobs) and information (down 5,000 jobs).

    In recent months, mass layoff announcements — especially from Big Tech — had spurred concern that the cutbacks were a harbinger of broader cutbacks to come.

    That doesn’t appear to be the case, considering jobless claims have remained historically low, job openings haven’t slipped and job gains remain strong, said Giacomo Santangelo, economist at Monster.

    “The news is talking about big names laying off, but we don’t really hear what happens at small firms with less than 200 employees,” he said. “What we’re seeing at Monster is a lot of firms, a majority of firms, are looking to hire.”

    The glut of available jobs — there are 1.9 open positions for every one job seeker — coupled with skills that are in high demand mean that workers are likely finding jobs quickly, he said. Additionally, those laid off by large technology firms likely received generous severance packages, so not all are filing for unemployment benefits.

    Friday’s report showed that the median duration of unemployment was 9.1 weeks, just a smidge above the pre-pandemic level of 8.9 weeks in February 2020.

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  • Law barring people with domestic violence restraining orders from having guns is unconstitutional, court rules | CNN Politics

    Law barring people with domestic violence restraining orders from having guns is unconstitutional, court rules | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A federal law that prohibits people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, a conservative-leaning appeals court ruled Thursday.

    The ruling is the latest significant decision dismantling a gun restriction in the wake of the Supreme Court’s expansion of Second Amendment rights last year in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen decision.

    The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals said that the federal law targeting those believed to pose a domestic violence threat could not stand under the Bruen test, which requires that gun laws have a historical analogy to the firearm regulations in place at the time of the Constitution’s framing.

    “Through that lens, we conclude that (the law’s) ban on possession of firearms is an ‘outlier’ that our ancestors would never have accepted,” the 5th Circuit said.

    The Justice Department signaled Thursday night that it plans to appeal the ruling. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that Congress had determined the statute “nearly 30 years ago.”

    “Whether analyzed through the lens of Supreme Court precedent, or of the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment, that statute is constitutional. Accordingly, the Department will seek further review of the Fifth Circuit’s contrary decision,” he said.

    The Justice Department did not specify its next step in seeking review of the ruling, which could include asking the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals for an en banc rehearing by all the judges on the court, or asking the US Supreme Court to take up an appeal.

    The court’s opinion was written by Judge Cory Todd Wilson, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. He was joined by Reagan-appointee Judge Edith Jones and Judge James Ho, another Trump appointee who also wrote a concurrence.

    The 5th Circuit panel was not persuaded by the historical parallels put forward by the US Justice Department, which was defending the conviction of a person who possessed a firearm while under a domestic violence restraining order that had been imposed after he was accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. The Justice Department argued that the domestic violence law was analogous to 17th-and 18th century regulations that disarmed “dangerous” persons.

    “The purpose of these ‘dangerousness’ laws was the preservation of political and social order, not the protection of an identified person from the specific threat posed by another,” the 5th Circuit opinion read. “Therefore, laws disarming ‘dangerous’ classes of people are not ‘relevantly similar’” to “serve as historical analogues.”

    A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a CNN inquiry. If the 5th Circuit’s ruling is appealed, it could set up another showdown over gun rights at the Supreme Court.

    Steve Vladeck, a CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said clarity from the court is necessary.

    “One of two things is true: Either this kind of blind, rigid, context-free, and common-sense-defying assessment of history is exactly what the Supreme Court intended in its landmark ruling last June in Bruen, or it isn’t,” Vladeck said.

    “Either way, it’s incumbent upon the justices in the Bruen majority to clarify which one they meant – and to either endorse or reject the rather terrifying idea that individuals under an active domestic violence-related restraining order are nevertheless constitutionally entitled to possess firearms,” he added.

    The defendant challenging his conviction, Zackey Rahimi, had lost in an earlier round before the 5th Circuit, before the Supreme Court issued its Bruen ruling last year. The previous 5th Circuit opinion was withdrawn after the Bruen decision was handed down, and the appeals court did another round of briefing directed at the new test.

    This story has been updated with additional developments.

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  • Tracking the opioid crisis: Inside the DEA’s secret lab | CNN

    Tracking the opioid crisis: Inside the DEA’s secret lab | CNN

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    Watch CNN Films’ “American Pain” at 9 p.m. ET Sunday, February 5.



    CNN
     — 

    Sitting among the warehouses of Dulles, Virginia, is one of the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s forensic labs. It’s one of eight across the country where scientists analyze illegal drugs and try to stay ahead of what’s driving deadly overdoses.

    Starting in the late 1990s with overprescribing of prescription narcotics, the opioid epidemic has continued to plague the United States for decades. What has changed is the type of drugs that have killed more than half a million people during the past 20 years.

    CNN was granted rare access to the secret lab where the DEA tests seized illicit drugs to understand what’s coming next.

    “The market is constantly changing, so we are trying to do everything we can from a science base to keep up with that,” Scott Oulton, deputy assistant administrator of the DEA’s Office of Forensic Sciences, told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

    Holding a white bag of fentanyl precursor powder – one of the chemicals used to make the opioid – Oulton explained that the illicitly made painkiller continues to be a dominant presence in the drugs officials are finding.

    “This kilogram can be converted into fentanyl to make approximately 800 grams,” he said. “So it doesn’t take that much material, it’s fairly cheap, it’s inexpensive to obtain.”

    Fentanyl is the deadliest drug in the United States, and it’s often found in combination with other illicit drugs, including cocaine and heroin. But increasingly, fentanyl is showing up in illicit pills disguised as common prescription drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, even Adderall.

    Users buying drugs on the street that look like prescription pills may end up with a highly potent, potentially deadly drug they never intended to take.

    “Over 99% of what we see are fake. They contain fentanyl,” Oulton says of the pills that the agency is seizing.

    The 800 grams of fentanyl that Oulton held could be turned into 400,000 to 500,000 potentially lethal pills.

    As more and more of these lethal pills circulate, the opioid epidemic is reaching more of the population.

    Deena Loudon of Olney, Maryland, is among those living with its effects.

    “I truly love sharing Matthew with the world,” Loudon says as she flips through pictures of her son.

    One of her favorite memories is Matthew playing hockey – what Loudon calls his happy place.

    Matthew Loudon's mom says he turned to drugs after struggling with anxiety.

    But she also recalls his struggles with anxiety, which led him to turn to drugs. He started dabbling in them in the 10th grade. By the following year, his grades began to fall, and he couldn’t keep them high enough to stay in hockey.

    “He was using Xanax to help self-medicate himself and I think to help get rid of some of that angst so he could live somewhat of a normal life,” Loudon said.

    Matthew was always honest, almost to a fault, Loudon says. “He told me he tried everything. Like everything. Heroin, meth, crack, you name it, cocaine, whatever – until I guess he found what made him feel the best, and it was Xanax.”

    And as much as a mother can worry, Loudon says, Matthew always tried to reassure her. “I know what I’m doing,” he would tell her.

    She had heard about fentanyl showing up in pills in their area.

    “But you don’t ever think it’s going to happen to you,” Loudon said.

    She said they even had a conversation about fentanyl the day before he died. “I was sort of naive, wanting to stick my head in the sand and thinking ‘I bet he does know what he’s doing.’ ”

    On November 3, 2020, she found 21-year-old Matthew on the floor of their basement.

    Matthew’s autopsy report lists his cause of death as fentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl intoxication.

    “I don’t say he overdosed. I say he died from fentanyl poisoning. … Truthfully, like, at the end of the day, to me, he was murdered, right? Because he asked for one thing. They gave him something different. And it took his life.”

    For a parent, she said, the hardest thing is burying their child. It’s a pain she speaks out about in hopes of keeping other families safe.

    “It’s Russian roulette,” she warns them. “You never know what you’re gonna get.”

    The number of pills the DEA has seized skyrocketed in just three years, from 2.2 million in 2019 to 50.6 million in 2022.

    The sheer volume of pills has been one of the biggest challenges for the DEA’s lab, Oulton says. As the fentanyl threat continues to grow, the Virginia facility is expanding to accommodate the analysis needed.

    The lab can test for something as simple as the presence of fentanyl, but something called the purity of the pill also offers important insight. This means how much fentanyl is actually in one of these illicit pills.

    “Lately, we’ve been seeing a purity increase over the last year, where we used to say roughly four out of the 10 seizures that we were receiving would contain a lethal dose of greater than 2 milligrams. As of October last year, we started reporting that we’ve seen an uptick. Now we’re saying that six out of 10 of the seizures that we’re receiving contain over 2 milligrams,” Oulton said.

    He says they’re finding an average of 2.3 milligrams of fentanyl in each pill.

    Two milligrams may be the cutoff for what is considered lethal, but Oulton says that doesn’t necessarily mean a pill with 1.99 milligrams of fentanyl can’t be deadly.

    “One pill can kill” is his warning.

    “The message I would like to send out is, don’t take it,” he said. “Don’t take the chance. It’s not worth your life.”

    Oulton says he and his team are constantly finding new and different drugs and substances in pills – things they’ve never seen before.

    One machine in the lab is almost the equivalent of an MRI in a medical office, showing the structure and detail of a pill.

    “We will do what we call structural elucidation to determine that this is a different version of a fentanyl that’s got a new compound and molecule that’s been added to it,” Oulton said.

    They’ve seen “hundreds and hundreds of unique combinations,” he said.

    “We’ll see one that contains fentanyl, one with fentanyl and xylazine, one with fentanyl and caffeine, one with fentanyl and acetaminophen, and you don’t know what you’re getting.”

    Xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer, poses a unique problem. It’s not an opioid, so even when it’s mixed with fentanyl, drugs designed to reverse an opioid overdose may not work.

    Narcan or naloxone, one of the more common overdose-reversing drugs, has become increasingly necessary as the prevalence and potency of illicit drugs increases. About 1.2 million doses of naloxone were dispensed by retail pharmacies in 2021, according to data published by the American Medical Association – nearly nine times more than were dispensed five years earlier.

    Oulton wants to be clear: The problem Isn’t with pills prescribed by your doctor and dispensed by a pharmacy – it’s the pills on the illicit market.

    Those, Matthew’s mother warns, are easy to get.

    “The first pills [Matthew] got was in high school. And it was just flipping out, floating around, and it was easy for him to get his hands on,” she said.

    Loudon’s message for parents now: Keep your eyes open.

    “Just be mindful of what your children are doing. You just just have to keep your eyes open. And even sometimes, when you keep your eyes open, you can miss some of the warning signs, but I think a parent knows their child best, so just keep talking.”

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  • Most US adults support banning sales of all tobacco products, CDC survey says | CNN

    Most US adults support banning sales of all tobacco products, CDC survey says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    More than half of US adults support ending the sale of all tobacco products, according to a new study led by researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and nearly two-thirds said they support banning menthol cigarette sales.

    The poll, published Thursday in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, included 6,455 US adults surveyed in 2021 – before the US Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

    Although cigarette smoking has declined in recent decades, it remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability and death in the US, where an estimated 30.8 million adults currently smoke.

    Support for proposals to ban tobacco sales was lower among current tobacco users, according to the survey. More than a third of current smokers supported banning menthol cigarette sales, and more than a quarter supported banning all tobacco sales.

    The FDA is still considering its proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

    “The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement when the proposal was announced. “Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.”

    In the new study, researchers reported widespread support for a menthol ban across demographic groups.

    “Our findings are generally consistent with previous research showing support for menthol cigarette sales prohibitions, including among population groups historically targeted by unjust marketing practices and with a high prevalence of menthol cigarette use (eg, non-Hispanic Black adults),” they wrote in the study.

    Experts say menthol – the last flavor allowed in cigarettes – makes smoking easier to start and harder to quit. The additive can mask the harshness and irritation of tobacco, making cigarettes more appealing to young people and those who have never used tobacco products. It also enhances the effect of nicotine in the brain, making tobacco products even more addictive.

    Research has shown that tobacco products, especially those with menthol, are disproportionately marketed to youth, racial and ethnic minorities, lower-income people and those who identify as LGBTQ+, all of whom are more likely to use these products and develop tobacco-related health problems.

    “The science is clear: Menthol cigarettes have an adverse impact on public health and have no public health benefits as compared to non-menthol cigarettes,” American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown said in a statement last year. “They increase the likelihood and degree of addiction among youth smokers, elevating the number of premature deaths from tobacco use. Their removal from the market would have enormous benefits for public health in this country.”

    One study published in 2021 estimated that a menthol cigarette ban in the US would result in a 15% reduction in smoking as early as 2026 and up to 650,000 lives saved within 40 years.

    Many parts of the country have started moving in this direction. As of February 2022, at least 145 US communities prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes and other flavored products. Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach, California, were the first cities to prohibit all tobacco sales.

    The study authors say public support can continue to be an influential factor in the acceleration of policy adoption.

    “These findings can inform federal, state, and local efforts to prohibit all tobacco product sales, including menthol cigarettes, reduce tobacco use and tobacco-related disparities, and advance health equity.”

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  • US transfers Guantanamo Bay detainee to Belize | CNN Politics

    US transfers Guantanamo Bay detainee to Belize | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The US has transferred a Guantanamo Bay detainee who was convicted of terrorism offenses in 2012 to Belize, the Pentagon announced on Thursday.

    Majid Khan, a Pakistani citizen and US resident, who went to high school in Baltimore, was captured in 2003 and was held for more than three years at secret CIA prisons known as “black sites.” He was transferred to the US military prison in Cuba in 2006.

    “Majid Khan pled guilty before a Military Commission in February 2012. Pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement, Khan pledged to cooperate with the U.S. Government and honored his cooperation commitment,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “He was sentenced in 2021 to a term of confinement for over 10 years with credit for the years he spent cooperating with U.S. personnel. He has subsequently completed his sentence.”

    The Biden administration has promised to close the prison which currently holds 34 detainees, 20 of whom are eligible for transfer, according to the Pentagon’s Thursday statement.

    Khan lived in the US from 1996 to early 2002 and was suspected of assisting al Qaeda in planning attacks on the US and elsewhere. Authorities believed he joined al Qaeda after the attacks on September 11, 2001.

    He was accused of working for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been called the mastermind behind 9/11, and conspiring with him to blow up underground storage tanks at gas stations in the US; traveling to Pakistan from Baltimore with fraudulently obtained travel documents; traveling to Thailand to give $50,000 of al Qaeda funds to an affiliate group, which was later used to fund a 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriot Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia; and recording a martyr video and preparing to bomb a mosque where Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was anticipated to be. The plan ultimately failed.

    In 2012, Khan was found guilty of conspiracy, spying, murder in violation of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, and providing material for terrorism.

    In 2021 a US military panel asked for clemency in his case, saying in a letter obtained by CNN that the treatment Khan has experienced while in US custody over the past almost two decades was “an affront to American values and concept of justice.”

    “Although designated an ‘alien unprivileged enemy belligerent,’ not technically afforded the rights of US citizens, the complete disregard for the foundational concepts upon which the Constitution was founded is an affront to American values and concepts of justice,” the letter said.

    According to the Defense Department release, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin notified Congress of his intent to transfer Khan to Belize on December 22.

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  • Comparing the classified document discoveries plaguing Biden, Trump and Pence | CNN Politics

    Comparing the classified document discoveries plaguing Biden, Trump and Pence | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Washington – President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence are all facing scrutiny regarding their potential mishandling of classified documents.

    In all three cases, sensitive government materials were found in places where they shouldn’t have ended up. But there are key distinctions that differentiate each situation, including how Biden, Trump and Pence responded to the discovery of documents and how aggressively the Justice Department is currently investigating.

    Here’s a breakdown of the similarities and differences between the Biden, Trump and Pence cases.

    The Biden and Pence situations are similar – their lawyers discovered the classified documents, alerted the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and turned over the papers. In Biden’s case, FBI agents later found additional documents when they searched his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

    Trump followed a different path. After he left the White House, NARA realized that materials were missing. In May 2021, they reached out to Trump’s lawyers who negotiated for months over the voluntary return of several boxes of important documents.

    The Justice Department obtained a subpoena in May 2022, a year after NARA’s initial flag, after suspecting that Trump was still holding onto some classified records. Trump gave back more files but didn’t return everything in his possession. The FBI later executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago resort in August, where more documents were found. The search was the first time in American history that a former president’s home was searched as part of a criminal investigation.

    The exact number is unknown in Biden’s case. Approximately 20 classified documents had been recovered before the FBI searched Biden’s home in Wilmington. The FBI uncovered even more classified files during that search, but neither side has publicly disclosed the specific number of additional documents found.

    For Trump, more than 325 classified records have been recovered. This includes documents returned voluntarily to NARA, turned over to the Justice Department under subpoena, and found by the FBI.

    With Pence’s situation, CNN has reported that his team found about a dozen documents at his Indiana home.

    Some of Biden’s documents were marked “top secret,” which is the highest level of classification. Some of those documents had an “SCI” designation, which stands for “sensitive compartmented information” and refers to extremely sensitive material gleaned from US intelligence sources.

    At least 60 of the Trump documents were labeled “top secret,” including some files with SCI markings. There were also some documents with “SAP” designation, which stands for “special access programs” and is used for documents that are closely held with special protocols for who can access the material.

    A source who was briefed on some of the Pence documents previously told CNN that the government papers recovered from his home were “lower level” classification, without any SCI or SAP markings.

    Attorney General Merrick Garland brought on special prosecutors to investigate Biden and Trump. The Trump matter is being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed in November. And the Biden matter is being investigated by special counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed in January.

    CNN has previously reported that the FBI and Justice Department are conducting a review of the Pence documents and how they ended up at his home. This is less than a full-blown criminal probe.

    The Trump investigation has progressed the farthest. Federal prosecutors got a subpoena, demanded the return of all classified documents and tried to hold Trump in contempt when he didn’t fully comply. Investigators also got a judge to approve a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago and CNN has reported that there is an active grand jury based in Washington, DC, that recently heard testimony from witnesses.

    In this file image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and redacted by in part by the FBI, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 search by the FBI of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

    There haven’t been any known subpoenas or search warrants in the Biden inquiry, though the FBI has conducted voluntary interviews with some of the people on Biden’s team who handled documents.

    There aren’t any known subpoenas, search warrants or FBI interviews in the Pence-related review.

    Biden and Pence both maintain that they engaged early with NARA to return missing documents and are cooperating fully with the Justice Department.

    Whether it was intentional or not, Trump repeatedly missed opportunities to return the documents to the government. Criminal prosecutors eventually concluded that there might have been intentional efforts to hold onto the documents, and Trump is now under investigation for potential obstruction.

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