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Boston bomber's friend convicted
7/22/2014 3:16:48 AM
- Jury: Azamat Tazhayakov guilty of charges relating to backpack
- Prosecutors alleged Tazhayakov helped dispose of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's items
- Defense attorney: Different friend, not Tazhayakov, took items
- His lawyers said Tazhayakov did everything he could to assist the FBI
Boston (CNN) -- A federal jury on Monday found a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty of obstructing the investigation into the 2013 attack.
The jury found Azamat Tazhayakov guilty of obstructing justice and conspiring to obstruct justice, in connection with the removal of a backpack with potential evidence from Tsarnaev's dorm room after the bombings.
Jurors indicated in a verdict questionnaire that they didn't believe a separate allegation -- involving the removal of a laptop computer from the same dorm room -- amounted to obstruction or conspiracy.
But his attorneys said they'll appeal the verdict, maintaining that a different defendant was the one who removed the backpack and put it into a garbage bin, and that the jury was under pressure by a community upset by the bombings to find Tazhayakov guilty.
"He never took a backpack out of the dormitory. ... We will certainly push that the evidence, and my client's intent did not match up with the actions of the case," Tazhayakov attorney Mathew Myers told reporters Monday.
Sentencing for Tazhayakov, who could get up to 25 years in prison, is scheduled for October. The verdict came in the first trial related to the April 15, 2013, bombings that killed three people and injured more than 200 others.
Tazhayakov's mother wept loudly in court when the verdict was read. Tazhayakov spoke briefly to his parents before he was escorted out of the courtroom.
Prosecutors accused Tazhayakov and his roommate, fellow Kazakh national Dias Kadyrbayev, of trying to protect Tsarnaev three days after the bombings by removing a backpack and a laptop from Tsarnaev's dorm room at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, which Tazhayakov also attended.
Prosecutors alleged that Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov took the laptop to their apartment, and that Kadyrbayev, with Tazhayakov's knowledge, tossed the backpack in a trash bin. Authorities eventually found the backpack -- containing Vaseline, a thumb drive and fireworks -- in a landfill.
Kadyrbayev is awaiting trial on the same charges and has pleaded not guilty. Another friend, Robel Phillipos, pleaded not guilty to making false statements. None of Tsarnaev's friends is accused in the bomb plot itself.
Prosecutors: Friends knew suspects' identities before public
Prosecutors told jurors Tazhayakov knew the identity of the suspected bombers -- Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev -- before the public found out, allegedly texting Kadyrbayev, "i think they got his brother," hours before the public knew their names or their relationship to one another.
The friends recognized the Tsarnaev brothers after authorities released video and still photos asking for the public's helping finding the two men, prosecutors said.
Kadyrbayev told his friends that he believed Dzhokhar Tsarnaev "used the Vaseline 'to make bombs,' or words to that effect," an indictment against him reads.
The government said Tsarnaev texted Kadyrbayev after the bombings and told him he could go to his dorm room and take what he wanted. Kadyrbayev showed that text to Tazhayakov, the government alleged.
Authorities alleged that the friends picked up the backpack and the laptop from Tsarnaev's dorm room on April 18, 2013, shortly before Tsarnaev was taken into custody.
The FBI interviewed the friends as part of the bombing investigation, and lawyers for Tazhayakov said he did everything he could to help the probe when he spoke with investigators. Based on that information, authorities found Tsarnaev's backpack in the landfill, his attorneys said.
Juror: Friends were 'getting rid of evidence'
Daniel Antonino, one of the jurors in Tazhayakov's case, said the panel found him guilty of obstruction because "the backpack was simply taken and discarded like they were getting rid of evidence."
"They just threw it in the trash, so that's obstructing justice. Just taking it from the dorm room, we felt, was obstructing justice," Antonino said.
Antonino said the jury didn't feel the same way about the laptop, because "they didn't destroy it," and because jurors felt the friends saw the laptop as something they should take for its potential monetary value. Antonino cited Tsarnaev's alleged text to Kadyrbayev, inviting him to take what he wanted.
Myers, Tazhayakov's attorney, said his client was being unfairly punished for what Kadyrbayev is alleged to have done. The only thing Tazhayakov took from Tsarnaev's room, Myers said, was a pair of headphones that rightfully belonged to him.
"I understand we've spoken about pronouns in this case: 'They did this, they did that.' (But) my client did not leave that dorm room with a backpack," Myers said. "He can only control what people do to a certain extent. ... 'They' did not do anything.
"Dias Kadyrbayev went and took that backpack to a Dumpster. My client wasn't part of that. How a jury claims that my client had intent to do that with Dias, I guess, is a misconstruing of the plain evidence."
Myers said his team also would object to the court's verdict questionnaire, which asked for both charges whether Tazhayakov should be found guilty because of the backpack, the laptop or both. Myers said the jurors might have thought that saying no to the laptop was significant -- perhaps thinking they were giving Tazhayakov a break -- when in fact it did no such thing.
"We knew that could be misleading to the jury," Myers said.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev awaits trial, having pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges tied to the bombing and the subsequent pursuit of him and his brother, Tamerlan.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with police days after the bombing.
Boston bombing suspect's lawyers: We want trial moved away, to Washington
Prosecutors: Tsarnaevs used Christmas lights to make bomb fuses
Gynecologist pix cost hospital $190M
7/21/2014 4:00:36 PM
- NEW: As many as 8,000 women and girls were included in the case
- Dr. Nikita Levy was fired in 2013 after 25 years at Johns Hopkins
- Police found computers full of naked patient pictures, videos
- Levy committed suicide soon after his confession
(CNN) -- Johns Hopkins Health System has agreed to pay $190 million to settle the case of a gynecologist who secretly photographed and recorded his patients.
The doctor committed suicide after confessing to the clandestine photos and recordings.
"We have come to an agreement that the plaintiffs' attorneys and Johns Hopkins Health System believe is fair and properly balances the concerns of thousands of plaintiffs with obligations the Health System has to provide ongoing and superior care to the community.
"It is our hope that this settlement -- and findings by law enforcement that images were not shared -- helps those affected achieve a measure of closure," Johns Hopkins said in a statement Monday.
The dollar figure of the settlement was provided by hospital spokeswoman Kim Hoppe.
Dr. Nikita Levy was fired in 2013 after 25 years at Johns Hopkins. He was found out after a colleague reported her suspicion that Levy was secretly recording his patients using a pen-like camera, which he wore around his neck.
Levy confessed and police searched his house. They found multiple computer servers and computers full of naked patient pictures and videos.
As many as 8,000 women and girls were included in the case, according to plaintiffs' attorney Jonathan Schochor.
"We are hoping this is a major step in putting this all behind us," he said.
Hopkins said insurance would cover the cost of the settlement.
"We assure you that one individual does not define Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins is defined by the tens of thousands of employees who come to work determined to provide world-class care for our patients and their families," the hospital said in its statement.
Doctor accused of molesting his patients
Doctor sued for 'branding' patient's uterus
CNN's Marisa Marcellino and Donovan Long contributed to this report.
47 shot: Chicago's violent weekend
7/22/2014 8:07:19 AM
- NEW: "Every morning, I wake up and I cry," mom of 11-year-old victim tells CNN affiliate
- Police say 47 Chicago residents were shot over the weekend; five lost their lives
- The 11-year-old was fatally shot in the head by a stray bullet while in her friend's bedroom
- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel: "Our kids only get heard when there is a shot"
(CNN) -- After an 11-year-old girl was shot and killed by a stray bullet while sitting on a friend's bedroom floor, Chicago officials met Monday to discuss the city's recent surge in gun violence.
The girl was just one of 47 shooting victims in Chicago over the weekend, five of which were fatal, according to statistics released by the Chicago Police Department.
Shamiya Adams was brought to a nearby hospital in critical condition on Friday and pronounced dead Saturday morning, according to Anthony Brucci, a spokesman for Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
She was visiting a friend when a stray bullet from outside the residence struck her, according to Chicago Police Officer Jose Estrada.
No other injuries were reported at that incident, and no one has been arrested or charged, Estrada said. An investigation is ongoing.
"Every morning, I wake up and I cry," the girl's mother told CNN affiliate WLS. "I just can't believe it."
"She used to tell me every day, give me a letter every day -- how much she loved me, how I was the best mother in the world," Shaneetha Goodloe said, her voice cracking with emotion. "And I will never hear that again from her."
Asked what she would say to anyone who had anything to do with the child's death, Goodloe replied: Speak up.
"If you know anything, you should say something because this wasn't for her. This was not for my child. She was not supposed to die from a bullet to her brain," she said.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel met Monday with the Chicago Police superintendent and community leaders to discuss violence in their city, an event scheduled before the uptick in gun violence over the weekend.
"Our kids only get heard when there is a shot, be it a basketball shot or a bullet shot. There are other kids out there," Emanuel said at the meeting.
"Everybody says, 'So what are you going to do?' As if there's a single thing that's going to resolve this problem," Emanuel said. "It is a communitywide problem, which requires a communitywide solution."
Blame weak gun laws for violence, Chicago's top cop says
Emanuel went on to say that public safety in Chicago goes beyond police and into investments in after-school and summer job programs, gun law enforcement and penalties and community building.
The violent weekend in Chicago follows a deadly Independence Day weekend when more than 60 people were shot and nine were killed, according to police statistics.
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy blamed weak gun laws for the spurt of holiday violence.
"There has to come a tipping point where this changes," McCarthy said then of the violence. "The illogical nature of what's happening here -- that government can intercede and prevent this from happening is overwhelming. And I refuse to think otherwise in a great country like America that we can continue to allow this to happen -- not just on a state, but on a federal level."
Chicago to get more ATF agents to help fight gun crime
Chicago's $8 million push to protect students from gangs
Tackling Chicago's 'crime gap'
Gang violence: What happens when you don't die?
CNN's George Howell and Michael Pearson contributed to this report.
Every 'Simpsons' episode to go online
7/21/2014 9:45:02 PM
- FXX is launching a website called "Simpsons World"
- It will host every episode of "The Simpsons"
- Viewers will also be able to search for specific quotes and make playlists
(EW.com) -- Every single episode of "The Simpsons" is going online, fully searchable.
FXX is launching "Simpsons World," a new way of getting on demand "Simpsons" content, in October. For the first time, viewers can access every episode of the series via their computer or other networked devices. "Authenticated" FX viewers will have instant access on iPhone, iPad, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Android phones and tablets, Smart TVs, and additional set-tops devices.
'The Simpsons': FXX to air every episode in 12-day marathon
Viewers will also be able to search for specific quotes, curate their own own personalized playlists, and share their favorite show clips and quotes. (Hulu currently carries a library of classic "Simpsons" clips, though only the series' eight most recent episodes are available for viewing on that streaming service.)
"I don't want to over-promise, but this website can provide you with affordable health care," joked longtime "Simpsons" executive producer Al Jean.
'Simpsons'-'Family Guy' crossover to include 'Bob's Burgers' cameo
The site is part of FXX's cable acquisition of the exclusive cable rights to repeat episodes of Fox's landmark animated hit.
Also, as previously announced, "The Simpsons" is getting the Longest. Marathon. Ever: FXX will air 25 seasons of "The Simpsons" in a row.
That's 522 episodes, and "The Simpsons Movie."
According to FXX, this will make it the longest-running marathon in television history—all "Simpsons," all the time, 24 hours a day, for 12 days, in chronological order. The marathon begins August 21, so order those cases of Duff now.
See the original story at EW.com.
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U.S.-European airlines ground Israel flights
7/22/2014 1:47:17 PM
- NEW: CNN reporter watches rocket intercepted near Ben Gurion Airport
- FAA prohibits U.S. flights to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv
- Delta cites "reports of a rocket or associated debris" near airport
- Israel Airport Authority says the airport is safe
(CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration has told U.S. airlines that they are prohibited from flying to or from Israel's Ben Gurion Airport for up to 24 hours.
"The notice was issued in response to a rocket strike which landed approximately one mile" from the airport Tuesday morning, the FAA said.
The suspension comes amid a conflict between Israel and militants in Gaza. The Israeli military said at least 41 rockets were fired from the Palestinian territory toward Israel on Tuesday.
Operations at the airport in Tel Aviv continued Tuesday after the FAA issued its order, according to CNN's Atika Shubert, who was reporting from Ben Gurion Airport. Shubert said she saw a rocket being intercepted near the airport. "This is the environment that the planes are flying in and out of," she said.
At least two U.S. airlines had already suspended flights to Israel on Tuesday before the FAA notice, with one company specifically citing a rocket attack near Tel Aviv.
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines both told CNN they suspended service to Ben Gurion Airport.
One immediate effect of Delta's decision: Delta Flight 468, which left New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Tuesday with 273 passengers, diverted to Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport instead of heading to Tel Aviv as scheduled, the airline said.
The American Airlines flights in question -- between Philadelphia and Ben Gurion -- are operated by US Airways, said American spokesman Casey Norton.
The Israel Airport Authority told CNN that the U.S. companies made the decisions on their own, and it urged them to reconsider, saying the airport was safe. "There is no reason that American carriers should stop flying to Israel and thus give a prize to terror," it said.
Several European airlines have also decided to halt flights to Israel. The Lufthansa Group has suspended flights to Israel for the next 36 hours, which includes Lufthansa's Austrian and Swiss flights, a Lufthansa official told CNN's Richard Quest.
Dutch flag carrier KLM has canceled a flight to Israel which was due to depart Tuesday evening. The company says it is still looking into whether future flights will also be canceled.
The suspensions come a day after the U.S. State Department asked Americans to consider deferring nonessential travel to Israel and the West Bank.
Monday's travel warning reaffirmed existing guidance against any travel to Gaza, which the State Department says "is under the control of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization." The department urged U.S. citizens already in Gaza to depart immediately.
Visitors to Israel should familiarize themselves with the nearest bomb shelters in case of attack and should avoid areas of Israel near Gaza because of the possibility of attacks from Gaza "with little or no warning," the advisory says.
CNN's Amir Tal, Tim Lister, Marlena Baldacci and Justin Lear contributed to this report.
Delta suspends flights to Israel
7/22/2014 11:22:09 AM
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines have suspended all flights into Tel Aviv Airport citing security concerns.
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First set of MH17 dead flown back to Netherlands
7/23/2014 7:05:59 AM
- NEW: Dignified send-off contrasts with reported treatment of bodies after crash
- The remains of 40 of the MH17 victims are expected to arrive in the Netherlands on Wednesday
- Children at a Ukrainian orphanage saw the carnage near their playground
- Dutch Prime Minister: It could take months to identify some of the victims
Send iReport your photos and videos.
Kharkiv, Ukraine (CNN) -- In a somber ceremony both moving and meaningful, white-gloved Ukrainian soldiers Wednesday respectfully carried the bodies of passengers killed in the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to the airplane that would carry them to a waiting king and queen, and a grieving nation on an official day of mourning.
The nearly martial honors afforded the remains on a sunny tarmac in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv contrasted sharply with how they were first treated in death -- first blown out of the sky by a suspected surface-to-air missile, then allowed to remain exposed to the elements for days. In some cases, furious Dutch officials say, they were stripped of their personal belongings.
The first of two military aircraft carrying 40 bodies was expected to arrive in the Dutch city of Eindhoven at 4 p.m. (10 a.m. ET). A lone bugler will mark the arrival, followed by a minute of silence across the nation. Families of the dead and Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will be on hand.
Of the 298 people who died aboard Flight 17, 193 were Dutch citizens.
The ceremonies come amid continued confusion over who shot the plane down, and why, and want happened to the evidence where the plane fell to earth in fields deep in eastern Ukrainian territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels.
'Black boxes' arrive in UK
It took days for Ukrainian rebels who control the area of the crash site to hand over the bodies and the airliners' black boxes to Malaysian officials.
Now, the voice and flight data recorders are in Britain for what will be a detailed scouring by international analysts, officials said.
The Dutch Safety Board is leading the Flight 17 investigation. Dutch officials had asked for help from British accident investigators to retrieve data from the boxes for international analysis, British Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Analyzing data from the black boxes could take several weeks, the Safety Board said.
But the black boxes might not help answer the two most pressing questions: who shot down the plane, and why.
And after global debate over whether planes should fly over conflict zones, the Safety Board said it will conduct two additional probes: "an investigation into the decision-making for flight routes and an investigation into the availability of passenger lists."
Some bodies unaccounted for
Once in the Netherlands, the bodies will be taken to a military facility for forensic testing, Dutch officials say. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it could take weeks or even months to identify the remains.
Officials gave conflicting reports about how many bodies were on the train that traveled from the crash site to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday.
Malaysian official Mohd Sakri, who traveled on the train with the remains, said there were 282 corpses and 87 body parts aboard -- the same tally Ukrainian officials earlier gave to describe the remains recovered from the crash site.
But Dutch investigators only confirmed there were at least 200 bodies transported from the crash site, according to Jan Tuinder, head of the Dutch delegation
Another Dutch official said investigators were still going through the train cars and it was possible that all the crash victims were on the train.
But officials said Monday that at the least, the bodies of 16 people were still unaccounted for. Their remains may still be scattered across a debris field spanning several miles.
Bodies landed near orphanage
The massive and ghastly debris field means many residents are traumatized.
Children at an orphanage in Rozsypne village were playing outside when the plane exploded. They saw the body of one boy hit the earth.
One of their teachers, Valentina, remembers their horror.
"These are dead bodies!" the children screamed, Valentina said.
She points to a large divot in the grass where a woman's body had landed, not far from where the children were playing.
Some of the orphans screamed, Valentina said. Others just sat and cried.
The latest accusations
Meanwhile, the finger-pointing between Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian rebels and the United States over who shot down the plane gets more complicated by the day.
Vitaly Nayda, Ukraine's director of informational security, told CNN's Kyung Lah that the person who shot down the flight was "absolutely" a Russian. "A Russian-trained, well-equipped, well-educated officer ... pushed that button deliberately," he said.
"We taped conversations" between a Russian officer and his office in Moscow, Nayda said. "We know for sure that several minutes before the missile was launched, there was a report" to a Russian officer that the plane was coming, he said.
U.S. officials say pro-Russian rebels were responsible for shooting down the plane, but they now say they believe it's likely the rebels didn't know it was a commercial airliner, U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday.
Moscow has denied claims that it pulled the trigger. And Russian Army Lt. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov suggested a Ukrainian jet fighter may have shot the plane down.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rejected that in an exclusive interview with CNN, saying that all Ukrainian aircraft were on the ground at the time.
And pro-Russian rebels have repeatedly denied responsibility for the attack.
Search for MH370 to resume
In addition to the tumult surrounding the Flight 17 tragedy, Malaysia Airlines is also grappling with the disappearance Flight 370, which was carrying 239 people when it fell off the radar on March 8.
Officials believe the Boeing 777 crashed into the Indian Ocean as it was flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. Searches for the aircraft has been unsuccessful.
But authorities said Wednesday they will resume their efforts in early September. The search will probably take up to a year to complete, they said.
Who are Ukraine's pro-Russian rebels?
Ukrainian President: The world must choose sides
So much we don't know -- five unanswered questions
Who were the victims?
Should jet have flown over Ukraine?
Nick Paton Walsh reported from Kharkiv; Holly Yan and Michael Pearson reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet, Phil Black, Bharati Naik, Barbara Starr, Mick Krever, Stephanie Halasz, Carol Jordan and David Molko contributed to this report.
2 Ukraine fighter jets shot down
7/23/2014 7:08:03 AM
- Ukrainian military office say two military jets were shot down over eastern Ukraine
- The pilots ejected but their condition is not yet clear
- The shootdown comes six days after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was brought down
- Ukrainian officials accuse pro-Russia rebels of bringing down MH17 and military aircraft
Donetsk, Ukraine (CNN) -- Two Ukrainian military jets were shot down Wednesday in the eastern part of the country, where pro-Russian rebels have fought against government forces, a Ukrainian military office said.
The pilots ejected, the office said. Information on their condition wasn't immediately available.
An air defense system shot down the jets after the pilots completed a task near Dmytrivka, the military press office said.
News of the jets' downing comes six days after the deadly crash of the civilian passenger plane Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine.
The first of the bodies of the 298 victims of that crash are being flown to the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Ukrainian officials have previously accused pro-Russia rebels of shooting down a number of military aircraft.
In the week leading up to the July 17 crash of MH17, Ukrainian officials said an Antonov An-26 transport plane and a Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet had been brought down.
The latest reported shootdown highlights the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions between the rebels and Ukrainian security forces.
Claim and counterclaim
Meanwhile, the finger-pointing over who was responsible for bringing down the Boeing 777 continues.
U.S. officials say pro-Russian rebels were responsible for shooting down that plane, but they now believe it's likely the rebels didn't know it was a commercial airliner, U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday.
However, Vitaly Nayda, Ukraine's director of informational security, told CNN's Kyung Lah that the person who shot down the flight was "absolutely" a Russian. "A Russian-trained, well-equipped, well-educated officer ... pushed that button deliberately," he said.
Moscow has denied claims that it pulled the trigger. And Russian Army Lt. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov suggested a Ukrainian jet fighter may have shot the plane down. Ukraine's government rejects that claim.
READ: MH17: First set of bodies en route to the Netherlands
READ: Who are Ukraine's pro-Russia rebels?
READ: Map: Europe's thirst for Russian gas
CNN's Phil Black reported from Donetsk and journalist Victoria Butenko from Kiev, while Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London.
Female genital mutilation risk exposed
7/21/2014 3:32:40 PM
- The number of people at risk is more than twice as high as previously thought, report says
- A children's charity says it refers nearly one case a day to police or children's services
- English prosecutors launched their first genital mutilation case this year
- UNICEF estimates that 125 million girls and women around the world have been mutilated
London (CNN) -- "All I can remember is being held down and the pain. I think it will haunt me forever," the young girl told counselors. "I try to avoid talking about what happened to me because I think people will judge me, but I'm scared that if I don't tell, it will happen to other girls."
What happened to the girl is genital mutilation.
She's one of more than two dozen girls to get counseling this year through Britain's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and new figures out Monday suggest what happened to her is part of a much bigger problem in England and Wales.
The charity's helpline for female genital mutilation concerns has fielded nearly 300 calls already this year, and referred an average of nearly one case a day to police or children's services, the group said Monday.
The society's figures come on the same day that a major new report suggests there are more than twice as many women affected by or at extreme risk of female genital mutilation as previously thought in England and Wales.
The report estimates that 137,000 women are affected or at risk of FGM, as the practice is called.
The study is based on a new examination of 2011 United Kingdom census data, an effort to determine how many women and girls have moved to the country from places where the practice of mutilation is common.
The last major report on the problem in England and Wales, in 2007, estimated that there were 66,000 women affected in the country and 24,000 at risk. It was based on the 2001 census.
There are 29 countries where FGM is practiced, mostly in Africa, according to the report from City University London and the campaign group Equality Now.
The report estimates that there are an additional 60,000 girls up to 14 years old whose mothers suffered FGM. And though the report doesn't say so, those girls must be considered to be at risk of it themselves.
The British government is trying to fight the problem. It has issued guidelines ordering hospitals and schools to be on the lookout for signs of FGM, such as girls being taken out of school early for summer vacation for extended trips to Africa.
Three out of 10 callers to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children helpline were worried about children being taken to Nigeria, and about 16% expressed fears for girls being taken to Somalia.
Half the calls to the helpline were from professionals, including teachers and health care workers, the charity said.
The charity did not name the girl it cited as it released its figures.
The Department of Health has ordered hospitals to report signs of genital mutilation, but the first statistics aren't due until September.
And in March, the Crown Prosecution Service launched its first effort to get convictions for FGM -- of a doctor and a person who encouraged the practice. They're due to go on trial on January 13, 2015.
Female genital mutilation has been specifically outlawed in England and Wales since 1985.
UNICEF estimates that at least 125 million women and girls around the world have been subjected to FGM, the "partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."
As many as 30 million girls under the age of 15 may still be at risk, UNICEF says, although the practice appears to be declining.
Mutilations are normally performed by people with no formal medical training, without anesthetics, using crude instruments such as knives, scissors or razor blades, the City University study says.
Experts tie it to specific ethnic groups rather than religion or country and say there's a variety of justifications, including diminishing or controlling female sexual desire.
2013 Report: Millions of girls still at risk of female genital mutilation
Woman challenges tradition, brings change to her Kenyan village
U.S. intelligence updates MH17 theory
7/22/2014 6:14:53 PM
- NEW: It's unclear how much of a role Russia played, U.S. intelligence says
- The European Union agrees on a plan for new sanctions to include Russia
- Ukraine opens criminal cases against Russian defense minister and businessman
- U.S. sending an expert to help retrieve info from flight data recorders
Send iReport your photos and videos.
Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Did a Russian fire the missile that downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17? That depends on who you ask.
A top Ukrainian official says he has no doubt.
Vitaly Nayda, Ukraine's director of informational security, told CNN the person who shot down the flight was "absolutely" a Russian. "A Russian-trained, well-equipped, well-educated officer ... pushed that button deliberately," he said.
"We taped conversations" between a Russian officer and his office in Moscow, Nayda said. "We know for sure that several minutes before the missile was launched, there was a report" to a Russian officer that the plane was coming, he said.
"They knew the plane was coming with constant speed, in constant direction," and should have known it was not a fighter jet but "a big civilian plane," he said.
U.S. officials say pro-Russian rebels were responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, but they now believe it's likely the rebels didn't know the plane was a commercial airliner when they opened fire, U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday.
The officials have determined that Russia bears some responsibility for the incident because of its support for the rebels, but they haven't been able to determine exactly who fired the missile, whether Russian military were at the site or whether the Russians were directly responsible for launching the missile.
Moscow has denied claims that it pulled the trigger. And Russian Army Lt. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov suggested a Ukrainian jet fighter may have shot the plane down.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rejected that in an exclusive interview with CNN, saying that all Ukrainian aircraft were on the ground at the time.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, was asked Monday about different intercepted recordings, purportedly of pro-Russian rebels talking about shooting down a plane. Churkin suggested that if they did, it was an accident.
"According to them, the people from the east were saying that they shot down a military jet," he said. "If they think they shot down a military jet, it was confusion. If it was confusion, it was not an act of terrorism."
Pro-Russian rebels have repeatedly denied responsibility for the attack.
At crash site, an eerie calm
Now that rebels have handed over the black boxes and the bodies of victims killed when Flight 17 went down, the crash site in eastern Ukraine was eerily quiet on Tuesday, a spokesman for observers in the area said.
There were no more local emergency workers or teams combing the wreckage -- even though Dutch officials said they weren't sure whether the remains of all the victims had been recovered.
"They had even taken down the tents," said Michael Buciurkiew, spokesman for the monitoring mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "There was no activity whatsoever. ... We had an internal discussion today on whether to say it's already trending towards a cleanup operation. There's no active recovery of remains going on right now."
As investigators arrive at the scene, it's unclear what evidence they'll find.
Before activity died down at the site, Buciurkiew said, observers saw emergency workers moving around wreckage.
"Major pieces of the fuselage have been moved," he said.
At one point, he said, observers witnessed teams at the scene "taking out diesel-powered saws and sawing quite invasively into the cockpit."
Dutch PM: Identifying bodies could take months
A train carrying the remains of crash victims arrived in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday.
Investigators were going through the train cars and transferring bodies to a factory, where a facility was set up to transfer them to coffins and get them on a military plane to the Netherlands for forensic investigation.
But officials offered conflicting reports about how many bodies were on the train, with some expressing concern that the remains of more victims could still be at the crash site.
There were 298 people aboard Flight 17 when it crashed, and officials say the remains of 282 have been recovered. Ukraine has also said 87 "body fragments" were recovered from the sprawling crash site, but it's unclear to whom they belonged.
Malaysian official Mohd Sakri said there were 282 corpses aboard the train and 87 body parts.
Dutch investigators had confirmed there were at least 200 bodies transported from the crash site, Jan Tuinder, head of the Dutch delegation, told reporters. Another Dutch official said investigators were still going through the train cars and it was possible all the crash victims were on the train.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he expects the first plane carrying the remains to arrive Wednesday in Eindhoven.
As soon as the remains are identified, families of the victims will be informed. In some cases, that could happen quickly, Rutte said, but in other cases, identification could take weeks or even months.
Frans Timmermans, the Dutch foreign minister, said bringing the victims' remains home is his country's top priority.
"To my dying day, I will not understand that it took so much time for the rescue workers to be allowed to do their difficult jobs," he told the U.N. Security Council on Monday, "and that human remains should be used in a political game."
What's next in the investigation?
Ukrainian rebels handed over the so-called black boxes Tuesday after what Malaysian officials said were repeated attempts to negotiate with the rebels.
"In recent days, we have been working behind the scenes to establish contact with those in charge of the MH17 crash site," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Monday.
But the handover is only the beginning.
British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted that Britain agreed to a Dutch request for accident investigators at Farnborough, southwest of London, to retrieve data from the boxes for international analysis.
And the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said one of its experts will help retrieve information from the black boxes.
The voice recorder could include audio from the cockpit, which would show whether the pilots knew the plane had been hit, said Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
And the flight data recorders will give investigators information about engine settings, pressurization and electronic communications, among other details, she said.
But even the black boxes might not answer the two most pressing questions: who shot down the plane and why.
Here is satellite trajectory of #FlightMH17 and the missile US says shot it down. @NatSecCNN @cnnbrk pic.twitter.com/ijsUM1nCjZ
— Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn) July 22, 2014 U.S. and other officials have said it appears the plane was shot down by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile in rebel-held territory. Evidence supporting that conclusion includes telephone intercepts and video of a Buk missile launcher traveling into Russia with at least one missile missing.
U.S. President Barack Obama, Cameron and others have said the pro-Russian rebels could not have shot down such a high-flying jet without weapons and training from Russia.
Obama called on Russia to rein in the rebel fighters, who he said had treated remains poorly and removed evidence from the site. "What exactly are they trying to hide?" he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his country would use its influence with Ukrainian rebels to push for a full investigation, the Reuters news agency reported.
But those assurances did little to stem efforts to crack down on the rebels and their supporters.
The European Union's Foreign Affairs Council agreed Tuesday to establish a new list of entitles and individuals, including some from Russia, to face EU sanctions.
Timmermans said the Netherlands would seek sanctions involving various fields, including defense, high technology, the energy sector and financial services.
A brawl broke out Tuesday in Ukraine's parliament, where fighting takes place frequently, as lawmakers voted to increase the number of troops battling pro-Russian rebels.
Nikolai Levchenko, who is from the Donetsk region and has been noticed at separatist rallies, accused the government of killing its own people. A nationalist lawmaker then ran up to him. Soon many lawmakers swarmed around them, with some apparently trying to break up the fight.
Ukraine opens criminal case
The U.S. government has released a map of what it says was the flight's path and the site from which the missile was fired. It also released images that it said showed a weapons buildup at a Russian training facility near the Ukraine border.
As Ukraine ratcheted up accusations that Moscow was involved in downing the plane, it also opened criminal cases against Russia's defense minister and a Russian businessman, calling both "accomplices of terrorists."
The Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry accused Russian Defense Minister Gen. Sergei Shoigu of helping form "illegal military groups" in the Donetsk region, where pro-Russian rebels have declared their own government.
"The illegal military groups, which are led by citizens of the Russian Federation, make regular attacks on government institutions and other organizations that have led to multiple human deaths, destruction and other consequences," the ministry said in a statement.
And the ministry accused Russian billionaire Konstantin Malofeev of financing the "illegal military units."
Russian officials have repeatedly denied involvement in fomenting violence in the region.
A June profile on Malofeev by Bloomberg News noted that the "self-proclaimed head of the unrecognized Donetsk People's Republic and its rebel army leader have both worked for Malofeev, though the financier denies any role in the unrest."
Earlier this month, Ukraine opened a criminal case against the head of Russia's Border Service.
The ministry's statement Tuesday contained no specific references to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
Who are Ukraine's pro-Russian rebels?
Ukrainian President: The world must choose sides
So much we don't know -- five unanswered questions
Who were the victims?
Should jet have flown over Ukraine?
CNN's Kyung Lah reported from Kiev; Josh Levs and Holly Yan reported from Atlanta; and CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, Catherine E. Shoichet, Carol Jordan, Pamela Boykoff, Phil Black, Gul Tuysuz, Elizabeth Joseph, Stephanie Halasz, Antonia Mortensen, Barbara Starr and journalist Victoria Butenko contributed to this report.
Grim train taking bodies home
7/22/2014 4:22:54 PM
Forensic experts prepare for their grim task as the bodies from MH17 arrive in Kharkiv. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports.
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Every 'Simpsons' to go online
7/22/2014 11:13:25 PM
- FXX is launching a website called "Simpsons World"
- It will host every episode of "The Simpsons"
- Viewers will also be able to search for specific quotes and make playlists
(EW.com) -- Every single episode of "The Simpsons" is going online, fully searchable.
FXX is launching "Simpsons World," a new way of getting on demand "Simpsons" content, in October. For the first time, viewers can access every episode of the series via their computer or other networked devices. "Authenticated" FX viewers will have instant access on iPhone, iPad, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Android phones and tablets, Smart TVs, and additional set-tops devices.
'The Simpsons': FXX to air every episode in 12-day marathon
Viewers will also be able to search for specific quotes, curate their own own personalized playlists, and share their favorite show clips and quotes. (Hulu currently carries a library of classic "Simpsons" clips, though only the series' eight most recent episodes are available for viewing on that streaming service.)
"I don't want to over-promise, but this website can provide you with affordable health care," joked longtime "Simpsons" executive producer Al Jean.
'Simpsons'-'Family Guy' crossover to include 'Bob's Burgers' cameo
The site is part of FXX's cable acquisition of the exclusive cable rights to repeat episodes of Fox's landmark animated hit.
Also, as previously announced, "The Simpsons" is getting the Longest. Marathon. Ever: FXX will air 25 seasons of "The Simpsons" in a row.
That's 522 episodes, and "The Simpsons Movie."
According to FXX, this will make it the longest-running marathon in television history—all "Simpsons," all the time, 24 hours a day, for 12 days, in chronological order. The marathon begins August 21, so order those cases of Duff now.
See the original story at EW.com.
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Israeli forces and Hamas trade shells, rocket attacks
7/22/2014 11:03:15 PM
- NEW: Palestinian death toll rises to 635, Israeli troop deaths up to 29
- U.N. school shelled a second time; aid agency blames Israel
- "Stop fighting, start talking," U.N. secretary-general tells Palestinians, Israelis
Gaza City (CNN) -- United Nations workers trying to aid people in Gaza found themselves stuck Tuesday between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters, with neither side showing any sign of backing down.
The development came as a rocket fired from Gaza struck near Israel's biggest airport, prompting many airlines around the world to suspend flights -- just days after the downing of a commercial jetliner over eastern Ukraine.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees found rockets hidden in one of its vacant Gaza schools, the second such discovery at a vacant school since the fighting began.
At the same time, a spokesman for UNWRA told CNN that for the second day, tank shells "believed to be from the Israeli military" hit an unoccupied girls' school that had housed 300 of the estimated 118,000 civilians being sheltered by the agency.
"During the two hour window the U.N. staff went to the school to investigate the damage and see what happened, further shelling took place which endangered the lives of the U.N. staff and put them in serious danger," Chris Gunness, the spokesman for UNWRA, told CNN.
"...The IDF had the GPS coordinates of the girls school, which was clearly marked by a U.N. flag."
The IDF has previously accused militants of hiding weapons in U.N. shelters, though there is no specific such claim in this incident.
Death toll rises
Fifteen days after Israel began hitting Gaza targets with airstrikes, and later a punishing ground offensive meant to locate and destroy tunnels used by fighters, the casualties mounted.
Palestinian health officials said at least 635 Palestinians had been killed and 4,040 wounded -- some 70% to 80% of them civilians, according to the United Nations.
Twenty-nine Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians have been confirmed killed in the conflict. Two Israeli soldiers were killed Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Uncertainty remained over the fate of another Israeli soldier, claimed as a captive by Hamas after the armored personnel carrier he was traveling in was ambushed on Sunday. Six other IDF soldiers died in the ambush.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military released the soldier's name -- Sgt. Oren Shaul -- saying, "We are still working to identify his body." Israeli media reported that the soldier was missing and presumed dead.
Israel finds Hamas are no longer amateur fighters
Peace talks
Bearing orders from U.S. President Barack Obama to push for an "immediate cessation of hostilities," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Tuesday with Egyptian and Arab League officials in Cairo, Egypt.
"We've had constructive meetings thus far, and I intend to be continuing our conversations through today and into the next days in order to work to see if we can find a way forward, a way that ends the violence and then addresses the underlying causes of this crisis," Kerry said.
That approach mirrors one taken by Egyptian and Arab League officials, who have urged Hamas to accept a cease-fire, then enter dialogue to discuss its broader concerns.
Hamas rejected the first cease-fire proposed by Egyptian officials, saying negotiators hadn't consulted the group's leaders. They want a broad deal including the release of recently detained Palestinians and the easing of border restrictions.
"We want to reach a cease-fire agreement that will end all hostilities and end the siege of Gaza," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday in a televised address.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a collection of rockets that had been fired into Israel.
Ban called the evidence "quite shocking" and called for an immediate end to the attacks. But he also chided Israel over its military campaign, saying it "will not increase Israel's stability and security in the longer term."
"My message to Israelis and Palestinians is the same: Stop fighting, start talking and take on the root causes of the conflict so we are not back in the same situation in six months or a year," he said.
Netanyahu, however, argued there's little Israel can do to satisfy Hamas.
"What grievance can we solve for Hamas?" he said. "Their grievance is that we exist."
On the ground in Gaza
Dozens of Palestinians died Tuesday in the fighting, Palestinian health officials said. The death toll rose from 604 early in the day to 630 by evening.
One child was injured when the "explosive ordinance" hit the girls' school turned shelter on Monday afternoon, UNWRA spokesman Sami Mashasha told CNN. When U.N. officials went to inspect the damage on Tuesday, the building was struck again, Mashasha said.
The Israeli military said it hit more than 187 targets overnight, most of them in Shaja'ia, a neighborhood east of Gaza City near the border with Israel. The IDF says Hamas uses the residential area as a "fortress for its weapons, rockets, tunnels and command centers."
In one skirmish, the IDF said, paratroopers encountered a squad of militant fighters who were later hit with an airstrike. Several militants escaped in a civilian ambulance, the IDF said.
Troops also uncovered 66 openings to 23 tunnels, six of which were destroyed, the IDF said.
The flood of people seeking refuge from the violence is straining UNRWA's resources and threatening a humanitarian disaster, the agency said.
Uncollected waste and unexploded ordinance were growing problems, the agency said.
Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti accused the Israeli government of carrying out a massacre.
"This has to stop," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Monday.
The United States had pledged $47 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza, Kerry said Tuesday.
On the ground in Israel
Shortly after noon in Washington, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to stop flying to Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv for up to 24 hours, after a rocket struck a home nearby.
At least one flight, Delta Flight 468, diverted to Paris prior to the FAA order. The airline said it was temporarily suspending service "to ensure the safety and security of our customers and employees."
A number of other airlines, including Korean Air, Air Canada, and KLM also suspended service.
The strike was one of 41 the Israeli military said had been launched out of Gaza since midnight and more than 2,000 since the military operation began.
Israel's Iron Dome defense system intercepted 11 of the rockets, including one over Tel Aviv and seven over the city of Ashdod, the Israeli military said. Others fell to the ground harmlessly outside of the city of Be'er Sheva, according to police.
Elsewhere in the world
-- The U.N. Security Council held a debate on the situation in the Middle East on Tuesday. "With no regard for human life, Israel, the occupying power, continues to slaughter entire families," said Riyad Mansour, the head of the Palestinian permanent observer mission to the United Nations. He went on to read the names of 44 children, ranging in age from 8 months to 15 years, killed in the fighting.
David Roet, Israel's deputy permanent representative to the U.N., told the council that international aid dollars had gone to Hamas to build tunnels designed to infiltrate Israel and inflict casualties on its civilian population.
"Imagine what it is like to fall asleep wondering if a terrorist is tunneling under your home or to wake up and wonder if your children will be safe on their way to school," he said. "Just yesterday, heavily armed Hamas terrorists emerged from a tunnel 200 meters from a kindergarten."
-- In Lebanon, the militant group Hezbollah reached out in support of Hamas, raising questions about whether Israel might have to fight on two fronts.
-- A day after a pro-Palestinian protest in Chicago, demonstrators there rallied in support of Israel outside the Israeli Consulate.
READ: Gaza crisis: Who's who in Hamas
READ: Israeli military's 'knock on roof' warnings criticized by rights groups
READ: War-scarred Gaza medical crews also in harm's way
Ian Lee reported from Gaza City. Chelsea J. Carter and Michael Pearson reported and wrote from Atlanta and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Karl Penhaul, Ali Younes, Kareem Khadder, Ben Wedeman, Atika Shubert, Yon Pomrenze, Tim Lister, Richard Roth and Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.
Airlines ground Israel flights
7/22/2014 9:37:16 PM
- NEW: The FAA is monitoring the situation and will issue updated instructions
- CNN reporter watches rocket intercepted near Ben Gurion Airport
- FAA prohibits U.S. flights to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv
- European Aviation Safety Agency recommends avoiding Ben Gurion
(CNN) -- A number of the world's leading airlines on Tuesday suspended flights to Israel's main airport after a rocket fired from Gaza struck about a mile from its runways.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered U.S. airlines to stop flying to or from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport for at least 24 hours, and the European Aviation Safety Agency issued a warning to its airlines to stop its flights.
The action came just days after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot out of the sky over eastern Ukraine, where government troops have been battling Russian-backed separatists.
The flight suspensions to Israel were the latest development in the 15-day-old conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, with neither side showing any sign of backing down. At least 41 rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel on Tuesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The FAA ordered Delta Air Lines, US Airways and United Airlines to suspend their flights to Tel Aviv. "The notice was issued in response to a rocket strike which landed approximately one mile" from the airport Tuesday morning, the FAA said.
"...The FAA will continue to monitor and evaluate the situation. Updated instructions will be provided to U.S. airlines as soon as conditions permit, but no later than 24 hours" from when the suspension was ordered.
A number of European airlines as well as Turkish Airlines suspended flights after an advisory issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency.
EASA "strongly recommends airspace users to refrain from operating to and from Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport," according to the advisory.
As of Tuesday evening, the Israel Airport Authority was showing a number of flight cancellations, but British Airways and a handful of smaller airlines still appeared to be operating flights.
Operations at the airport in Tel Aviv continued Tuesday after the FAA issued its order, according to CNN's Atika Shubert, who was reporting from Ben Gurion Airport. Shubert said she saw a rocket being intercepted near the airport. "This is the environment that the planes are flying in and out of," she said.
The Israel Airport Authority said the U.S. companies made the decisions on their own, and it urged them to reconsider, saying the airport was safe. "There is no reason that American carriers should stop flying to Israel and thus give a prize to terror," it said.
But aviation security consultant Jeff Price called the decision by airlines to halt flights to Tel Aviv's airport for the moment "a prudent measure" that was likely influenced by the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines jetliner over Ukraine.
"The airline must protect their passengers and their asset (the airplane) from death, damage and destruction, so they aren't going to fly into a location that they believe to be unsafe," Price said.
"This is the same situation that airlines encounter during natural disasters like hurricanes, where the airlines move their aircraft out of harm's way until the storm has passed. This is a storm of a different kind, and I think because of MH17 people are more sensitive to their commercial flight flying over an area where military ordnance is being hurled around."
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, the parent company of US Airways, both suspended service to Ben Gurion Airport before the FAA notice was issued.
The Lufthansa Group has suspended flights to Israel for the next 36 hours, including Lufthansa's Austrian Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines flights, according to a Lufthansa official.
Dutch flag carrier KLM has canceled a flight to Israel that was due to depart Tuesday evening. The company said it is still looking into whether future flights will be canceled.
The airport is the premier gateway between Israel and the rest of the world.
"Perhaps no other airport in the world has been the focus of so many terror threats for so long. But Ben Gurion Airport has a remarkable safety record. It is one of the most secure airports in the world," said CNN anchor John Vause, who previously spent three years as a Jerusalem-based correspondent.
"Israel has invested a lot to keep the airport safe, and many within Israel will be extremely concerned if it is now within reach of Hamas rockets," Vause said.
Vause was on Delta Air Lines Flight 468, which was en route Tuesday from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Tel Aviv when it was diverted to Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport.
It's very unusual for the FAA to prohibit U.S. carriers from flying to a particular airport, said Mary Schiavo, a former U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general, via e-mail.
"The FAA does not like to restrict flight operations," Schiavo said via e-mail. "In the past when the FAA has done it there have been diplomatic consequences."
The Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 tragedy last week likely affected the decision, she said. Aviation security expert Richard Bloom agreed that MH17 played a part in the decision to restrict flights.
"Another part of it is the actual war going between Hamas and Israel. Hamas has displayed some surprises -- how many missiles they have and how far they can go. That explains why a number of (airlines) are getting out," said Bloom, director of terrorism, intelligence and security studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
"It's extremely, extremely difficult to protect a commercial aircraft," he said.
Travel agents are scrambling to inform and rebook travelers.
"We are in touch with all our clients, and we're obviously helping to move them to another airline," said Iris Hami, owner of Gil Travel in Philadelphia.
Hami said her agency is working closely with Israel's El Al Airlines. El Al continued to operate its regular schedule Tuesday, including up to five flights a day from the U.S., according to the airline.
Hami said she's rebooking to an El Al flight a group of more than 100 travelers that was scheduled to fly US Airways to Israel Tuesday night.
The flight suspensions come a day after the U.S. State Department asked Americans to consider deferring nonessential travel to Israel and the West Bank.
Monday's travel warning reaffirmed existing guidance against any travel to Gaza, which the State Department said "is under the control of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization." The department urged U.S. citizens already in Gaza to depart immediately.
Other governments are cautioning their citizens against some or all travel to the region.
The United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Monday issued an advisory against all travel to Gaza and noted areas of possible violence in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
In an alert issued Sunday, Canada advised its citizens to use a "high degree of caution" while traveling in Israel. The government advises against travel to Gaza and areas bordering Gaza, Syria and Egypt.
Last year, Israel received a record 3.5 million visitors, according to the country's Central Bureau of Statistics. Before the recent violence, the bureau reported a record 1.4 million visitors for the first half of 2014, but the escalating violence is likely to put a damper on the numbers.
Visitors to Israel should familiarize themselves with the nearest bomb shelters in case of attack and should avoid areas of Israel near Gaza because of the possibility of attacks from Gaza "with little or no warning," the U.S. State Department advisory says.
Travelers reassess plans amid Mideast conflict
CNN's Jason Hanna, Devon Sayers, Suzanne Presto, Amir Tal, Tim Lister, Aaron Cooper, Marlena Baldacci and Justin Lear contributed to this report.
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