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9/11-related cancer cases growing
7/31/2014 6:25:28 AM
- There are at least 2,509 certified cancer cases among 9/11 responders and rescuers
- They suffer from higher rates of leukemia, myeloma, thyroid and prostate cancers
- The U.S. government has a WTC Health Program that provides care and monitoring
(CNN) -- Cancer is plaguing a growing number of first responders and rescuers who worked at ground zero after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. These are cancers the federal government says are thought to be directly related to that effort -- cancers like leukemia, myeloma, thyroid and prostate cancers.
There are at least 1,646 certified cancer cases that have been documented by Mount Sinai Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health. There are some additional 863 cancer cases among both fire and EMS personnel, according to FDNY, which keeps a separate database for its members.
That's a total of 2,509 cases. The center has screened more than 37,000 World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers since 2002. It will continue to monitor those workers and volunteers for any new cases.
Some reports suggest the number of cancer cases in this group has doubled since last year. While that may be mathematically true, cancer experts caution that we can't draw any significant conclusions from the increase.
"For every decade of life, if you look at a population ... cancer rates go up the older you are," said Dr. Otis Brawley, the chief medical and scientific officer and executive vice president of the American Cancer Society. "Looking at an increase from one year to the next is a nonscientific way of making an assessment that is incredibly biased to find a link between the activity and the cancer."
Many have cancers after 9/11
To be scientifically accurate, Brawley said someone would have to look at all the cancer records for the people in the 9/11 group and compare them to a group that had the same age makeup, same gender, and other demographic data. There would also have to be a significant portion of firefighters in that sample, because as a profession they tend to have higher cancer rates than the general population, Brawley said.
A deep scientific analysis of available medical data through 2010 showed a 20% increase in the rate of cancer cases for 9/11 rescue and recovery workers when compared to the general population, according to Mount Sinai.
Government reports suggest workers at the World Trade Center were exposed to a number of chemicals that were known to be carcinogens, or agents that may cause cancer.
Many people who worked at the site are struggling with devastating cancers they may not otherwise have had, had they not responded to the tragedy. That much is clear, according to the U.S. government, which set up a special World Trade Center Health Program.
The program provides medical monitoring and treatment services for 9/11 responders and survivors. Nearly 65,000 people are enrolled. Enrollees are qualified to get health care treatment through several reputable medical centers that keep experts on staff who are qualified to treat and identify illnesses related to the terrorist attacks. The program plans to continue to monitor those workers.
"I think all of us are open to the possibility that these brave folks were exposed to things that caused further illness," Brawley said. "What's most important is that someone has cancer and needs help and we should continue to provide them with the good care they truly deserve."
More on September 11th victim aid and compensation
'Separatism' charges for China scholar
7/31/2014 6:38:46 AM
![[File photo] Ilham Tohti in Beijing on June 12, 2010.](http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140117014322-china-tohti-story-top.jpg)
- Formal charge against Ilham Tohti comes a day after violence in southern Xinjiang
- Tohti went on a hunger strike during his incarceration in January
- Uyghur-Han relations are a focus of Tohti's research
Beijing (CNN) -- Chinese authorities on Wednesday formally charged a prominent Uyghur scholar with "separatism" months after his detention, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Ilham Tohti, an economics professor at Beijing's Minzu University, was detained by police in January and taken to his native Xinjiang, China's restive northwestern region where a spate of recent violent incidents have been blamed by the government on Uyghur separatists seeking to establish an independent state.
Just a day earlier, Xinhua cited local police as saying that a gang wielding knives and axes attacked civilians, a police station, government offices and smashed vehicles on Monday in southern Xinjiang, killing and injuring dozens. The government called the incident an "organized and premeditated" terrorist attack and said police officers at the scene shot dead dozens of people in the mob, according to Xinhua.
In a statement posted online in January, Xinjiang police said they had gathered firm evidence of Tohti colluding with overseas forces to "spread separatist ideas, incite ethnic hatred and advocate Xinjiang independence." The police statement also said Tohti had taught students about "violent Uyghur resistance" in his class and encouraged them to overthrow the Chinese government.
Tohti's lawyer told CNN last month that the scholar emphasized his innocence during a meeting between the two in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.
"He reiterated that he has advocated to improve the rule of law, democracy and ethnic harmony in Xinjiang," said Li Fangping, the lawyer, shortly after being allowed to visit his client for the first time in months.
Hunger strike in January
Li also complained about the treatment of Tohti in jail, saying he was put in shackles for three weeks upon arrival.
"He went on a hunger strike for some 10 days in January after they refused to provide him with Muslim food," Li said. "They also denied him food for about 10 days in March after the Kunming incident," he said, referring to the stabbings at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming that left 29 people dead. Uyghur separatists were blamed in the attack.
The lawyer added that Tohti "looked OK but said he lost 16 kilograms and complained about ailments throughout the body, including in the liver, heart and eyes," Li added.
CNN's phone calls Wednesday to the Xinjiang government for comment went unanswered.
Vocal critic
Tohti is known for his research on Uyghur-Han relations and has been a vocal critic of the government's ethnic policies in Xinjiang, a resource-rich region long inhabited by the Turkic-speaking, largely Muslim Uyghurs. The arrival of waves of Han, China's predominant ethnic group, over the past decades has fueled ethnic tensions.
Some Uyghurs have expressed resentment toward the Han majority in recent years over what they describe as harsh treatment from Chinese security forces and loss of economic opportunities to Han people in Xinjiang.
Amnesty International has said that Uyghurs face widespread discrimination in employment, housing and educational opportunities, as well as curtailed religious freedom and political marginalization. Other critics, including exiled Uyghur activists, have attributed the rise of violence in Xinjiang to Beijing's increasingly repressive rule there -- a claim the government vehemently denies.
In the region's deadliest single violent incident in recent history, a suicide bombing in May killed 39 people at a street market in Urumqi. Another apparent suicide bombing left three dead in April at an Urumqi train station.
The Chinese government has responded by launching a massive anti-terrorism campaign as well as pouring more economic resources into Xinjiang.
Executions
Last month, China executed 13 people convicted of terrorism charges related to attacks on public places in Xinjiang in recent months, state media reported. Also in June, a court in Urumqi sentenced three people to death for their roles in a deadly attack in Beijing's Tiananmen Square last October. Defendant names revealed by state media all sounded Uyghur.
"Repression plus economic incentives -- that has continued to be the government response," said Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch. "Economic development and job opportunities are important to the Uyghurs, but these things must be done in a way that respects their culture and freedom of expression.
"Unfortunately, the government is more interested in projecting what it wishes to do in Xinjiang rather than looking at what the real problems and ethnic grievances are in the region."
READ: China announces probe into former domestic security czar
READ: Report: Dozens killed, injured in China terror attack
Exonerated sex offender's new life
7/31/2014 9:40:24 AM
- Michael Phillips was exonerated in 1990 rape for which he served 12 years in prison
- Now a millionaire, Phillips says he plans to buy truck, house, perhaps trip to China
- Prosecutor: "Untested rape kits should not just sit on a shelf and collect dust"
- Phillips says he holds no grudge against accuser: "I forgive her, and I bless her"
Dallas (CNN) -- Michael Phillips has been spending most of his time these days living in a tiny room in a no-frills northeast Dallas nursing home.
Until recently, he had a roommate who slept in a bed 2 feet away, and staff brought him three square meals a day.
Only a few hours passed each day in which he didn't think about his burden of four decades: being a convicted sex offender.
That was before Friday, when Phillips was officially exonerated by Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins' Conviction Integrity Unit, which determined via DNA testing that he was falsely convicted. The state will now pay him handsomely for its mistake.
It was a first-of-its-kind exoneration in that Phillips wasn't clamoring for vindication. As was the case when he accepted a plea deal in 1990, he felt that his race would preclude him from getting a fair shake in the justice system, so he just accepted his plight.
After entering his plea, Phillips, a 57-year-old African-American who grew up in New Orleans, served 12 years in a Texas prison for the rape of a 16-year-old white girl at a Dallas motel where he'd worked as a maintenance man.
Confined to a wheelchair due to his battle with sickle cell anemia, Phillips has been out of jail since 2002. He has been living in nursing homes the past few years as his health has spiraled downward.
Though he's been out of prison for 12 years, he considers his life one long sentence, as he was forced to wear the branding of a convicted sex offender.
In his first week as a free man, Phillips is overjoyed and struggles to put his emotions into words, instead pointing to the spirituality that helped him cope all these years.
"A-W-E doesn't describe the feeling. I don't know if they got a word that describes how I feel. To have a leash taken off my neck and off my ankle, I know how my ancestors felt when they got free," he said.
Falsely Accused
According to the Dallas Police Department report from September 28, 1990, the victim was awakened by a man wearing a black and white ski mask.
While struggling with the man and biting his hand several times, the victim told police, she pulled up her assailant's mask and recognized him as Phillips, a man she had seen living at the motel.
The following month, detectives showed the victim a six-picture lineup, and she again identified Phillips as the man who raped her.
(The Dallas Police Department no longer presents photos side by side, because the district attorney's office says it suggests that the perpetrator must be present and compels the victim to pick one.)
It didn't help that Phillips had a record. In an interview with CNN, Phillips acknowledged committing a home burglary when he was 19.
"Being young and foolish, there were things you do that were juvenile," he said.
But at 32, he was trying to make an honest living and was shocked to hear that he was being charged with a rape that he hadn't committed. He feels that the prior burglary conviction and a "broken criminal justice system" were to blame for the bad advice he got next.
"The first paid public defender came in there and said, 'Mr. Phillips, the DA went back and saw that you just got out of prison a couple of years ago, so they want to lock you up for 99 years.' He thought he was doing me a favor. He said, 'You could get life, so you are going to take this 99 years.' "
Eventually, another public defender convinced him to cut a deal and plead guilty in exchange for 12 years behind bars, rather than risk a trial. Fearing that a jury would not side with him after a white girl picked him out of a photo lineup, he took the deal, he said.
He recalled distinctly the words of one public defender.
"You are a black man. This is a young white girl who has been assaulted. You have an X on your back already. What do you think the chances are if you go before an all-white jury?" the defense lawyer asked.
"Aren't you supposed to get a jury of your peers?" Phillips replied.
"Yeah, but it's not going to happen."
Phillips wonders today how many poor folks or people of color were denied a chance at justice in Dallas.
"(The system) is really broke down so bad. It's like I'm going to stab you and cut you from the neck down to your navel, and all I do is put a Band-Aid across it and tell you that you are going to be all right," he said. "That's how the justice system is, because all of them young black men that are getting arrested, they are doomed once the police slap the handcuffs on them and put them in the back of a police car."
A living hell
The youngest of nine children, Phillips is close with his family. Two of his older siblings are still alive, and he is tight with his oldest sister's children, who live in Dallas.
After his release from prison, Phillips tried to stay with his sister, but once people in the neighborhood found out his history, they put signs on her door and front yard.
"It's hard to have people look at you sideways and upside-down and cross-eyed and roll their eyes at you," Phillips said.
His niece and nephew, Karen Collins and Keith Wilkerson, concede that they didn't know for sure he was innocent. Phillips was embarrassed by the past and didn't bring it up, they said.
"He never talked about it, and I can say that it's not like him to do something like that, but him not talking about it gave me doubt," Collins said.
After he got out of prison, they said, Phillips struggled to make ends meet, picking up odd jobs as a handyman to pay rent on small apartments. He was forced to move around a lot, and he always had a hard time finding new places to live.
"He just took what life gave him. He was a passive person, not a fighter, which makes it ironic that he was charged with a violent crime," Collins said. "And the sentence didn't stop when he was out. It just made it more visible to the outside world because he was a sex offender.
"He had to deal with the discrimination of being limited to where he could live and work. Where can you get a job?" the niece said.
Last year, Phillips was booted from a nursing home because the staff found out he carried sex offender status, Wilkerson said.
Phillips said he felt helpless: "I didn't have any say in any of my life. You have that label. You have that sticker on your front and back. Bad enough you have to do 12 years for something you didn't do. Now you have to do something for the rest of your life. You have to report."
Now exonerated, Phillips says he's going to focus on dealing with his other sentence: sickle cell anemia.
"It's a war. The older I get, the worse this disease gets. I'm fighting a war with my body," he said.
Even with this battle at hand, his niece and nephew say they are excited to see him take it on without the burden of his conviction.
"His entire life has been held down and limited. The sky is the limit now," Collins said.
Conviction integrity?
Phillips' case is the 34th exoneration by the Dallas District Attorney's Office since the 2007 advent of the Conviction Integrity Unit.
The unit is a long-term project that screens untested rape kits by reviewing DNA databases that are preserved by the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences.
It is essentially using DNA testing to conduct an audit of all convictions in Dallas County for which testing may prove the guilt or innocence of a defendant.
So far, they have tackled only sexual assault convictions from 1990 that meet the following criteria:
• There was biological evidence available that included seminal fluid.
• There was only one rapist (cases with biological samples from more than one person are much harder to work with).
• The attacker's identity was in dispute at the time of the conviction.
According to the district attorney, Phillips is the first DNA exoneration in the United States that was identified by a systematic search of old criminal convictions, as opposed to a challenge by a defendant or any other party.
"Mr. Phillips is very lucky that we tested rape kits from the year in which the heinous crime took place," Watkins said in a written statement. "DNA tells the truth, so this was another case of eyewitness misidentification where one individual's life was wrongfully snatched and a violent criminal was allowed to go free.
"We apologize to Michael Phillips for a criminal justice system that failed him."
The semen found in the rape kit was put into the FBI's combined DNA Index System. It matched the sample of another man who also lived at the motel where the rape took place, the district attorney's office said, but that person can't be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has expired.
Assistant District Attorney Russell Wilson, who heads the Conviction Integrity Unit, had the task of driving out of state to tell the victim Phillips was the not the man who raped her.
"She was very distraught and cried quite a bit. She said she couldn't believe she picked the wrong person out of the photo lineup and felt horrible about that. The victim also said she never got over the sexual assault and had seven dogs because she always feared someone was going to kick down her door like the night of the rape at the motel," Wilson said.
"She broke down again upon learning we cannot prosecute the real perpetrator due to the statute of limitations."
Phillips does not hold a grudge against the woman who was responsible for his fate. Like him, she was a victim whose life was turned upside-down, he said.
"I pray for her, I forgive her, and I bless her."
'Huge racial disproportion'
Samuel Gross, a University of Michigan law professor and editor of the National Registry of Exonerations, says he persuaded Watkins' office to start this project several years ago and has worked as an adviser on the legal team ever since.
A 2012 National Registry of Exonerations study found that among rape exonerations with eyewitness misidentifications, most involved a white victim and African-American assailant.
"That's huge racial disproportion," Gross said. "In most rapes, the attacker and the victim are of the same race. Rapes with white victims and black rapists are less than 10% of the total. So why do they make up a majority of rape cases in which innocent defendants are exonerated? I think the most powerful reason is the difficulty identifying strangers of a different race."
Psychological experiments bear this out, Gross said, "and in the United States, the biggest problem is Caucasians have a much harder time identifying African-Americans than identifying members of our own race."
Gross hopes the successes in Dallas create a road map to reproduce similar results in other jurisdictions, he said.
"We should do it, to the extent possible, because there may be a lot of innocent defendants who were convicted of terrible crimes who we could identify but who have just given up or moved on as best they can. Also, this sort of project might teach us lessons about the causes of wrongful convictions that we would never learn from other exonerations," Gross said.
Phillips is pleased Watkins and his unit are trying to help the many innocent men he met while incarcerated. Watkins and his team say they will continue fighting to free them.
"On one hand, this was like finding a needle in a haystack, because Michael Phillips had given up on pressing his claim of innocence, but on the other hand, this was a methodical approach that can be replicated nationwide," Watkins said. "Untested rape kits should not just sit on a shelf and collect dust. The exoneration continues to expose the past weakness in our criminal justice system."
Newly minted millionaire
Last week's exoneration not only clears Phillips' name and his credit report, it will also make him a wealthy man.
Texas law awards an exoneree $80,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration, so Phillips will get a lump sum of $960,000 and then $80,000 a year for as long as he lives.
Texas also offers exonerees state-run health insurance and a free education, if they choose.
His family is planning to throw a big party for him this weekend, complete with barbecue, music and lots of joyous embraces.
Beyond that, all Phillips knows for sure about the future is that he is going to move out of his nursing home, buy a new vehicle and go to the dentist.
"The first thing I am going to do is get a Ford pickup truck and a house. Or I might just hit the road. You got 50 states. I might just hit the road and visit the rest of the country. I dreamed of going to China and walking on the Great Wall of China," he said.
Phillips has contemplated these possibilities for some time, never thinking that it was possible that his "crazy daydreams" could one day become reality.
But before he's done with his interview, he goes back to his original message. Leaning on an old Dorothy Love Coates gospel tune, he wants to make sure we know what he is really thankful for.
"Hang on to your faith. The Father works in his own time, and like the good song says: He may not come when you want to, but He's always on time."
Innocent man: How inmate Michael Morton lost 25 years of his life
Exonerated: Cases by the numbers
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WikiLeaks breaks Australia gag order
7/31/2014 7:28:52 AM
- WikiLeaks publishes suppression order imposed by Victorian Supreme Court
- Case involved international politicians and certain allegations that can not be repeated
- Social media users shared the information online
- Assange remains in Ecuadorean Embassy in London where he sought political asylum
(CNN) -- They were warned not to share it, but share it they did.
Australians, intrigued by the latest revelation from WikiLeaks, took to social media to pass on a document they were never meant to see.
On Wednesday morning, the whistleblowing group, headed by Julian Assange, broke a suppression order, which was itself subject to a suppression order.
In the United Kingdom, such an order is known as a super-injunction, and is used by judges to ensure secrecy around specific events. And many people talking about the case on Twitter used the hashtag #superinjunction.
This one involves a court case, international politicians and allegations that a Supreme Court judge in the Australian state of Victoria deemed should not be repeated.
The Victorian Supreme Court declined to comment on the matter to CNN.
On its website, WikiLeaks provided more information -- enough to see those responsible for breaking the order prosecuted in an Australian court, one expert said.
"They [Wikileaks] have put themselves in the position of judge, jury and executioner," said Peter Bartlett, a media lawyer from Minter Ellison law firm in Melbourne.
"The difficulty for the court is that WikiLeaks is not, of course, in the jurisdiction of Australia," he said.
"If Assange ever comes back to Australia, you would expect that he would immediately be charged with breaking a suppression order."
Assange remains holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London where he sought political asylum two years ago after publishing reams of classified U.S. documents online.
He's wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault in Sweden, which he claims are politically motivated.
Talk of the broken suppression order spread quickly online.
Some blatantly shared the link to the WikiLeaks release, while others adopted a more cautious stance.
One journalist tweeted: "If, hypothetically, you go to the @Wikileaks site, & I'm not suggesting you do, you might find something interesting I can't talk about."
Suppression orders are relatively common in the state of Victoria, according to a recent study.
The report found that in the five years between 2008 and 2012, Victorian courts issued 1,501 suppression orders, including 281 in the Supreme Court.
In its annual report into the state of press freedom in Australia, the Media & Entertainment Arts Alliance referred to Victoria as "the suppression order capital of Australia."
"These laws are quite draconian," said Chris Nash, a professor of journalism at Monash University in Melbourne, and the former director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.
Courts have been known to act when the orders are breached. Last year, former broadcaster Derryn Hinch was found guilty of contempt of court and fined $100,000 for contravening an order.
The presenter didn't immediately delete a blog he had published about an alleged killer's criminal past after a judge imposed a suppression order during the murder trial.
Wake up to the plight of the pangolin
7/31/2014 9:24:41 AM
- IUCN says all eight species of pangolin are threatened by illegal trade
- The scale-covered mammals are traded for their scales and meat
- John Sutter reported on the pangolin trade in Southeast Asia earlier this year
- Sutter: The pangolin's survival may rest on it being seen as "sassy and cool"
Editor's note: John D. Sutter is a columnist for CNN Opinion and creator of CNN's Change the List project. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+. E-mail him at ctl@cnn.com. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- The world finally is starting to wake up to the plight of the pangolin -- an awesomely introverted, scale-covered mammal that's capable off fending of lions but gets snatched right up by poachers.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature said this week it considers all eight species of pangolin to be threatened with extinction because of the black market trade in its meat and scales.
"In the 21st century we really should not be eating species to extinction," Jonathan Baillie, co-chair of the IUCN's pangolin specialist group, said in a statement.
"There is simply no excuse for allowing this illegal trade to continue."
Related: The most trafficked mammal you've never heard of
The IUCN, which publishes the well-known "Red List" of threatened species, now estimates more than 1 million pangolins were poached in the last decade. That's a staggering number -- pangolins already were thought to be the most trafficked mammals in the world -- and an important reminder that the world could lose these amazing little creatures if more isn't done, immediately, to protect them.
When I went to Vietnam and Indonesia earlier this year to report undercover on the pangolin market, I came across a number of reasons the trade continues unabated.
Among them:
1. Conservation groups don't make the pangolin a priority. They focus on the "charismatic" animals -- panda, rhino, tigers -- instead of these awkward introverts. The pangolin needs a serious PR campaign in order to survive -- and an army of supporters who recognize how incredibly cool it is. To that effect, here are some fun pangolin facts:
5 reasons to love the #pangolin. All species now threatened with extinction b/c of the black market. pic.twitter.com/fglM3vWjGh
— John D. Sutter (@jdsutter) July 30, 2014 2. Governments in Southeast Asia and China have been slow to crack down on the illegal trade. I found pangolin meat easily available on restaurant menus in Hanoi, Vietnam, and am told by activists that little is done to stop pangolin consumption.
Video in which I meet the #pangolin mafia and cringe at leeches in Sumatra. #changethelist https://t.co/08n0ZOkam0 fab edit by: @edythemc
— John D. Sutter (@jdsutter) April 3, 2014 3. It's not just about busting the poachers. For this trade to end, there need to be incentives for poachers to stop poaching -- as well as for pangolin consumers, primarily in Vietnam and China, to stop eating pangolin meat as a delicacy. I'm thankful to CNN readers for donating more than $17,000 toward the creation of a pangolin public service announcement in Hanoi, Vietnam. Similar efforts must be made in China. Source countries, including Indonesia, must create jobs and other opportunities for people who now work in the black market. Low-level poachers are trying to buy milk for their kids, not get rich. And with better economic opportunities, they would leave the trade.
Related: 7 ways to save the pangolin
An action plan from the IUCN -- cleverly named "Scaling Up Pangolin Conservation" -- outlines other helpful steps that should be taken, including more pangolin science.
"Our global strategy to halt the decline of the world's pangolins needs to be urgently implemented," Dan Challender, co-chair of the IUCN's pangolin group, said in a statement. "A vital first step is for the Chinese and Vietnamese governments to conduct an inventory of their pangolin scale stocks and make this publicly available to prove that wild-caught pangolins are no longer supplying the commercial trade."
I'm saddened by this week's news about the size of the pangolin trade and that it now involves all eight species.
But this is also an opportunity.
I'm confident the more people know about the pangolin, the more they'll insist on its protection. They'll do things like start petitions asking Disney to cast a pangolin in an animated film. Or they'll create meme-y online videos like these two from CNN readers.
"Please don't eat my #pangolin friend." ... the song. Weird but so great. Thanks @max_demers: https://t.co/yygdCYNhgo #changethelist
— John D. Sutter (@jdsutter) June 6, 2014 The honey badger guy (@Randallsanimals) made a new video about pangolins .. which is obvi amazing .. https://t.co/fjkEHRaZ6L #changethelist
— John D. Sutter (@jdsutter) April 2, 2014 That stuff is goofy but meaningful.
If the pangolin has a big enough fan club, governments and conservation organizations are bound to listen -- and to do more to help these defenseless underdogs.
The pangolin's survival may rest in people being able to see it as sassy and cool. The good thing: It's both of those. We just have to take time to notice.
The bitter lessons of MH17 disaster
7/31/2014 6:41:32 AM
- Pavlo Klimkin: With downing of MH17, price of peace in eastern Ukraine already too high
- Klimkin: Ukrainians know bitterness of loss, share grief with families of the deceased
- He says the guilty must be promptly punished
Editor's note: Pavlo Klimkin is the Foreign Minister of Ukraine. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- During the last four months, the people of Ukraine have been fighting for their freedom, independence and European path in a war started by Russia-backed terrorists and their accomplices.
Ukrainian military forces suffer heavy losses in battles against terrorists equipped with the newest Russian weaponry. We've seen reports of the pro-Russian thugs shooting women and children, cynically calling it a "protection of the Russian-speaking population."
The price we are paying to bring peace back to the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine is too high. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has proposed the decentralization of power as part of his peace plan. It means more freedom, more economic autonomy and more opportunities to use languages spoken in a particular community for every region.
How rebels in Ukraine built up an arsenal capable of reaching the skies
Ukraine has also demonstrated its genuine willingness to resolve this crisis through negotiations and compromises. Our armed forces have shown exceptional restraint during their military operations in order to avoid casualties among peaceful civilians and prevent destruction of their towns and villages. Our unilateral cease-fire in the zone of the conflict had lasted from June 20 to June 30, during which 27 Ukrainian servicemen, from all over Ukraine, were killed by the bandits.
On July 17 we believe the terrorists fired at the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, cutting short the lives of almost 300 people. This was a tragic wake-up call to the whole world. From now on Russian exporters of terrorism bring tragedy and tears to people across the planet -- from the Netherlands to Australia.
Ukrainians, knowing too well the bitterness of loss, sincerely share grief with the families of the deceased. Our government is conducting, together with a team of international experts, a thorough investigation of the circumstances of this heinous act of terrorism. There is already incontrovertible evidence that the airliner was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile system that had arrived from Russia.
When civilian planes are shot down
For the first time since 1983, when a Soviet jet fighter deliberately shot down a South Korean Boeing 747, Russia stands entangled in such a horrendous tragedy. We remember that an objective investigation of that catastrophe was made possible only 10 years later, after the USSR collapsed. We would not like to have to wait that long to learn the truth about the tragedy of MH17.
Indeed, the guilty must be promptly punished.
We are encouraged with the growing understanding in both the West and the East of the nature of terrorism in eastern Ukraine. While U.S. senators and European Union ministers already consider designating the Donetsk People's Republic and its Luhansk twin as terrorist organizations, we expect Russia to halt its support to terrorists. Since most of them are Russian citizens and "former" security service officers, we also urge Moscow to take them away from Ukraine. They must go home.
Russian sponsorship of terrorism in Ukraine amply demonstrates that in the 21st century any regional conflict invariably poses a threat to global security.
International and internal terrorism, as well as unbridled export of conventional and high-tech weaponry, have no regard for state borders, national sovereignty or human lives.
Ukraine has been consistently advocating not only international control of nuclear weapons, but today we also stand for the creation of a universal mechanism for international control of conventional arms.
We strive for a world based on the respect for international law and trust between nations.
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Boehner authorized to sue Obama
7/31/2014 9:36:27 AM
- NEW: Republicans pushing suit over Obama executive actions, 5 Republicans vote no
- They say the President is violating the law by circumventing Congress
- Democrats say the suit is just a primer for a Republican-led impeachment of Obama
- Speaker John Boehner says there are no impeachment plans; Democrats raising money off it
(CNN) -- The Republican-led House approved a resolution on Wednesday authorizing Speaker John Boehner to sue President Barack Obama over claims he abused his powers at the expense of Congress and the Constitution.
The vote was 225-201.
Republicans argue Obama's executive orders in a number of areas were unlawful because it's the job of Congress to make or change laws. But they believe his handling of the Affordable Care act gives them the best chance at proving their case, and are basing the suit on that issue.
House authorization now allows GOP-leaders to have the unusual challenge filed in federal court. The time frame for that is not clear and many legal experts question whether any judge would take it on.
Not a single House Democrat voted for the resolution and five Republicans opposed it. They were: GOP members Paul Broun of Maryland, Scott Garrett of New Jersey, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Steve Stockman of Texas, and Walter Jones of North Carolina.
The vote takes partisan rancor in Washington to a new level less than four months before congressional midterms with control of the Senate at stake.
The focus on Obamacare also magnifies politics around the sweeping health law Republicans didn't support and have tried to derail since its approval in 2010. It also illustrates Obama's attempts to act on his own with he and Congress getting nowhere on top-shelf legislative initiatives.
Dems claim impeachment coming
Democrats quickly seized to turn the debate on the lawsuit, saying prior to the vote that the real desire of the GOP is to ultimately impeach Obama.
Boehner, who has repeatedly said he disagrees with those pushing impeachment, attempted to shut down that discussion this week.
Insisting that Republicans have "no plans" and "no future plans" to impeach Obama, Boehner denounced the talk of it as "a scam started by Democrats at the White House."
But Democrats seized on polls showing a majority of Americans oppose any effort to remove the President from office, and aren't letting go of the issue.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said the lawsuit was "on a path to nowhere or maybe among some in your ranks, a path to impeachment."
Apparently not satisfied with Boehner's assurance, Pelosi directed this at him: "If you don't want to hear people use the word impeachment, as your people have done, then tell them impeachment is off the table."
CNN poll on suit, impeachment
Obama tweaks GOP on impeachment
Obama, himself, tweaked Republicans on Wednesday. In Kansas City, Missouri, he noted the House was about to leave Washington for the month of August, but "the main vote that they have scheduled for today is whether or not they decide to sue me for doing my job."
During debate, Democrats lined up on their side of the chamber and one after the other requested that GOP leaders allow votes on measures to raise the minimum wage, extend jobless benefits, and ensure pay equity.
They knew Republicans wouldn't hold off on the lawsuit to take any of those issues up, but the the theater was designed to underscore their argument that the majority party was focused on the lawsuit rather than legislating.
The campaign arm for House Democrats arm has raised $7.6 million from appeals to supporters citing the suit and tied it to the threat of impeachment.
Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, defended the aggressive public push and pledged Democrats would continue it through the midterm election in November.
"You bet we're going to run on a Congress that is just obsessed with lawsuits, suing the President, talking about impeaching him, instead of solutions for the middle class," Israel told CNN.
Americans don't like suit, impeachment
A CNN/ORC International poll released last week showed those Americans surveyed, by a 57%-41% margin, opposed the lawsuit. Nearly two-thirds said Obama should not be impeached.
Texas Republican Pete Sessions responded to Democratic refrains that the resolution was the first step toward impeachment.
He said the House voted in 1998 to impeach Bill Clinton because "he lied to an FBI agent, he lied to a federal grand jury, and he violated the federal law which was a felony."
But in Obama's case, Republicans believe he isn't "faithfully executing the laws," which he has sworn to do, and "that is an entirely different process."
Oregon Republican Greg Walden, chairman of the House Republican's political operation, said "impeachment is not on table."
And he issued a warning to fellow Republicans at a meeting, saying that any time the GOP raised the issue it only helped Democrats.
The Obamacare focus
When Boehner announced last month that he would sue Obama, he followed a course many tea party members and conservatives had urged for months.
They were especially angered by actions Obama took without consulting Congress to change or delay key Obamacare provisions, to allow children of undocumented immigrants to stay in the country, and to release Taliban prisoners from U.S. custody in exchange for Afghan war prisoner Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
Initially, Boehner indicated the House would sue over Obama's decision last summer to delay for a year a central health law requirement for businesses provide health coverage to their employees.
The House voted to do the same thing last July, but Republicans argued they did so to protect the integrity of Congress in the face of what they believed was executive overreach.
After consulting legal experts, the House resolution was tweaked to give Boehner more flexibility. It specified that the suit can cite the administration's implementation of any provision of Obamacare.
The House's Office of General Counsel will represent the House in court and the resolution gives it the authority to hire outside lawyers to finalize the legal strategy and file a formal complaint.
Many constitutional experts have raised doubts that the courts will take up the case. The legal burden will be on the House to present how it was damaged as an institution by the President's actions.
Analysis: Obama impeachment talk just political theater
CIA apologizes for spying on Senate
7/31/2014 7:56:46 PM
- CIA Director John Brennan apologized for incident involving intelligence panel
- Allegations involved spying on committee staffers working on a report on CIA interrogations
- The Justice Department probed the matter briefly, but dropped the inquiry
- But the CIA inspector general found some problems for which Brennan apologized
(CNN) -- CIA Director John Brennan apologized to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday and admitted the agency spied on computers used by its staffers who prepared an investigation of the controversial post 9/11 CIA interrogation and detention program.
The episode was the subject of an unusual, public dispute between the panel and the spy agency over access to classified information.
The CIA had accused the committee staffers of getting access to internal agency documents and of improperly handling classified material.
The Justice Department looked into it at the request of the CIA and decided there wasn't enough evidence of a crime to warrant further investigation.
IG weighs in
But the CIA's inspector general, a watchdog, found that some agency employees "acted in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding" reached between the intelligence panel and the CIA in 2009 regarding access to information, the CIA said in a statement.
"The director subsequently informed the (committee) chairman and vice chairman of the findings and apologized to them for such actions by CIA officers as described in the (inspector general's) report," the statement said.
"The director is committed to correcting any shortcomings related to this matter" and is commissioning an Accountability Board to be chaired by former Indiana Democratic senator and Intelligence Committee member Evan Bayh, the CIA said.
"This board will review the (inspector general's) report, conduct interviews as needed, and provide the director with recommendations that, depending on its findings, could include potential disciplinary measures and/or steps to address systemic issues." the CIA added.
The intelligence panel report could be released to the public as soon as next week, congressional sources from each party said this week.
Saxby Chambliss, a Republican of Georgia and the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said he was disappointed by the whole thing.
"Obviously this is a very serious situation and these are serious violations. The individuals who breached the (committee) computer, I think, are going to have to be dealt with, I think, very harshly by the CIA," he said. "But it's in the director's hands."
Report to be released
The document is a nearly 700-page summary of the full 6,800-page report that was approved a year and a half ago by the committee, which was sharply divided along party lines.
Senators on the committee have indicated the report is critical of the CIA's treatment of terrorism suspects saying it amounted to torture, something CIA officials have denied.
It also finds that harsh interrogation techniques did not help disrupt future attacks as many in intelligence community have claimed.
The documents that prompted the dispute related to an internal review by former CIA Director Leon Panetta and, according to the agency, were intended to help summarize material it was providing to the committee for its investigation of the program.
The documents were plainly labeled as for internal use and were not supposed to be reviewed by the committee, according to the CIA.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein said Senate staffers found the documents in the course of their work that were put in the computer system either on purpose by a whistleblower or perhaps in error, and that they corroborated some of the committee's findings that the agency now says it disagrees with.
She said committee staff routinely sees such documents and didn't violate any classified restrictions.
CNN's Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
72-hour humanitarian cease-fire begins in Gaza
8/1/2014 2:26:31 AM
- NEW: Israeli military says no rockets fired from Gaza so far
- Palestinian death toll rises above 1,450, Gaza health official says
- PLO official "hoping against hope" it will lead to a "permanent cease-fire"
- The truce allows Israel to continue destroying tunnels the run under border
Gaza City (CNN) -- After weeks of fighting and more than 1,500 deaths, a humanitarian cease-fire began Friday between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Announced Thursday by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the halt to hostilities is planned to last for 72 hours and provide an opportunity to seek a more lasting solution to the conflict.
"During this time, the forces on the ground will remain in place," a joint statement by the United Nations and United States said.
There were no immediate reports of fighting after the truce came into effect at 8 a.m. Friday in Gaza (1 a.m. ET). About an hour into the pause, the Israel Defense Forces said no rockets had been fired from Gaza toward Israel.
Officials from Israel and Hamas had said in text messages that they accepted the cease-fire, which is meant to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza caught up in the violence.
Many Gaza residents have seen their neighborhoods hit hard and loved ones killed or wounded since Israel began Operation Protective Edge against Hamas on July 8.
Around a quarter of a million people in the small, impoverished territory have been displaced by the conflict, according to the United Nations. That's about 14% of Gaza's population of 1.8 million.
The aid during the cease-fire will include food, care for the injured and burial of the dead.
Under the truce, Israeli and Palestinian officials are expected to meet in Cairo to try to reach "a durable cease-fire," the U.N. and U.S. statement said. "The parties will be able to raise issues of concern in these negotiations."
Tunnel demolition to continue
It remains to be seen whether the two sides, which are bitterly opposed on key issues, will be able to reach a breakthrough.
Past cease-fire attempts in the conflict have failed to take hold or lasted only briefly.
Hamas has said it wants an end to Israel's blockade on Gaza, which restricts the movement of goods and people. It also wants the release of prisoners detained by the Israelis.
Israel, meanwhile, has says it is aiming for the demilitarization of Hamas-controlled Gaza, removing the threat that militant weapons pose to Israeli civilians.
Before the cease-fire plan was announced, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said Israeli troops would continue destroying Hamas' network of tunnels that run under the border into Israel with or without a truce.
While "neither side will advance ... Israel will be able to continue its defensive operations for those tunnels that are behind its lines," Kerry explained.
'A difficult road'
Animosity between the two sides, which have gone to war three times in the past six years, runs deep. Israel, like the United States, designates Hamas as a terrorist organization. Hamas is committed to armed struggle against Israel.
Kerry called planned the talks "a lull of opportunity ... to try to find a way to ... obtain a sustainable cease-fire," but admitted there are "no guarantees." The negotiations will be mediated by Egypt and to include a small American delegation.
As Kerry noted, "Everyone knows it has not been easy to get to this point, and everyone knows it will not be easy to get beyond this point."
Saeb Erakat, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, a separate group from Hamas, said the talks will include "all Palestinian factions."
"It's a difficult road. It's a bumpy road," said Erakat, a veteran Palestinian negotiator. "I am hoping against hope that we can do every possible effort with the help of everyone out there in order to ensure that we can reach a permanent cease-fire."
U.N. official talks of potential war crimes
At least 1,452 people have been killed in Gaza, and 8,360 wounded, during the current conflict, Gaza Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. That's more than the 1,417 Palestinians that the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said died in the 22 days of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, which spanned 2008 and 2009.
Those killed in the current hostilities include 327 children and 166 women, the Gaza health ministry reports.
The bloodshed prompted the United Nations' top human rights official to warn that war crimes may have been committed, accusing Israel of "deliberate defiance of obligations (to) international law."
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay referred to the shelling of homes, schools, hospitals and U.N. premises, while insisting, "We cannot allow this impunity, we cannot allow this lack of accountability to go on."
"None of this appears, to me, to be accidental," Pillay said.
Pressure is coming from around the world over the growing civilian casualties in the conflict, which Israel says it tries to limit.
Chile, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador have pulled their ambassadors out of Tel Aviv to protest the Israeli offensive. Even the United States -- an erstwhile ally of Israel -- believes "the Israelis need to do more" to prevent civilian deaths, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters.
'So much loss of life'
Israel has been protected from many of Hamas' rockets by its Iron Dome defense system, though some have still hit populated areas. That includes a rocket that struck a neighborhood Thursday in Qiryat Gat, about 20 miles from Gaza, seriously injuring a man and setting a car afire, Israeli police said.
Three civilians have been killed in Israel since the conflict began, while many more have been forced to take shelter as rockets rained overhead. Sixty-one Israeli soldiers have been killed during the hostilities, with five of those deaths occurring Thursday evening.
In Gaza, the situation is dire.
Clean water is inaccessible for most. And some 3,600 people have lost their homes.
"We cannot supply electricity" for hospitals, sewage treatment or domestic use, said Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Energy Natural Resources Authority in Gaza. "This is a disaster."
Sakher Joham is among those Palestinians hoping for an end to the misery.
The violence forced him to flee his home, with his five children and "just the clothes on my back."
"We are tired, and we have had so much loss of life," Joham, 32, said of himself and fellow Palestinians. "We want to live with our children a life of dignity, like the rest of the world."
Inside a Hamas tunnel
What is Hamas' endgame in Gaza?
What is Israel's endgame in Gaza?
Opinion: Gaza peace struggle drains me of hope
What You Need to Know About the Israel-Hamas Blame Game
CNN's Karl Penhaul reported from Gaza City; Greg Botelho reported and wrote from Atlanta; and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Mariano Castillo, John Vause, Steve Almasy, Tim Lister, Kareem Khadder, Samira Said, Tal Heinrich and Larry Register contributed to this report.
Kerry: It's a moment of opportunity
7/31/2014 6:33:21 PM
Secretary of State John Kerry speaks about a humanitarian cease-fire for 72 hours between Israel and Hamas.
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Israel calls up 16,000 reservists, asks for U.S. arms
7/31/2014 10:39:46 AM
- Netanyahu says Israel will destroy Hamas tunnels with or without cease-fire
- The conflict has killed 1,373 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, officials say
- White House says Israel must do more to protect civilians
- The Israeli military is calling up 16,000 additional reservists
Gaza City (CNN) -- The Israeli military said Thursday that it is calling up 16,000 additional reservists, bolstering its forces for its fight against Hamas in Gaza after a request for more ammunition from the United States.
The addition brings the total number of reservists Israel has called up since the beginning of the operation against Hamas to 86,000, a military spokeswoman said.
The conflict has killed more than 1,300 people in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Most of the dead are civilians, the United Nations has said.
Fifty-six Israeli soldiers have died, according to the Israel Defense Forces, and three civilians have been killed in Israel.
After more than three weeks of fighting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel would complete its goal of destroying Hamas' network of tunnels with or without a cease-fire. Netanyahu said this is just the first phase of the demilitarization of Gaza.
While U.S. officials have called on Israel to do more to protect civilians, the United States has agreed to Israel's request to resupply it with several types of ammunition, a U.S. defense official told CNN on condition of anonymity. It's not an emergency sale, the official said.
Among the items being bought are tank rounds and illumination rounds, the Pentagon said. Earlier, officials had said that 120mm mortar rounds and 40mm ammunition for grenade launchers were bought, but later corrected themselves to say that this ammunition was not in this shipment.
The United Nations' top humanitarian official on Thursday made an urgent plea to the U.N. Security Council for a pause in the fighting for humanitarian reasons.
There is a need for Israel and Hamas to comply with humanitarian and human rights law, said Valerie Amos, under-secretary for humanitarian affairs.
Shells land near U.N. school
Meanwhile, a number of shells fell Thursday next to a U.N. school housing displaced residents -- a day after another school-turned-shelter was hit by artillery killing more than a dozen people.
"The school itself was not targeted, it was nearby the school," Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said about the Thursday incident.
No one was killed inside the school -- the Beit Lahiya School for Girls, he said. Eight people were slightly injured.
But Gaza health workers are struggling to deal with the relentless stream of dead and wounded.
"The hospitals in Gaza yesterday had a very difficult time. All the hospital morgues were flooding with dead bodies, and the injured were laying on hospital floors because of the lack of hospital beds," said Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health.
On Wednesday, artillery fire struck a different school -- the Jabalya Elementary Girls School -- that was housing more than 3,000 displaced Palestinians.
The United Nations blamed Israel for the attack. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 20 were killed.
Amnesty International: Jabalya attack a 'likely war crime'
Wednesday's attack was the sixth on a U.N.-run school since the conflict began on July 8.
Amnesty International, noting that UNRWA shared its coordinates with the Israeli army 17 times, said the Jabalya attack was a "likely war crime."
"If the strike on this school was the result of Israeli artillery fire it would constitute an indiscriminate attack and a likely war crime," said Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International. "Artillery should never be used against targets in crowded civilian areas and its use in such a manner would never be considered a 'surgical' strike."
Israel has said errant Hamas rocket fire is responsible for some of the attacks in Gaza.
Calls for civilian protection
The violence between Israel's military and Palestinian militants is playing out against a backdrop of failed humanitarian cease-fire attempts, with militants firing rockets from Gaza into Israel and Israelis responding with airstrikes.
A large part of the criticism has been leveled at Israel and its airstrikes, which have bombarded Gaza.
Chile, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador have pulled their ambassadors out of Tel Aviv to protest the Israeli offensive.
Israel, in turn, has accused Hamas of hiding weapons, including rockets, in schools and launching attacks from near shelters.
'This is a disaster'
The incessant attacks and counterattacks are taking a terrible toll on Gazans.
More than 219,000 Palestinians are packed into 86 shelters across Gaza, the U.N. said. That equals about 12% of all of Gaza's population.
Clean water is inaccessible for most. And some 3,600 people have lost their homes.
"We cannot supply electricity" for hospitals, sewage treatment or domestic use, said Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Energy Natural Resources Authority in Gaza. "This is a disaster."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it sent 43 trucks carrying 750 tons of food, medicine and supplies to Gaza on Wednesday. It also said it has sent fuel.
Inside a Hamas tunnel
What is Hamas' endgame in Gaza?
What is Israel's endgame in Gaza?
Opinion: Gaza peace struggle drains me of hope
What You Need to Know About the Israel-Hamas Blame Game
CNN's Karl Penhaul reported from Gaza City; and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Samira Said, Tal Heinrich and Larry Register contributed to this report.
Will sanctions against Russia work?
7/31/2014 6:41:45 AM
- NEW: Russia says new sanctions will harm relations with Washington
- Expanded sanctions target Russian banks, arms industry, oil development
- EU joins Obama after initially balking due to economic concerns
- Another possible option: take the 2018 soccer World Cup from Russia
Washington (CNN) -- More Russian aggression in Ukraine. More U.S. and European sanctions imposed on Moscow.
What seems like diplomatic tail-chasing so many months into the Ukraine conflict invites questions about how Western powers can defuse the worsening conflict in Eastern Europe.
U.S. President Barack Obama and the European Union raised the stakes on Tuesday, announcing long-threatened sanctions that target Russia's state-owned banks, weapons makers and oil companies, along with top cronies of President Vladimir Putin.
They want Putin to stop arming pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukraine government and instead support a political process that entrenches President Petro Poroshenko's elected leadership.
A deeper concern is that Putin may be planning to grab more territory from the former Soviet satellite following Russia's annexation of Crimea earlier this year.
Russia denies such ambitions and criticizes sanctions as unproductive, with the Foreign Ministry saying Wednesday that the new penalties will harm relations with the United States and "create a poor environment in international affairs where the cooperation between our countries often plays a key role."
Here is a look at the latest sanctions and what might come next.
How did we get here?
The Ukraine crisis developed from huge protests in Kiev late last year that led to the February ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
In the ensuing political chaos, the pro-West Poroshenko got elected while Russia grabbed control of Crimea, an ethnic-Russian territory home to its Black Sea fleet.
U.S., EU hit Russia with more sanctions as Ukraine fighting continues
Obama and U.S. allies protested by suspending Putin from the G8 summit and imposing a series of limited sanctions, warning of tougher measures targeting specific economic sectors if Russia's aggression continued. It did, with the separatists armed and trained by Moscow rebelling in eastern Ukraine.
In response, Obama announced expanded U.S. sanctions on July 16 that targeted two Russian state-owned banks, two energy companies, eight weapons makers, along with some Putin associates and separatist leaders.
Europe's major economic ties with Russia -- about $500 billion in trade and investment per year -- caused the European Union to balk at joining Washington then.
The next day, a missile fired from separatist-held territory downed a Malaysia Airlines jet in the conflict zone, killing all 298 people aboard.
Now the separatists are hindering access to the crash site amid fighting in the area, and Russia is sending heavy weaponry to them while deploying troops along the Ukraine border.
MH17 crash: Investigators must have full access, Malaysian PM says
What the European Union did
Almost two weeks after Obama initially expanded the U.S. sanctions, European leaders agreed Tuesday to coordinate similar steps.
In a major expansion signaling new resolve, they went after eight of Putin's top associates, along with Russia's finance, energy and weapons industries.
The new EU sanctions will restrict Russian state-owned banks from accessing European capital markets, and stop or slow the export of oil-related equipment and technology to Russia.
They also will stop new contracts for arms imports and exports between the European Union and Russia, and prohibit the export of goods and technology that can be used for both military and civilian purposes.
"It is meant as a strong warning: Illegal annexation of territory and deliberate destabilization of a neighboring sovereign country cannot be accepted in 21st century Europe," the EU said in a statement.
To punish Russia, Europe must be prepared to suffer
What Obama announced
Two hours later, Obama told reporters that the United States expanded its July 16 sanctions to include three more state-owned banks and another weapons company, while also targeting technology for deep-water, Arctic and shale oil production.
While expanding on the earlier moves, the latest sanctions include limits.
They don't affect Russia's current oil production, instead targeting the ability to develop new areas, senior administration officials told reporters on a background call. The European sanctions on weapons trade only involves future transactions, allowing France to complete an existing helicopter deal with Moscow.
However, Obama cited the joint action as significant, saying that "because we are closely coordinating our actions with Europe, the sanctions we are announcing today will have an even bigger bite."
"If Russia continues on its current path, the cost on Russia will continue to grow," he added, calling the moves "a reminder that the United States means what it says, and we will rally the international community in standing up for the rights and freedom of people around the world."
What is the impact?
The senior administration officials said the expanded sanctions prevent Russia's state-owned banks, which have all or most of their debt in U.S. dollars, from getting more medium- and long-term financing in America.
They noted the sanctions already have contributed to a downturn in the Russian economy, a flight of foreign capital and weakening of the ruble currency.
"Russia is not a very good bet right now for international investors," one of the officials said.
On Tuesday, shares in British oil giant BP fell by 2.5% after the company warned that it would suffer from the tougher EU sanctions. BP owns a significant stake in Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil company, which no longer can access long-term financing from U.S. sources.
Meanwhile, shares in French automotive manufacturer Renault slumped by 4.5% as the company warned about a sharp slowdown in emerging markets, including Russia. Russia is Renault's third largest market, based on sales.
Geopolitically, Obama denied that a new Cold War with Russia had started, but the head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's State Duma -- the lower house of parliament -- disagreed.
Aleksey Pushkov tweeted Wednesday that Obama will make history as "the statesman who started a new Cold War."
To Gideon Rose, the editor of Foreign Affairs magazine, the expanded sanctions mean that "the temperature in the room has just dropped a few degrees."
"The fact that the Europeans have now finally recognized what they need to do and that the administration has been able to bring them on board" was a "positive development," Rose told CNN.
Map: Europe's thirst for Russian gas
Will it matter to Putin?
To the U.S. officials, the sanctions announced Tuesday are "the most significant tool we have to shape Russian decision-making."
Analysts questioned whether economic hardship would change Putin's thinking.
Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine now with the Brookings Institution, told a congressional committee last month that Putin could use sanctions "as a scapegoat and attempt to put all the blame on the West for Russia's poor economic performance."
To fellow Brookings analysts Clifford Gaddy and Barry Ickes, Russia's economy can absorb the shocks of sanctions without deteriorating to the point of forcing Putin to change his overall goals and policies.
"For that, sanctions would have to reduce Russia to its condition of the 1990s, when it was simply too weak and dependent on the West to oppose the international order created by the West after the Cold War," they wrote in an article on the Brookings website. "It is clear to us that no feasible actions by the West today can recreate the weak and compliant Russia of the 1990s."
One reason: such a move would seriously harm the global economy, too, a step Washington and the European Union won't take, the pair said.
Opinion: Putin, just evil enough
Where do things stand?
Obama and EU leaders made clear that Putin could avoid the increasing international isolation Russia faces by working with Poroshenko's government in Ukraine, instead of helping the separatists fight against it.
The senior administration officials listed four conditions for getting sanctions eased: recognize Poroshenko's government as legitimately elected; stop arming the separatists; stop massing Russian forces at the border; and influence the separatists to enter an inclusive political process in Ukraine.
"It didn't have to come to this. It does not have to be this way," Obama said. "This is a choice that Russia and President Putin in particular has made."
The European statement specifically cited the annexation of Crimea as another grievance, while the U.S. officials did not mention it.
However, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Tuesday against any further expansionist ideas by Putin, such as invading eastern Ukraine.
"That would be taken, needless to say, as not just a violation of all notions of international law, but an exceedingly dangerous action which would wind up with, you know, the most severe possible kinds of isolation and sanctions possible," Kerry told reporters. "And Germany, France, other countries in Europe, would clearly join into that in ways that would have a profound, profound impact on the Russian economy."
Sanctions: Top 10 Russian targets
What if the sanctions don't work?
Obama and European leaders have repeatedly said the Ukraine crisis requires a diplomatic solution, which rules out military intervention -- at least for now.
Beyond sanctions, another idea floated by some European officials would be to move the 2018 soccer World Cup planned for Russia to somewhere else.
Such a move, considered premature at this point by major soccer nations and organizations, would deliver a bitter blow to Putin following Russia's successful hosting of the Sochi Olympics earlier this year.
Things to know about Russia and sanctions
CNNMoney's Alanna Petroff and CNN's Ray Sanchez and Alla Eshchenko contributed to this report.
U.N.: 'Increasing evidence of war crimes' in Gaza conflict
7/31/2014 3:42:58 PM
- NEW: Ministry: 1,432 killed in Gaza, which is more than a group says died in 2008, 2009
- NEW: Displaced Palestinian woman says that "life is meaningless"
- Netanyahu says Israel will destroy Hamas tunnels with or without cease-fire
- The Israeli military is calling up 16,000 additional reservists
Gaza City (CNN) -- [Breaking news update at 5:36 p.m. ET]
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced Thursday that an unconditional humanitarian cease-fire wll begin at 8 a.m. local time in Gaza. It will last for a period of 72 hours unless extended, they said in a joint statement. During this time the forces on the ground will remain in place.
[Previous story published at 4:06 p.m. ET]
Calls for accountability in Gaza conflict increase as death toll climbs
With the number of civilians killed in Gaza rising by the day, the United Nations' top human rights official warned that war crimes may have been committed in the fight between Israel and Hamas -- a struggle that shows no signs of waning.
At least 1,432 people have been killed in Gaza during the current conflict, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health -- a figure that is higher than the 1,417 Palestinians that the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said died in the 22 days of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, which spanned 2008 and 2009.
Those killed in the ongoing hostilities -- which are tied to the Israeli military's Operation Protective Edge -- include 327 children and 166 women, the Gaza health ministry reports.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay sounded an alarm Thursday about the high numbers of civilian casualties, as well as how they've occurred. She called for "real accountability considering the increasing evidence of war crimes."
Pillay specifically pointed to the six United Nations schools in Gaza that have been struck, resulting in civilians' deaths. The United Nations has blamed Israel for the strikes, but Israel says its military only responded to fire and did not target the schools.
"The shelling and bombing of UN schools which have resulted in the killing and maiming of frightened women and children and civilian men, including UN staff, seeking shelter from the conflict are horrific acts and may possibly amount to war crimes," Pillay said in a statement.
Pillay didn't excuse the Hamas militants, either. She once again condemned the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel, and the placement of military assets close to densely populated areas.
But the biggest concern appeared to be the shelling of the schools.
"If civilians cannot take refuge in UN schools, where can they be safe?" Pillay asked. "They leave their homes to seek safety -- and are then subjected to attack in the places they flee to. This is a grotesque situation."
Another top U.N. official, Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos, said there is a need for Israel and Hamas to comply with humanitarian and human rights law.
"Each party must be held accountable to international standards; not the standards of the other party," she said in remarks to the U.N. Security Council.
The calls for accountability didn't just come from the United Nations.
"Civilian casualties in Gaza have been too high. It is clear the Israelis need to do more" to prevent civilian deaths, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he's hopeful there can be a cease-fire that will bring peace -- even temporarily to the region.
Yet Samy Bahraqe, a Palestinian in a U.N. camp after her home was destroyed, says she's lost hope, in everything, already.
"Life is meaningless," Bahraqe said. "... What dreams in life can we have now that everything is ruined?"
More Israeli troops
The Israeli military said Thursday that it is calling up 16,000 additional reservists, bolstering its forces for its fight against Hamas in Gaza after a request for more ammunition from the United States.
The addition brings the total number of reservists Israel has called up since the beginning of the operation against Hamas to 86,000, a military spokeswoman said.
After more than three weeks of fighting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel would complete its goal of destroying Hamas' network of tunnels with or without a cease-fire. Netanyahu said this is just the first phase of the demilitarization of Gaza.
While U.S. officials have called on Israel to do more to protect civilians, the United States has agreed to Israel's request to resupply it with several types of ammunition, a U.S. defense official told CNN on condition of anonymity. It's not an emergency sale, the official said. The items being bought include tank rounds and illumination rounds, the Pentagon said.
Shells land near U.N. school
As has happened day after day after day, Hamas continued to launch rockets Thursday -- many of which Israel intercepted, though some did land.
One rocket hit inside a neighborhood in Qiryat Gat, which is about 20 miles from Gaza on the Israeli side of the border. One man was seriously injured and a car caught on fire, Israeli spokesman Mikey Rosenfeld said.
The man suffered from shrapnel injuries and has been taken to the hospital.
Another rocket hit in an open field.
Fifty-six Israeli soldiers have died, according to the military, and three civilians have been killed in Israel since the conflict began. Many more citizens have been forced to take shelter, as rockets rained overhead.
Still, the level of death and destruction doesn't compare with what's happening in Gaza, where health workers are struggling to deal with the relentless stream of dead and wounded.
"The hospitals in Gaza yesterday had a very difficult time. All the hospital morgues were flooding with dead bodies, and the injured were laying on hospital floors because of the lack of hospital beds," said Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health..
Gaza's health ministry said that Thursday's toll included 11 people -- among them three children -- killed by a strike on a house in the Nurisat camp in central Gaza. Another 46 were injured.
Meanwhile, a number of shells fell Thursday next to a U.N. school housing displaced residents -- a day after another school-turned-shelter was hit by artillery killing more than a dozen people.
"The school itself was not targeted, it was nearby the school," Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said about the Thursday incident.
No one was killed inside the school -- the Beit Lahiya School for Girls, he said. Eight people were slightly injured.
Calls for civilian protection
The violence between Israel's military and Palestinian militants is playing out against a backdrop of failed humanitarian cease-fire attempts, with militants firing rockets from Gaza into Israel and Israelis responding with airstrikes.
A large part of the criticism has been leveled at Israel and its airstrikes, which have bombarded Gaza.
Chile, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador have pulled their ambassadors out of Tel Aviv to protest the Israeli offensive.
Israel, in turn, has accused Hamas of hiding weapons, including rockets, in schools and launching attacks from near shelters.
'This is a disaster'
The incessant attacks and counterattacks are taking a terrible toll on Gazans.
More than 219,000 Palestinians are packed into 86 shelters across Gaza, the U.N. said. That equals about 12% of all of Gaza's population.
Clean water is inaccessible for most. And some 3,600 people have lost their homes.
"We cannot supply electricity" for hospitals, sewage treatment or domestic use, said Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Energy Natural Resources Authority in Gaza. "This is a disaster."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it sent 43 trucks carrying 750 tons of food, medicine and supplies to Gaza on Wednesday. It also said it has sent fuel.
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CNN's Karl Penhaul reported from Gaza City; and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Tim Lister, Kareem Khadder, Samira Said, Tal Heinrich, Greg Botelho and Larry Register contributed to this report.
U.S. to send more missiles to Iraq
7/31/2014 6:20:43 AM
- Hellfires are usually fired from the air to ground, water
- This order would be in addition to the 780 Hellfires already delivered
- Congress has been notified of the proposed sale
(CNN) -- As violence continues unabated in Iraq, the United States has agreed to sell $700 million in military aid, including 5,000 Hellfire missiles.
The Iraqi government made the request for the missiles, which are primarily fired from helicopters, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
The United States has already been providing Iraq with Hellfires. Since January, 780 were delivered, according to Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby. The United States expects to ship another 366 in August.
Kirby said the additional 5,000 missiles would likely be shipped in batches, but he had no details on a delivery schedule.
Congress, which has the authority to block it, was notified of the potential new sale on Monday. The State Department has approved the proposal.
Iraq's government has been waging war with militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The terrorist group has taken over several cities. It is seeking to create an Islamic caliphate that encompasses parts of Iraq and Syria and has begun imposing Sharia law in the towns it controls.
Police officials in Baghdad told CNN two car bombs exploded in two Shiite neighborhoods on Wednesday.
At least seven people were killed and 25 were wounded when one bomb exploded near a gas station in Sadr district in eastern Baghdad.
About 30 minutes later, another explosion near a busy outdoor market in al Ameen neighborhood in southern Baghdad killed five people and wounded 35 others.
CNN's Barbara Starr and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Concerns in U.S. over flight to repatriate Ebola patients
7/31/2014 10:13:43 PM
- The patient will be cared for in an area isolated from other patients, officials say
- One of the two infected Americans will be taken to hospital in Atlanta, officials say
- Medical charter flight leaves Georgia to evacuate infected Americans, source says
- Two American charity workers are described in stable, but grave condition
(CNN) -- The fear began just after news broke Thursday that a long-range business jet with an isolation pod left the United States for Liberia, where it will evacuate two Americans infected with Ebola.
Twitter exploded with questions about the deadly virus, which according to the World Health Organization is believed to have killed hundreds in four West African nations. And with reaction to news that two infected Americans would soon be on their way back to the United States.
"Why are they doing this?" Robin Hunter asked in a post on Twitter.
While U.S. officials have remained mum on the issue, a source told CNN that a medical charter flight left from Cartersville, Georgia, on Thursday evening.
A CNN crew saw the plane depart shortly after 5 p.m. ET. The plane matched the description provided by the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was not immediately known when the two Americans -- identified by the source as Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol -- would arrive in the United States, or where the plane would land.
At least one of the two will be taken to a hospital at Emory University, near the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, hospital officials told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
The patient will be cared for in an isolation unit at the hospital that is separate from patient areas, Gupta said.
With the return of Brantly and Writebol to the United States, it will be the first time that patients diagnosed with Ebola will be known to be in the country.
Brantly and Writebol are described as being in stable-but-grave conditions, with both reportedly taking a turn for the worse overnight, according to statements released Thursday by the faith-based charity Samaritan's Purse.
No known cure
There is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola, which the World Health Organization says is believed to have infected 1,323 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria between March and July 27.
Of those suspected cases, it is believed to have been fatal in at least 729 cases, according to the health organization.
In the United States, the National Institutes of Health announced it will begin testing an experimental Ebola vaccine in people as early as September.
The federal agency has been working on the vaccine over the last few years and says they've seen positive results when they tested it on primates.
The NIH announcement came the same day as the CDC issued a Level 3 alert for Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, warning against any nonessential travel to the region.
As of now, the outbreak has been confined to West Africa. But it could spread via travel, especially since people who have Ebola may not know it; symptoms usually manifest two to 21 days.
The symptoms include fever, headaches, weakness and vomiting, and at an advanced stage there is internal and external bleeding.
The Eboloa outbreak is believed to be the worst in history, and even in a best-case scenario, it could take three to six months to stem the epidemic in West Africa, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, told reporters on Thursday.
Writebol gets 'experimental serum'
Both Brantly, a 33-year-old who last lived in Texas, and Writebol were caring for Ebola patients in Liberia.
An experimental serum was administered to Writebol this week. Only one dose of the serum was available, and Brantly asked that it be given to his colleague, said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse.
Samaritan's Purse said it did not have any additional detail about the serum.
At the same time, Brantly received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who survived Ebola, the statement said. Brantly had treated the teen, it said.
It was not immediately clear what doctors hoped the blood transfusion would do for Brantly.
While blood transfusions have been tried before, Frieden told reporters no one really knows why some people survive and some don't.
There have been questions about the the health of Brantly's wife and his children, who left for Texas prior to his diagnosis.
In a statement released Thursday, Amber Brantly said she and her children "are physically fine."
"We had left Liberia prior to Kent's exposure to the virus," she said. "I am always anxiously awaiting any news from Liberia regarding Kent's condition."
Meanwhile, Writebol's husband, David, who like his wife is with Samaritan's Purse, is near her, said their son Jeremy, who spoke with CNN's Chris Cuomo from the United States.
But she is isolated from him, and he has to wear head-to-toe protective clothing similar to a hazmat suit so that he does not contract a disease that starts out with similar symptoms as a strong flu but can end in internal bleeding and death.
"Mom continues in stable condition but it's very serious, and she's still fighting," her son said. "She's weak, but she's working through it."
Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown said his country could ill afford to lose health care workers like Writebol and Brantly.
"We join the families in prayers that they can come through this and become ... shining examples that, if care is taken, one can come out of this."
Another physician in West Africa was not so fortunate; Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan fell ill early last week while overseeing Ebola treatment at a Sierra Leone hospital and died days later.
Rate of infection
Ebola fears hit close to home
The rate of infection has slowed in Guinea, but it has increased in neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia.
As infection accelerates, some aid groups are pulling out to protect their own.
Samaritan's Purse and the missionary group Serving in Mission have recalled all nonessential personnel from Liberia.
The Peace Corps announced Wednesday it is doing the same, removing its 340 volunteers from the three severely affected nations.
While there are no confirmed cases, a Peace Corps spokeswoman said two volunteers came into contact with someone who ended up dying from the virus.
Those Americans haven't shown signs of Ebola but are being isolated just in case. The spokeswoman said they can't return home until they get medical clearance.
Meanwhile, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Sierra Leone's President Ernest Koroma both canceled trips to the United States, and Koroma declared a state of emergency. Koroma announced an action plan to tear down many barriers that international medical workers say they face while fighting disease.
Sirleaf said on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper" that the country is in desperate need of people with expertise in treating and dealing with Ebola.
Some residents in affected villages have accused medical workers of bringing the disease into the country and have barricaded their towns or otherwise blocked access to Ebola victims.
Koroma said he will deploy police and military to accompany the aid workers.
They will search house to house for the infirm and enforce orders designed to curb the virus' spread.
American dies in Nigeria
One American, 40-year-old Patrick Sawyer, died in a Nigerian hospital earlier this month -- having come from Liberia. He was in a plane to Lagos, when he became violently ill. He was planning to go back home to Minnesota to celebrate his daughters' birthdays, but the disease took his life before he could.
The Nigerian government said Thursday it has located 10 more people who had contact with Sawyer, the first American who died in the Ebola outbreak. Meanwhile, none of the 67 people under surveillance and the two people in quarantine have shown symptoms of the disease, Nigerian Minister of Information Labaran Maku said.
A naturalized American citizen who worked in Liberia, Sawyer flew to Nigeria intending to attend a conference.
After exhibiting symptoms upon arrival July 20, he was hospitalized and died on July 25.
Nigeria's Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu says the government is still searching for more people that had contact with Sawyer on his journey on a plane that stopped in Accra, Ghana and Lome, Togo, before traveling on to Lagos.
Ebola doctor in Sierra Leone dies
What you need to know
CNN's Millicent Smith, Caleb Hellerman, Jason Hanna, Jonathan Helman, Pamela Brown, Nana Karikari-apau and journalist Heather Murdock in Abuja, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
Tracking patients' journey
7/31/2014 9:52:08 PM
CNN's Tom Foreman takes a virtual look at how an Ebola patient will be transported to the U.S. for medical care.
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