Syria

Chlorine gas symptoms reported in Eastern Ghouta after Syrian airstrikes

Several people in Eastern Ghouta were treated for exposure to chlorine gas, opposition groups said, as airstrikes and artillery fire from the Russian-backed Syrian regime continued Sunday despite a United Nations ceasefire.

The Syrian opposition-run Rural Damascus Health Directorate said the people were admitted to medical facilities showing signs that were consistent with exposure to "toxic chlorine gas." In a statement RDHD added that 'the smell of people in the area, ambulance drivers, and victims all had the clear and known smell of chlorine gas."

A tweet from the Syrian American Medical Society said that 16 patients, including six children, were treated in a hospital "suffering from symptoms indicative to exposure to chemical compounds."

The White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group, said in a tweet that one child was killed in a chlorine gas attack in the city.

CNN is unable to independently verify claims that chlorine was used as a weapon in Eastern Ghouta on Sunday.

Both sides of the Syrian conflict have in the past accused one another of the use of chlorine as a weapon. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied claims that it has used chlorine as a weapon on civilians.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters Monday that allegations of a chlorine attack were a "hoax," and attacked the White Helmets for promoting what he described as "fake stories."

"There will probably be more hoaxes, we know where they will come from — social media and especially social media where White Helmets are mentioned, the organization which is purely provocative, created by Americans and Brits, which appeared in many fake stories, mostly in connection to the use of chemical weapons and with no evidence supporting that," said Lavrov during a press conference.

The Russian Defense Ministry also alleged Monday during a press briefing with journalists that "terrorists" hiding in Eastern Ghouta have chemical substances which "might be used for provocations."

'Nothing has changed'

The alleged chlorine attack comes despite a 30-day ceasefire that was supposed to have been implemented "without delay."

"Nothing has changed," said Dr Hamza Hassan from Arbeen Hospital in the besieged Damascus suburb. "The airstrikes are continuing. A maternity hospital has just been hit in Saqba (a town in Eastern Ghouta) and is out of service," he told CNN on Sunday morning.

Panos Moumtzis, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the area, told CNN: "We have reports at least seven people were killed this morning" after the UN Security Council adopted the resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria on Saturday.

For the first time in this latest offensive that began February 18, ground attacks were combined with aerial bombardment, pummeling the rebel-held enclave near the Syrian capital.

The Syrian regime has said that it is targeting terrorists in Eastern Ghouta and that it would continue to pursue terrorist targets even with the ceasefire in place.

"We practice a sovereign right of self-defense, and we will continue to fight terrorism wherever it is found on Syrian soil," Syrian UN ambassador Bashar Ja'afri said according to Syrian state-run media SANA.

Terrorist groups not included

The UN ceasefire resolution, which passed unanimously on Saturday, noted that the "cessation of hostilities shall not apply to military operations against the Islamic State," al Nusra and other groups associated with them, or groups deemed terrorist organizations by the UN Security Council.

The main rebel units actively holding territory in Eastern Ghouta are Islamist groups Jaish al Islam and Faylaq al Rahman, who have taken part in peace negotiations in the past. According to activists there are small pockets of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, an al-Qaeda affiliate, still in the area.

But the ceasefire had no specific beginning, only that it was to come into effect "without delay." There was no deadline for setting a date for it to begin. And there was no detail on how the truce, once in effect, would be enforced.

Both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and SANA reported that shells hit regime-controlled areas in Damascus on Saturday morning. "Armed groups positioned in Eastern Ghouta on Saturday targeted with more than 55 mortar and rocket shells with sniper fire the residential neighborhoods in Damascus and its countryside, injuring a number of civilians and causing material damage," SANA said. SANA also reported that 21 rocket shells were fired on residential neighborhoods in Damascus City and other areas in the capital.

'Deeply skeptical'

Speaking to reporters, Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said the process of forming the resolution was "extensive and exhaustive" in order to ensure that "it was meaningful."

"Because by decrees of the Security Council, you cannot install a ceasefire, (a) ceasefire is reached by laborious and painstaking process on the ground," said Nebenzia.

However, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley refuted Nebenzia's claims.

"In the three days it took us to adopt this resolution, how many mothers lost their kids to the bombing and shelling? How many more images did we need to see of fathers holding their dead children? All for nothing, because here we are voting for a ceasefire that could have saved lives days ago," said Haley in remarks made after the ceasefire resolution was adopted on Saturday.

"Our goal with this resolution is clear: The Assad regime needs to stop its military activities around eastern Ghouta, and for once, allow humanitarian access to all of those who need it," said Haley, adding that she was unconvinced the Syrian regime would honor the ceasefire.

"We are deeply skeptical that the regime will comply. But we supported this resolution because we must demand nothing less. We owe this to the innocent people of Syria begging for help."

In his remarks to the UN Security Council Nebenzia compared the outcry from the international community over events in Eastern Ghouta to that surrounding the re-taking of eastern Aleppo in December 2016.

"We know that the humanitarian situation in Syria is dire and requires urgent measures to be taken," he said. "However we see perfectly that the propagandistic scenarios which are being unraveled around Eastern Ghouta are in line fully with the campaign, the vociferous campaign in late 2016 during the counter-terrorist operation to liberate eastern Aleppo."

The airstrikes and artillery fire have concentrated on the outskirts of Eastern Ghouta, according to activists inside the city. more than 520 people have been killed and 2,500 wounded since the bombardment of Eastern Ghouta began on Sunday February 18.

5 things Congress could do on guns

The issue of gun control always comes up in Congress after a mass shooting in the US -- but there haven't been any major gun reform laws in more than two decades.

President Donald Trump has suggested he's open to new gun control laws, and started a discussion about what lawmakers can do to address mass shootings in the US after he announced his support to ban bump stocks.

Congress, which is back in session this week, is likely to take up the debate over gun laws.

Here's a look at five proposals they could consider:

1. Legislation to outlaw bump stocks (backing up the ATF) -- has bipartisan support

Trump said Tuesday that he directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to propose changes that would ban bump fire stocks, which can be attached to a semi-automatic weapon to make it easier to fire rounds more quickly, similar to that of an automatic weapon.

He said he wanted the Department of Justice to "propose regulations that ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns."

But Democrats argue he will need to endorse legislative action if he really wants to see a change.

In a statement after Trump's announcement, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer referred to California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's bump stock ban proposal last year.

"There are serious problems with the President's approach. First, his own ATF agency has warned that it does not have the authority to ban bump stocks. The only way to close this loophole permanently is legislation," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in his statement. "He should call on Congress to pass Senator Feinstein's bill to ban bump stocks, rather than just draft memos. On far too many issues, this administration has been all talk and little action -- we can't afford that approach when it comes to curbing gun violence."

Feinstein, a California Democrat, who submitted a bill last year in the Senate that would ban bump stocks -- welcomed Trump's support for a ban, but cautioned that new agency rules could fail because of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' past stance on the devices.

"If ATF tries to ban these devices after admitting repeatedly that it lacks the authority to do so, that process could be tied up in court for years, and that would mean bump stocks would continue to be sold," Feinstein said.

It's likely this issue will be addressed next week, considering Trump's request to ban the gun accessory.

There is a bipartisan bill in the House to ban bump stocks, but House Speaker Paul Ryan has deferred to the ATF to address the issue rather than schedule a vote on the measure. "We think the regulatory fix is the smartest, quickest fix," he said during his weekly news conference at Capitol Hill, after the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

It's unclear whether Trump's support for the proposal will add some pressure for a vote or if leaders, again pointing to the President's action already on the issue, will simply wait on action by the executive branch.

2. Background checks -- has bipartisan support

After the shooting in Parkland, Florida, the White House said Trump "is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system" for gun purchases.

Trump spoke with Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican and the second ranking GOP member in the chamber, about a bill he introduced with Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, that aims to strengthen how state and federal governments report offenses that could prohibit people from buying a gun.

In simple terms, the bill would hold federal and state agencies accountable if they fail to upload criminal history records to the background check system.

The bill wouldn't strengthen background checks, but instead require the National Criminal Instant Background Check system stay updated.

This narrow proposal that now has the endorsement of the President could have some momentum now, but Democrats are already insisting that it's just a first step and want broader action to close what they argue are loopholes on background checks on the sale of guns online and at gun shows.

3. Raising gun age -- has bipartisan support

Currently, US law allows someone who is 18 and older to be able to purchase a rifle or shotgun.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida suggested during a CNN town hall earlier this week that there's possibly enough votes in the Senate to change the legal age to purchase a rifle from 18 to 21.

Jeff Flake

✔@JeffFlake

A kid too young buy a handgun should be too young to buy an #AR15. Working with @SenFeinstein on a bipartisan bill that will raise the minimum purchase age for non-military buyers from 18 to 21 - the same age you currently have to be to purchase a handgun.

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, also a Republican, said Wednesday he'd back such a proposal, lending bipartisan support to legislation that was introduced earlier this month by Feinstein in the wake of the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. And GOP Sen. Pat Roberts is also voicing support for restricting access to semiautomatic rifles for those under the age of 21.

"Certainly nobody under 21 should have an AR-15," the Kansas Republican said when speaking to reporters at the Kansas Statehouse, Roberts press aide Sarah Little confirmed to CNN Thursday.

The idea has emerged as potential compromise among GOP and Democratic lawmakers -- who are sharply divided and therefore gridlocked on gun control issues -- as they search for a response to shooting in Parkland.

Although Trump backed this proposal, the NRA quickly came out against it and it faces an uphill battle in Congress. Cornyn told CNN on Friday he did not think the effort would save lives and wasn't sure the measure would be able to pass the chamber.

4. Gun magazine size restriction -- unlikely to have bipartisan support

At CNN's gun town hall on Wednesday night, Rubio said while he had not in the past supported looking at magazine clip size, he was now "reconsidering that position."

"I'll tell you why," Rubio said on the issue at the town hall. "Because while it may not prevent an attack, it may save lives in an attack."

Immediately after, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey tweeted at Rubio, sharing the bill he introduced after the Las Vegas shooting that, if implemented, would ban the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer or possession of gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.

Menendez wrote, "Thank you for reconsidering your position on large capacity magazines at the CNN Town Hall - I've got a bill waiting for you to co-sponsor."

Senator Bob Menendez

✔@SenatorMenendez

Sen. @marcorubio, thank you for reconsidering your position on large capacity magazines at the CNN Town Hall - I’ve got a bill waiting for you to co-sponsor —> https://www.menendez.senate.gov/news-and-events/press/menendez-18-senators-introduce-keep-americans-safe-act-in-wake-of-las-vegas-shooting …

Although Rubio's shift was noteworthy there is no indication that there are large numbers of Republicans that would back this, but gun control advocates will again push for this to be part of the debate.

5. Banning AR-15 style weapons -- very unlikely to have bipartisan support

While some gun control advocates have called for a ban on AR-15-style guns, similar to one the US had in place until it expired in 2004, it's unlikely that Congress will revisit the issue any time soon -- but a discussion on the issue from Parkland shooting survivors has come up.

The Colt AR-15, the style of gun on which the Parkland shooting weapon was based, was among those outlawed for 10 years under a 1994 law banning its sell and production, but is now legal again.

At the CNN town hall Wednesday, Rubio was asked by a father, whose daughter was killed in Parkland, about banning semi-automatic rifles such as the one used in the Parkland shooting, and he argued it wouldn't have prevented the school shooting.

The Florida House considered and then rejected a ban on many semiautomatic guns and large capacity magazines as dozens of survivors of last week's school shooting headed to the state Capitol to turn their grief into political action.

Net neutrality rules will officially end on April 23

The end of net neutrality is officially set to come this spring.

The Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net neutrality is scheduled to take effect on April 23, according to a copy of the order was published with the Federal Register on Thursday.

The Republican-led FCC voted along party lines in December to repeal Obama-era net neutrality protections, which were intended to keep the internet open and fair.

With the repeal, the FCC will do away with rules barring internet providers from blocking or slowing down access to online content. The FCC will also eliminate a rule barring providers from prioritizing their own content.

The repeal effort was cheered by the telecom industry, but protested by the tech industry and consumer advocacy groups.

The publication of the net neutrality order is expected to formally kick off a wave of legal challenges and Congressional attempts to undo the FCC's repeal.

Attorneys general from more than 20 red and blue states filed a lawsuit last month to stop the repeal. Tech companies like Mozilla also filed lawsuits at the same time. On Thursday, Mozilla re-filed its lawsuit.

"We had originally filed suit early while simultaneously urging the court that the correct date was after this publication," Denelle Dixon, chief legal and business officer at Mozilla, wrote in a postThursday. "That is why today, immediately after the order was published, Mozilla re-filed our suit challenging the FCC net neutrality order."

Senate Democrats are also close to having enough votes to pass a measure that would restore net neutrality, though that measure would then face an uphill battle getting the support of the House and President Trump.

A growing number of Democratic state legislators have attempted to take matters into their own hands by pushing bills to restore net neutrality within their borders.

This too could end up in court, however. As part of the final order, the FCC asserts authority to prevent states from pursuing laws inconsistent with the net neutrality repeal.

Haiti suspends Oxfam operations over sexual misconduct scandal

Haiti has suspended the international poverty charity Oxfam Great Britain from operating in the country after reports of sexual misconduct by some of its employees.

"The Haitian government has decided to suspend temporarily the authorization of Oxfam GB to operate in Haiti," Bocchit Edmond, the chief of mission at Embassy of the Republic of Haiti in London, tweeted directly to CNN's Max Foster and other UK media on Thursday.

Oxfam representatives met with the Haitian government after the suspension, the charity said.

Oxfam International Regional Director for Latin America Simon Ticehurst and Oxfam Intermon Executive Affiliate Unit head Margalida Massot met Haitian government officials and committed to cooperate with their investigation, the statement said.

The suspension will last two months, according to the aid group, while Haiti investigates how Oxfam GB handled the allegations of staff paying for sex during the agency's humanitarian response to the 2010 earthquake.

"Oxfam has apologized to the Haitian government and people for abuses by former staff that occurred in 2011. Oxfam is committed to putting in place a number of wide-sweeping initiatives to improve its global safeguarding policies and practices, including the establishment of an independent commission and putting more staff and resources into its safeguarding teams," the statement concluded.

Internal report made public

On Monday, the charity issued an apology to the Haitian government for a 2011 prostitution scandal. An internal report that was made public includes allegations that three staff members "physically threatened and intimidated" a witness during an internal investigation into the scandal.

Allegations first emerged last week that a number of staff members, including the country director, hired prostitutes at Oxfam properties while working in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

Four staffers were dismissed and three others resigned after the investigation, including Haiti country director Roland van Hauwermeiren.

Oxfam said it dispatched a team to Haiti to investigate the allegations and, during an interview with investigators, van Hauwermeiren admitted to hiring prostitutes on Oxfam property and agreed to resign.

The names of the other staff members involved in the scandal have been redacted in the publicly available version of the report.

According to the document released Monday, allegations of sexual misconduct were first reported to Oxfam in July 2011 after an email from a source whose name has been redacted.

In its report, Oxfam said allegations the sex workers were underage could not be substantiated nor ruled out.

The report didn't address claims that van Hauwermeiren and his team had been previously reported for alleged sexual misconduct while working in the African nation of Chad, but no action was taken at the time.

In an open letter, published by Belgian broadcaster VTM last week, van Hauwermeiren denied sleeping with a prostitute in the villa Oxfam had rented for him.

"I had up to three times intimate contact in my house. (She) was, in my opinion, a mature honorable lady, not an earthquake victim and no prostitute," he said in the letter.

UK Parliament looks into scandal

On Tuesday, the UK's secretary of international development, Penny Mordaunt, told Parliament that Oxfam put its reputation ahead of its responsibility to report incidents of sexual exploitation, resulting in a betrayal of the British people and the charity's staffers who do put people first.

"They did not provide a full report to the Charity Commission. They did not provide a full report to their donors. They did not provide any report to prosecuting authorities," Mordaunt said. "In my view Mr. Speaker they misled, quite possibly deliberately."

Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of Oxfam International, told Parliament that Oxfam has been improving but is not yet where it wants to be.

Houses in a poor neighborhood sit destroyed after an earthquake on January 13, 2010, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

"This is about abuse of power. This is about abuse of women and girls because they are powerless, they are vulnerable, they are voiceless," she said. "Whether they have given them some money from an Oxfam program or from their pocket as their salary, it's still abhorrent, and we are ashamed and upset about it, and we're going to root it out of our organization."

Oxfam Great Britain Chief Executive Officer Mark Goldring apologized for what happened in 2011 and said: "At the time Oxfam conducted an investigation. It was wrong not to report that set of issues to the Haitian authorities and decide how they wanted to handle it."

The international charity, which has affiliates and offices around the world, has already been severely damaged by the allegations, which were first reported by the Times of London in early February.

The devastating earthquake in 2010 killed between 200,000 and 300,000 people in Haiti.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens indicted

Missouri GOP Gov. Eric Greitens was indicted on Thursday amid looming allegations of sexual misconduct and blackmail following an admission of an affair last month.

He was charged in St. Louis with a first-degree felony invasion of privacy, according to the Missouri court system.

In a statement Thursday, Greitens denied committing any crime and instead called the situation "a personal mistake" from his time prior to taking office.

"As I have said before, I made a personal mistake before I was Governor. I did not commit a crime," his statement read. "With today's disappointing and misguided political decision, my confidence in our prosecutorial system is shaken, but not broken. I know this will be righted soon. The people of Missouri deserve better than a reckless liberal prosecutor who uses her office to score political points. I look forward to the legal remedies to reverse this action. This will not for a moment deter me from doing the important work of the great people of Missouri."

CNN affiliate KMOV published a report last month where a man said his now-former wife had an affair with Greitens in 2015. The report included details of a recording of a woman saying Greitens had tried to blackmail her to keep quiet about their sexual encounter.

Greitens denied he resorted to blackmail, but admitted to an affair, and the circuit attorney for St. Louis, Kimberly M. Gardner, said they had launched a formal investigation.

In a statement, Gardner said the alleged incident took place in March 2015 and vowed to "hold public officials accountable in the same manner as any other resident."

Greitens' attorney, Edward Dowd Jr., said in an email to KMOV: "In forty years of public and private practice, I have never seen anything like this. The charges against my client are baseless and unfounded. My client is absolutely innocent. We will be filing a motion to dismiss."

Susan Ryan, a spokeswoman with the Circuit Attorney's Office released a statement saying the governor's lawyers had requested a "secret" meeting with her office prior to the indictment as they wanted to share the "human" side of Greitens' story.

"The Circuit Attorney makes charging decisions based upon facts and evidence. Without additional facts and information from the Governor, the meeting was not necessary," Ryan said.

In response to the "governor's personal attacks," Ryan said, her office "believes the courtroom is the appropriate place to argue the facts, not the media."

The indictment alleges Greitens took a picture of a person in "full or partial nudity" without the person's knowledge or consent, and that Greitens then transmitted the image "in a manner that allowed access to that image via a computer."

Gardner's statement said the transmission of the image in such a manner is a felony under the privacy statute Greitens is accused of violating.

Missouri House Speaker Todd Richardson, Floor Leader Rob Vescovo and Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr released a statement on the indictment, announcing they have begun an investigation into the matter.

"We will carefully examine the facts contained in the indictment, and answer the question as to whether or not the governor can lead our state while a felony case moves forward," their statement read. "The people of Missouri deserve no less. We will begin the process of tasking a group of legislators to investigate these serious charges."

Additionally, Greitens is no longer planning to travel to Washington, DC, to participate in Republican Governors Association events Friday, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to host a luncheon for the Council of Governors meeting Friday.

Al Watkins, the lawyer representing the ex-husband, said his client hopes to "put things in the rearview mirror" and move on.

"Lady justice can sometimes operate in cumbersome ways," Watkins said. "But right now we have an individual charged with a felony, and in our great land, one must presume innocence until guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. It's best to let the system take its course."

Watkins said last month that he had turned in hours of compromising audio on Greitens to law enforcement, and two officials told CNN that the FBI had recently opened an inquiry into the Missouri governor.

Russia and Syria

Did a Russian oligarch get a green light from Moscow for a mercenary attack on the United States and allied forces in Syria? That's the question being asked after Yevgeny Prigozhin -- an associate of Vladimir Putin's who was in charge of the mercenaries -- reportedly was "in close touch" before the attack with Russian and Syrian officials. No coalition or US personnel were killed in the attack. The Washington Post reported that Prigozhin had permission from a Russian minister for a "fast and strong" initiative. The attack led to retaliatory US airstrikes this month in northern Syria.

And don't forget that Prigozhin was one of the 13 Russians special counsel Robert Mueller indicted last week in the investigation of Russian meddling into the 2016 US election.

Florida shooting

Teachers and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School go back to the school today, more than a week after the massacre there killed 17 people and reignited the national debate on guns. And everyone's reeling over the news that the armed deputy stationed on the Parkland, Florida, campus didn't immediately go in the building while a gunman killed students and staff inside. School resource officer Scot Peterson stayed outside for four minutes during the six-minute shooting spree, authorities said. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said the revelation makes him "sick to my stomach" because Peterson could have stopped the shooter. Peterson resigned.

Trump talk President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Committee, better known as CPAC. The ongoing gun debate is expected to be front and center in his remarks after Trump suggested arming teachers to help end the violence. Teachers have taken to social media pushing back on that idea with the hashtag #ArmMeWith, asking for an increase in classroom resources, not the ability to carry guns in school.