Author: CNN

Here is a look at the life of former Treasury Secretary Jacob “Jack” Lew.

Birth date: August 29, 1955

Birth place: New York, New York

Birth name: Jacob Joseph Lew

Father: Irving Lew, lawyer and rare book dealer

Mother: Ruth (Turoff) Lew

Marriage: Ruth Schwartz

Children: Isaac “Danny” and Shoshana

Education: Harvard, A.B., 1978; Georgetown, J.D., 1983

Religion: Jewish

Observes the Sabbath, abstaining from work on Saturdays.

Helped develop AmeriCorps while working for President Bill Clinton.

1979-1987 – Domestic policy adviser to House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill Jr.

1993-1994 – Works as a special assistant to President Clinton.

1995-1998 – Deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

1998-2001 – Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

2001-2006 – Executive vice president of New York University.

2006 – Begins working for Citigroup as the chief operating officer of wealth management.

January 2008 – Is named chief operating officer for Citi Alternative Investments.

2009-November 2010 – Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.

November 2010-January 2012 – Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

January 2012–January 25, 2013 – President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.

January 10, 2013 – President Obama nominates Lew for secretary of the Treasury.

February 27, 2013 – Lew is confirmed by the Senate, by a vote of 71-26, and sworn in as the 76th secretary of the Treasury on February 28.

April 20, 2016 – Announces the US Treasury plans to redesign the $20 bill, replacing Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman.

January 20, 2017 – Leaves office.

February 1, 2017 – Joins Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs as a visiting professor.

November 2017 – Private investment firm Lindsay Goldberg LLC announces that Lew will join the company as a partner.

August 2020 – Lindsay Goldberg LLC announces Lew’s appointment as a managing partner.

September 5, 2023 – President Joe Biden nominates Lew as his ambassador to Israel. The Senate confirms Lew by a vote of 53-43 on October 31.

CNN
 — 

In the wake of the war between Israel and Hamas, antisemitic incidents in the US are on the rise.

The Anti-Defamation League reported over 300 antisemitic incidents in US since the Hamas attack on October 7. That’s an increase of almost 400% when compared with October 2022.

College campuses are seeing an increase of antisemitic activities as well, like the threats against Cornell University’s Jewish community. The growing number of incidents on campuses compelled the Biden administration to take action.

The White House outlined measures the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the Department of Education plan to take with campus and local law enforcement to provide support and resources.

It’s not just the US, however, that is dealing with this problem. The ADL is tracking a rise in antisemitic incidents across the world.

Vlad Khaykin, National Director of Programs on Antisemitism for the Anti-Defamation League, says hostility against Jews tends to gain ground during times of uncertainty: be that economic depression, war or pandemic. If there is anxiety, some people will turn to antisemitism as “an answer for why things are going wrong in the world.”

In the United States, Jews make up just over 2 percent of the population. But antisemitism affects everyone, and everyone should be concerned.

Khaykin points out that historically, persistent and patently untrue canards against the Jewish people reflect and amplify fundamental flaws in a society.

“It breeds conspiracy theories that distort our ability to make informed decisions, which are central to any democracy,” he says. “It is anti-democratic. It is anti-intellectual. It leads to contempt for knowledge, learning, expertise.”

Former US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power described it as the “canary in the coal mine.”

Here are a few things that everyone can do to help fight antisemitism.

Educate yourself and be an advocate

No matter where you live, you can help. As Khaykin points out, “you don’t need to know any Jews” to want to make the world a better place for everyone.

The ADL has many educational online programs and resources available. They range from anti-bias training to anti-Semitism education.

Advocate for others’ education and protection. Approach schools and centers of learning about adding programs and curriculums on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism. Echoes & Reflections is an online program that focuses on Holocaust education in the classroom. Tennessee school officials said their vote to ban Holocaust graphic novel “Maus” was meant to shelter students from foul language and nudity. But advocates say books like these are important tools in teaching younger generations.

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum is another resource where one can learn not only about the Holocaust but find educational information on anti-Semitism and its impact today.

This means not just speaking out against hate speech you hear, but reporting what you see on social media. The pandemic has fueled a lot of conspiracy theories, and several prominent people have compared vaccine requirements or mask mandates to the Holocaust. This type of rhetoric demeans the actual atrocities of the Holocaust.

“Attempts to minimize through absurd comparisons, to minimize the horror and enormity of the Holocaust, are really pernicious,” Khaykin said. “Scholars of genocide have said that the final act of genocide is the denial of the genocide.”

Germany has strict laws against hate speech and Holocaust denials, but in the US such speech is harder to regulate. Private companies like Facebook, however, have rules against it. You just need to report it when you see it – every time you see it.

Be involved and aware of what is happening in your community. In August of 2021, the ADL, the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI held a community outreach event raising awareness about how they work together to combat anti-Semitism. The ADL has 25 regional offices around the country and work closely with law enforcement agencies. As interest in communities grows about what is being done to combat hate, these type events are more likely to happen in the future.

Report it immediately. The ADL has an online form where you can report any incidents of “anti-Semitism, extremism, bias, bigotry or hate.” Note, this is not just for people who experienced anti-Jewish hostility. This is for anyone targeted for their “religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or level of ability.” Reportable activity could be anything from seeing a hate symbol on the street to kids getting bullied at school or online.

Here you can upload video and photos of the incident and someone will contact you. The ADL keeps track of all reported anti-Semitic and hate crime incidents.

Khaykin said, “Anti-Semitism doesn’t just show up in our schools, in our workplaces. It’s everywhere. It pervades every aspect of our civilization.”

The only way to stop the cycle of ignorance and hate is through knowledge and love.

Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon’s pointed cross-examination continued after a break for lunch, in the form of short rapid-fire questions about what Bankman-Fried knew as the head of FTX versus what he stated publicly to reporters and to members of Congress. 

Sassoon moved quickly from topic to topic, seeking to poke holes in testimony SBF offered under questioning from his lawyers. 

Sassoon: “You called the shots as CEO, didn’t you?”

SBF: “I called some of them.” 

Sassoon: “You think you’re a pretty smart guy?”

SBF: “In many ways, not all ways.” 

Armed with a litany of documents and audio clips from past interviews Bankman-Fried gave to the media, Sassoon sought to illustrate that FTX’s sister company Alameda Research was not subject to the same trading rules as other accounts on the FTX platform, and that Bankman-Fried hid that privilege from the public. 

Bankman-Fried has largely offered vague responses, often stating that he does not recall conversations or statements he made in the past. Judge Lewis Kaplan has at least twice interjected to instruct Bankman-Fried to simply answer yes or no and stop trying to infer Sassoon’s intentions.

“Sir, do you remember saying that in words or in substance?” Kaplan asked the defendant. 

After a pause, SBF replied: “Referring to some particular things and time periods, yes.” 

Editor’s Note: This is an update of an article that originally ran on September 20, 2023.

New York
CNN
 — 

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday chose not to raise its key interest rate, the same decision it took following its September meeting, leaving its benchmark lending rate at its highest level in 22 years.

Given that the Fed influences — directly or indirectly — interest rates on financial accounts and products throughout the US economy, savers and people with surplus cash still have many opportunities to get a far better return on their money than they’ve had in years — and even more importantly, a return that outpaces the latest readings on inflation.

Here are low-risk options to get the best yield on funds you plan to use within two years, and also on cash you expect to need within the next two to five years.

The average annual percentage yield on bank savings accounts was just 0.59%, according to an October 31 survey from Bankrate. That average is kept low by a nearly zero APY at the biggest brick-and-mortar banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, which were each offering rates of just 0.01%.

But many online, FDIC-insured banks are offering well north of 5% on their high-yield savings accounts.

Those accounts are a great place to deposit money that you will likely deploy within the next two years — to cover anything from a planned vacation or big purchase to an emergency expense or an unexpected change of circumstance like a job loss.

While bank deposit account yields can change overnight, they have remained high for months and are likely to continue to do so. “In the last few months, the Fed has signaled that it intends to keep rates higher for longer. … Some banks have responded to this new ‘higher for longer’ expectation by offering promotional rate guarantees on their savings or money market accounts. In the guarantee, a competitive rate is guaranteed to last for several months on the savings or money market account,” said Ken Tumin, founder of DepositAccounts.com.

An online savings account is what certified financial planner Lazetta Rainey Braxton, co-CEO at 2050 Wealth Partners, calls your “cushion” account. She likes the word “cushion” because it describes the flexibility and options such an account gives you to handle both what you want to do in the near term and what you might need to do.

Another way high-yield accounts can be useful, Braxton said, is to house money you’ll need to pay off a purchase for which you’ve secured a 0% financing deal for a limited period of time. In that case, you won’t owe interest on your purchase so long as you pay it off in full before the end of the promotion period, which can be anywhere from six to 24 months. In the meantime, the money can grow by 4% to 5% a year in your high-yield account.

For your regular household bills, Braxton recommends keeping just enough cash to cover a month or two in a regular checking account for fastest access. “Not too much, because [those accounts] won’t yield much,” she said.

You can always link your high-yield account to your checking account to transfer funds when needed — just know it may take up to 24 hours for the transferred money to show up in your checking account, Braxton noted.

Money market accounts and funds

If you don’t want to set up an online savings account at another bank, your own bank may offer you a money market deposit account that pays a higher yield than your regular checking or savings accounts.

Money market accounts may have higher minimum deposit requirements than a regular savings account, but they are more liquid than a fixed-term certificate of deposit or Treasury bill, meaning they give you access to your money more quickly while still potentially giving you some of the highest yields available, said Doug Ornstein, senior manager for integrated solutions at TIAA Wealth Management.

But don’t confuse money market accounts with money market mutual funds, which invest in short-term, low- risk debt instruments. As of Oct 31, they had an average 7-day yield of 5.19%, according to the Crane Money Fund Index, which tracks the top 100 taxable money market funds.

Unlike money market deposit accounts, money market mutual funds are not insured by the FDIC. But if you invest in a money market fund through a brokerage, your overall account is likely to be insured through the Securities Investor Protection Corp (SIPC), which offers protection in the event your brokerage ever goes under.

Another high-return, low-risk investment that is great for money you likely won’t need to tap for a few months or even a couple of years are certificates of deposit.

You can get the best returns on CDs through a brokerage such as Schwab, E*Trade or Fidelity. That’s because you can comparison shop for CDs from any number of FDIC-insured banks and will not have to set up individual accounts with each institution.

To get the greatest benefit from a CD, you have to leave the money invested for a fixed period. You can always access your principal sooner if you need to, but if you do you will forfeit at least some interest.

As of November 1, CDs listed on Schwab.com with durations of three months, six months, nine months, one year and 18 months were all yielding at least 5.5% .

Say you invest $10,000 in a six-month CD with a 5.5% APY. At the end of that period, you’ll get your principal back plus nearly $274 in interest when the CD matures, according to Bankrate’s CD calculator. If you put it in a one-year CD you’d earn $555 in interest, while an 18-month term will generate $844.

If you don’t go through a brokerage you may get a reasonable deal from your primary bank. Tumin said. For example, he noted, Citi came out with an 11-month CD Special with a rate of up to 5.65% APY. But he cautions that with any big bank CD you should take your money out at the end of the term, otherwise your bank may automatically renew it and lock you in to a much lower-yielding CD.

Another option for money you can leave untouched anywhere from several months to a few years are short-term Treasury bills, which are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.

Three- and six-month bills had yields of 5.46% and 5.54% respectively on November 1, while nine-month and one-year bills were offering 5.46% and 5.43%, according to rates posted on Schwab.com for a $25,000 investment.

If you’re someone who manages your portfolio like a hawk, you may feel comfortable buying T-bills on your own from TreasuryDirect.gov. But if you don’t, it might be easier just to buy new issues through your brokerage account or invest in a short-term bond index fund or ETF, said Andy Smith, executive director of financial planning at Edelman Financial Engines.

And if you’re looking at money that will be needed in three to five years, you might consider a diversified fund of highly rated government and corporate bonds, Ornstein said. Yields on four-year, AAA rated corporate bonds, for instance, were yielding 4.97% this week, and three-year AAA-rated municipal bonds (which are issued by local governments) had rates of 4.59%, according to Schwab.com.

When deciding on the best accounts and investments for your specific goals and peace of mind, it may pay to consult a fee-only fiduciary adviser — meaning someone who doesn’t get paid a commission to sell you a particular investment.

What you’ll always want to do is build in flexibility for yourself so you can easily access cash, regardless of your timeline for key goals. “What happens if something changes and you need that down payment a lot sooner — or your parents need medical care fast?” Smith said.

That means balancing your desire for great yield with a need and desire for ease of access without penalty. Translation: Don’t chase yield for yield’s sake.

Think of it this way, Ornstein said: Unless you have huge sums to invest or are an institutional investor, the difference between getting a 5.1% yield versus 5% is negligible, and in fact it could even cost you more if there are penalties for taking your money out early. “Most of the time convenience is really important. Give up the 0.1%,” he advised.

CNN
 — 

Here’s a look at the life of former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Birth date: November 12, 1948

Birth place: Sorkheh, Iran

Birth name: Hassan Feridon

Marriage: Sahebeh Arabi

Children: Has four children

Education: University of Tehran, B. A., 1972; Glasgow Caledonian University, M. Phil., 1995; Glasgow Caledonian University, Ph.D., 1999

Religion: Shiite Muslim

Rouhani is a cleric. His religious title is Hojatoleslam, which is a middle rank in the religious hierarchy.

Arrested many times in the 1960s and 1970s as a follower of Ayatollah Khomeini.

Iranian media refers to Rouhani as the “diplomat sheik.”

1960 – Begins his religious studies at a seminary in Semnan province.

1977 – Under the threat of arrest, leaves Iran and joins Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in exile in France.

1980-2000 – After the overthrow of the Shah, Rouhani serves five terms in the National Assembly.

1983-1988 – Member of the Supreme Defense Council.

1985-1991 – Commander of the Iranian air defenses.

1988-1989 – Deputy commander of Iran’s Armed Forces.

1989-1997 – National security adviser to the president.

1989-2005 – Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

1989-present – Represents Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

1991-present – Member of the country’s Expediency Council.

1992-2013 – President of the Center for Strategic Research.

1999-present – Member of the Council of Experts, the group that chooses the Supreme Leader.

2000-2005 – National security adviser to the president.

2003-2005 – Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator.

June 14, 2013 – Wins the presidential election after securing more than 50% of the vote.

August 4, 2013 – Rouhani is sworn in as the seventh president of Iran.

September 19, 2013 – Writes a column in The Washington Post calling for engagement and “a constructive approach” to issues such as Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

September 25, 2013 – In stark contrast to his predecessor, Rouhani condemns the actions of the Nazis during the Holocaust.

September 27, 2013 – Speaks with US President Barack Obama by telephone, the first direct conversation between leaders of Iran and the United States since 1979.

July 14, 2015 – After negotiators strike a nuclear deal in Vienna, Rouhani touts the benefits of the agreement on Iranian television, declaring, “Our prayers have come true.” The deal calls for restrictions on uranium enrichment and research in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

September 28, 2015 – Rouhani addresses the General Assembly of the United Nations, stating “A new chapter has started in Iran’s relations with the world.” However, he also says that America and Israel are partially responsible for the increase in global terrorism: “If we did not have the US military invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the United States’ unwarranted support for the inhumane actions of the Zionist regime against the oppressed nation of Palestine, today the terrorists would not have an excuse for the justification of their crimes.”

September 22, 2016 – Speaking to global leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Rouhani accuses the United States of “a lack of compliance” with the nuclear deal agreed on in July 2015. Rouhani also attacks the United States for what he describes as “illegal actions,” referring to the US Supreme Court decision in April 2016 to allow US victims of terror to claim nearly $2 billion in compensation from Iran’s central bank.

May 20, 2017 – Rouhani wins reelection after securing approximately 57% of the vote.

September 20, 2017 – In a press conference following US President Donald Trump’s speech at the UN General Assembly calling the nuclear deal with Iran an embarrassment to the United States, Rouhani calls for an apology to the people of Iran for the “offensive” comments and “baseless” accusations, including Trump’s assertion that the “Iranian government masks a corrupt dictatorship behind the false guise of a democracy.”

July 22, 2018 – Addressing diplomats in Tehran, Rouhani warns the United States that war with Iran would be “the mother of all wars.”

September 25, 2018 – In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Rouhani says Iran is sticking to the nuclear deal. If the signatories remaining after the United States pulled out aren’t “living up to their commitments,” then Iran will re-evaluate.

November 5, 2018 – In public remarks made during a cabinet meeting, Rouhani says Iran will “proudly break” US sanctions that went into effect a day earlier. The sanctions – the second round reimposed after Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal in May – target Iran’s oil and gas industries as well as shipping, shipbuilding and banking industries.

May 8, 2019 – Rouhani announces that Iran will reduce its “commitments” to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) but will not fully withdraw. In a televised speech, Rouhani says Iran will keep its excess enriched uranium and heavy water, rather than sell it to other countries as previously agreed to limit its stockpile.

July 3, 2019 – Rouhani announces Iran will begin enriching uranium at a higher level than what is allowed under the JCPOA. He vows to revive work on the Arak heavy-water reactor, which had been suspended under the nuclear deal.

September 26, 2019 – Rouhani announces Iran has started using advanced models of centrifuges to enrich uranium in violation of the JCPOA.

January 3, 2020 – Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force unit Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since 1988, is killed at Baghdad International Airport in an US airstrike ordered by Trump. Rouhani says the United States committed a “grave mistake” and “will face the consequences of this criminal act not only today, but also in the coming years.”

January 11, 2020 – Rouhani apologizes to the Ukrainian people after Iran’s armed forces downs a Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet in Tehran, mistaking it for a hostile target. He promises to hold those responsible for the January 8 tragedy “accountable,” according to the readout of a call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

June 19, 2021 – Ebrahim Raisi wins Iran’s presidential election.

August 5, 2021 – Raisi is sworn in, replacing Rouhani as president of Iran.

Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series profiling American youth killed this year by guns, a leading cause of death of children in the US. Read more about the project here.

CNN
 — 

Every morning since the school year started, before teacher assistant Madelyn Cedeno shuts the front door of Peter A. Reinberg Elementary School at the start of classes, she peers out one last time.

She hopes she’ll see Serabi Medina running late, with her playful smile, her big red hair flying and her father trailing just behind her. The teacher and student first bonded over their ginger hair when Serabi began kindergarten four years ago. “She just reminded me of me at her age with that color hair,” Cedeno said. “I pretty much told her, ‘All of us gingers around the world, we stick together in any kind of weather, so you and I are stuck together forever.’”

“We were the gingers of Reinberg,” she said.

The two often chatted in the school hallways and in the mornings, when Cedeno stood outside the school to greet students. And every day, before Serabi walked into school, she would tell Cedeno she loved her.

They saw each other again in early August, after Serabi had finished a summer class she took before she was set to start fourth grade. Cedeno told her the upcoming school year would be fantastic. They hugged and said goodbye with their special, signature wave.

Less than a week later, the vibrant 9-year-old was shot and killed, allegedly by a neighbor, in front of her Chicago home – one of at least 1,400 children and teens killed by a firearm so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Firearms became the No. 1 killer of children and teens in America in 2020, surpassing motor vehicle accidents, which had long been the leading cause of death among America’s youth, federal data shows.

Serabi had been riding her scooter and had just returned from a nearby ice cream truck carrying two ice-creams: one for herself and one for her dad, who was outside with her. As she reached the door of their apartment building, authorities say neighbor Michael Goodman approached her and fired his gun, fatally striking Serabi in the head.

He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond on first-degree murder charges. Goodman’s public defender, Kathryn Lisco, told CNN Goodman has been “plagued by debilitating and documented mental health issues over the course of his life.”

“The real question we should be asking is why, despite Michael Goodman’s mental health history was he ever able to legally obtain a gun?” Lisco said.

At every court hearing, Serabi’s family has been there, waiting for justice. It’s been rough, her father says. But that doesn’t even begin to describe it: Serabi was his “light,” the little girl he had devoted his life to after his partner, Serabi’s mom, was shot and killed five years ago right in front of their eyes. Chicago police say that investigation is ongoing, and no suspect is in custody.

“Once I lost her mom, I lost half of myself, so my focus was all on my daughter,” Michael Medina told CNN in a recent interview.

“She was just a beautiful girl, my light. She was my life.”

Braids and press-on nails

Even for those who knew her best, putting Serabi into words isn’t easy: She was unstoppable.

Serabi was always happy, always active. She was a dodgeball champion, a YouTube enthusiast, an animal lover. She didn’t shy away from saying hello to strangers.

“She was full of life,” her cousin, Jaleesa Medina, 29, said. “She wouldn’t need music to dance.” She loved to dress up during Halloween – last year, she dressed up in a Ghostbusters theme, her cousin recalled.

And she was creative, often putting press-on nails and pouring time into braiding her hair and coming up with new hairstyles, her father recalled. She’d often ask Medina for help, directing him to hold one braid as she worked on another. “Daddy, just do it, you can do it, don’t worry,” she’d encourage him.

Serabi was fearless, never afraid to learn something new or stand up to someone decades older than her when she felt picked on. She was always cracking jokes to make others laugh, and often enjoyed sassy exchanges with family members, they said. At school, even the eighth graders knew her, her father says, and she was always trying to be “a comedian.”

“She walked in the room with a big smile on her face and everyone just kind of turned and looked,” her principal, Edwin Loch, said.

Five days after her death, Loch helped organize a candlelight service in her honor. He asked everyone to wear purple, her favorite color. More than a hundred people gathered to say goodbye.

“She was never mean to anybody, always wanted to be the person that got people together, and have fun,” Loch recalled. “She just wanted to live.”

To John Hogue Jr., her half-brother, Serabi was, first and foremost, his “baby sister.”

John, 16, was the second person to ever hold her when she was born. He fed her when she was a baby, rocked her to sleep and watched cartoons like “Paw Patrol” and Barbie, just to spend time with her. When their mom, Blanca Miranda, was still alive, the three of them would often go to water parks and the movies.

He had felt excited, he told CNN, to be a big brother to Serabi and wanted to take care of her. But often, it felt like she took care of him, he said.

“She was always caring, and if something happened, she’d be there and help me talk,” John, a high school junior, said. “She’d talk like a grown-up, she was loving like a grown-up.”

It’s something many of her loved ones point out: Despite her young age, Serabi always seemed wise beyond her years, and quick to offer words of comfort to those who needed it most, though she was hurting from her own loss. Serabi saw her mother’s fatal shooting, alongside John and her father, when she was just 4 years old.

“I don’t know if it was like a little sister feeling that she would get inside, but it seemed at times when I’d be hurting the most, she would reach out and say, ‘Hey, I love you,’” Serabi’s half-sister, Lacey Tatro, said. The two hadn’t seen each other in years but would video call almost every night. “That was my best friend,” Tatro said.

After her mother’s killing, Serabi would also often console her aunt Juanita Miranda, Blanca’s sister. “Mommy’s okay,” Serabi would remind her, urging her not to cry.

“She raised us,” Miranda said. “She taught me to be strong in a lot of ways, no matter what. And she still teaches me to this day.”

The two shared a special bond, Miranda said, since the very moment Serabi was born. “She came out with her eyes open, and I’ll never forget that,” she said of that moment. “She was just open to the world. She was my baby before I even had a daughter.”

Together, they made YouTube videos that never got posted, did internet challenges, and regularly ordered their favorite drink: iced coffee, extra caramel. Three days before Serabi was killed, she spent the night with her aunt, and they ate snacks, scrolled through TikToks and watched the Barbie movie.

Her niece’s loss, Miranda says, has left her deeply traumatized. But she’s determined to join other family members in court once the trial in Serabi’s killing begins. “I just want to know why,” Miranda said.

At school, faculty members are preparing to dedicate a permanent memorial on the campus Serabi once roamed. The past two months have been very difficult, Cedeno says.

“Her reminder, her presence is very, very strong,” she said. Mornings are the toughest.

At home, Medina misses his daughter’s voice, the brief arguments they’d share in the morning as they got ready to start the day, their walks to school, their bike rides in the evenings. Since losing her mother, Serabi and her father had become inseparable. Even when he spent time fixing cars in their garage during the frigid Chicago winters, Serabi was there, passing him the tools.

“My baby was always with me,” Medina said. “That’s why I’m so lost now.”

After she died, Serabi was laid to rest with her mother.

John said he promised her he’d visit every weekend, but the visits are devastating reminders of the two losses the teen has suffered in the past five years: his mom, and his only little sister.

“When I go over there, I cry,” he said. “I just think about the times me and her had together.”

“She always loved me, her big brother.”

CNN
 — 

From dramatic humpback breaches to enthralling dolphin acrobatics, a springtime visit to the Azores is synonymous with incredible sightings of whales and dolphins.

The remote Portuguese archipelago, consisting of nine volcanic islands about 900 miles west of Lisbon, lies in the North Atlantic Ocean, putting it on the migration route of several whale species. And from March to June – whale migration season – lucky tourists may even catch a glimpse of behemoths like the blue whale and the fin whale, the two largest animals on the planet.

As well as migrating whales, the Azores also have resident cetaceans, including sperm whales and some dolphin species, which can be seen year-round. With nearly a third of the 94 known cetacean species in the world observed here, the archipelago consistently ranks as one of the best places on the planet to go whale watching.

But the centuries-old relationship between Azoreans and whales has not always been so harmonious,as Rui de Souza Martins, emeritus professor of Anthropology at the University of the Azores, explains.

“The archipelago was populated by settlers from mainland Portugal from the 15th century onwards,” he says. “These early inhabitants, mostly farmers, limited themselves to harvesting the dead whales they found at sea or on the coast. The whale blubber was boiled down to make oil for lamps.”

By the 18th century, the Azores’ resident population of sperm whales was drawing attention from the United States. Whaling ships from Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachusetts, would make the roughly 2,300-mile voyage east to go hunting. In the age before the discovery of crude oil, the use of spermaceti (the waxy substance obtained from the head of a sperm whale) and whale oil (from blubber) for lighting and other purposes, made whaling a lucrative industry.

These factory-style ships would lower small wooden boats into the ocean for the hunt, then haul the dead animal onboard the larger ship for processing.

It wasn’t only the whale carcasses that came onboard. The Americans recruited Azorean men at low pay, enticing them with the offer of residence in the US once they’d worked a certain number of years on the ships. Many emigrated to Massachusetts with the whalers.

By the middle of the 19th century, some of those emigrants returned to the archipelago, bringing with them the knowledge of whale hunting and dedicated boat construction. They kicked off the local whaling industry, building seven-man hunting canoes and equipment. Soon, factories processing whale oil, meat and bones sprung up on the islands.

Whaling seems unspeakably cruel from a modern perspective, but back then it was a matter of survival. There were no other paying jobs in the islands. Many whalers – who were primarily farmhands working for rich landowners – didn’t even know how to swim, but risked life and limb to provide for their families.

“Whale hunting and the commercial processing of its derivatives was a much needed source of income for the locals,” says José Carlos Garcia, sociologist and anthropology researcher. The money earned from whaling was used to pay for groceries, children’s education, and other necessities. Films like 1969’s “The Last Whalers” and the 2019 Netflix production “The Last Whalers of São Miguel,” provide a glimpse into the difficult lives of the Azorean whalers.

However, it wasn’t to last forever. With declining whale populations and other market factors (including the discovery of crude oil in 1859), the demand for whale oil decreased dramatically by the middle of the 20th century

Right until the industry’s end, in 1987, the practices of Azorean whalers were different from the factory ships of the Americans. They continued to hunt in their small wooden boats with handmade weapons, killing only a small number of sperm whales. Counterparts in other countries used modern vessels and sophisticated harpoons, leading to the decimation of many whale species.

To address this drastic decline in populations, the International Whaling Commission issued a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982. Portugal supported the ban, which meant the Azores – an autonomous region of the country – also had to comply. Pressure from local and global conservation organizations led to the eventual end of whaling in the Azores. The last whale was said to have been killed in 1987 by some disgruntled whalers from Pico island.

The transition away from whaling gave birth to new industries and practices – with the impetus coming from outside. In 1990, French national Serge Viallele set up the first whale watching company in the archipelago, on Pico island.

“Viallele showed that it was possible to live off the whales without killing them,” says Miguel Cravinho, co-owner of Terra Azul, a whale watching company based on São Miguel island. “The focus quickly shifted from whaling to eco-tourism, conservation and education.”

Today’s whale watching trips aren’t just fun days out for tourists; they support research, with the data collected from each of the trips used by local scientists to study behaviors and migration patterns. It is, says Cravinho, an “educational approach to whale watching.”

Nearly 20 whale watching companies currently operate across the Azores, following global best practices and guidelines issued by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), as well as local regulations.

Boats must follow whales at a maximum speed of 10 knots, can only approach from 90 degrees behind, and must stay 50 meters (164 feet) away from them – or three times that distance if there’s a mother and calf.

Only three boats may hover near the whales at any time, for a maximum 15 minutes – and sailing through a pod is not allowed.

To keep disturbance to a minimum, most whale watching companies in the Azores use RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) to minimize noise and emissions. The number of whale watching boats is strictly limited by a license system, which issues a maximum number per island – or per zone for the smaller islands. Hilltop lookout points known as “vigias,” once used by the whalers to spot prey, are now used by whale watchers to direct boats to different areas, so they don’t congregate near the same animals.

“We developed a new and dynamic culture in which the whale took center stage as a creature of ecological, scientific, heritage, and tourist value,” de Souza Martins explains. Meanwhile, museums across the islands discuss the Azores’ whaling history, and you’ll still see traditional 40-feet whaling canoes repurposed for sailing and rowing, used annually in summer regattas.

In February 2023, the archipelago was recognized as a Whale Heritage Site by the World Cetacean Alliance, an accolade described as the “gold standard for responsible whale watching” by its honorary president, Jean-Michel Cousteau. It is the second site in Europe and only the sixth in the world to achieve the rating.

Whale Heritage Sites are places that have been judged to have achieved an “environmentally, socially and economically sustainable balance” between nature, the local community and what visitors expect from the place.

Destinations must have already have conducted research on the whale watching in their area, and must commit to further research, education and awareness – as well as staging cultural events that celebrate cetaceans.

With rising tourist numbers and the increasing popularity of whale watching tours, there are concerns about the pressures on whales and their behavior. In his paper on whale watching as eco-tourism, Luís Silva, senior research fellow at the Centre for Research in Anthropology in Lisbon analyzed potential challenges posed by the whale watching industry, both to the animal and the local community – from stress for the whales to profits going to tour company owners rather than the wider community.

For now, whale watching remains a major draw for visitors to the islands.

“The whale has had such a remarkable journey in the Azores,” says Garcia.

“Once considered a sea monster, it later became a useful resource. Now, it is a symbol of our collective identity and universal value.”

Correction: This story has been updated to clarify the factors that brought about declining demand for whale oil.

Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.

Editor’s Note: Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 to connect with a trained counselor, or visit the 988 Lifeline website.

Seoul, South Korea
CNN
 — 

When fighting broke out in Kang Hyeon-joo’s elementary school classroom, her heart would beat so fast she could not breathe and her vision would blur.

“They were throwing punches and kicking faces, throwing chairs and tables around,” she recalled, adding she had been hurt trying to intervene.

For two years, Kang struggled to discipline her students – or cope with the parental backlash when she did. She claims her principal did nothing to help and would tell her simply to “just take a week off”.

The strain took a dangerous toll. Kang says she started feeling the urge to jump in front of a bus. “If I just jumped at least, I would feel some relief. If I just jumped off a tall building, that would at least give me some peace.”

Kang is currently on sick leave but is far from alone in her experiences.

Tens of thousands of teachers have been protesting in recent months, calling for more protection from students and parents. At one protest in Seoul last month, 200,000 gathered, according to organizers, forcing the government to take notice and action.

The unified stand by the country’s teaching staff comes after the suicide of a first-grade teacher, in her early 20s, in July. She was found dead in her classroom in Seoul. Police have mentioned a problematic student and parental pressure while discussing her case, but have not given a definitive reason for her suicide.

Several more teachers have taken their own lives since July and some of these cases have reportedly been linked to school stress, according to colleagues of the deceased and bereaved families.

Government data shows 100 public school teachers killed themselves from January 2018 to June 2023, 11 of them in the first six months of this year, but does not specify what factors contributed to their deaths.

Sung Youl-kwan, a professor of education at Kyung Hee University, says the speed and size of the protests took many by surprise. “I think there has been like a shared feeling that this can happen to me too,” he said.

Teachers point to a 2014 child abuse law, intended to protect children, as one of the main reasons they feel unable to discipline students. They say they are fearful of being sued by a small percentage of parents for causing emotional distress to their child and being dragged through the courts.

“School is the last barrier to let students know what is okay in society and what is not. But we couldn’t do anything, if we teach them, we could be accused,” said Ahn Ji-hye, an elementary school teacher who helped organize previous protests.

Ahn says parents have called her mobile phone some days from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., wanting to talk about their child or complain.

South Korea’s education minister Lee Ju-ho initially warned teachers that a mass strike would be an illegal act. That position was swiftly reversed, and a set of legal revisions passed the National Assembly on September 21, a fast piece of legislation.

One of the key changes is providing teachers some protection from being sued for child abuse if their discipline is considered a legitimate educational activity. Also, the responsibility for handling school complaints and lawsuits brought by parents now rests with the principal.

“So far we have a culture where the school principal tended to pass those responsibilities to teachers,” said Professor Sung.

The new law will also protect teachers’ personal information, such as their mobile phone numbers, and require parents to contact the school with concerns or complaints rather than the teacher directly.

In the past, Ahn said, “If I could not give my personal phone number to them, sometimes some parents would come to the parking lot and watch and see and take a note of my phone number from my car, then they would text message me.” It is customary for Koreans to display their phone number in the bottom corner of their windscreen.

Ahn welcomes the legal changes as “meaningful,” but insists higher-level laws like the Child Welfare Act and Child Abuse Punishment Act also need to be revised. “It is still possible to report teachers based on suspicion alone according to these laws,” she said.

She says that, for now at least, the protests will continue.

One is planned for outside the National Assembly on October 28. Ahn says she would like to see penalties for parents who make unfounded accusations against teachers or practical measures put in place so that mandated changes can be adopted in classrooms, such as removing a disruptive student elsewhere to allow teaching to continue.

Professor Sung believes the revisions will help in the short term, but cautions that the law should be seen as a safety net not a solution.

Critics say South Korean society places a disproportionate level of importance on academic success so it should not be surprising that parents put teachers – and the wider education system – under so much pressure.

It is the norm for students to attend a cram school, called hagwon, after their regular school hours, not as an extra but as a basic and expensive requirement to succeed.

On the day of the national college entrance exam, known as Suneung in Korean, airplanes are grounded, and commuting hours are adjusted to ensure that students taking the exams are not disturbed.

“We have a culture in which parents have usually one child and they are ready to pour every financial resource and opportunity into this child,” Sung said.

“This pressure or obsession with education, sometimes with a high score, high achievement (mindset), is not a good environment for teachers (because) they are taking the pressure from the parents.”

Sung says the days of a teacher being automatically respected are long gone, not just in South Korea but elsewhere in the world, and the teacher-parent dynamic is unrecognizable from just a decade or two ago.

“In educational policies, parents are regarded as like a consumer, with consumer sovereignty, and school and teachers are regarded as service providers”, he said, adding parents believe they “have the right to demand many things from schools.”

In a country where education is considered central to success, teacher satisfaction is low. A survey by the Federation of Teachers’ Labor Union in April found 26.5% of teachers polled said they had received counseling or treatment for psychological issues due to their job. Some 87% said they have considered moving job or quitting in the past year.

CNN
 — 

Following the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which eliminated a constitutional right to abortion nationwide, nearly two dozen US states have banned or limited access to the procedure. States where abortion is most limited report higher rates of maternal and infant mortality, as well as greater economic insecurity.

All eyes are on Ohio this election cycle, as voters will be deciding whether to add an amendment protecting abortion rights in the state constitution. In a special election in August, Ohio voters rejected an initiative that would have made it harder to amend the state constitution — a critical victory for abortion rights advocates.

The fight over abortion is well underway in state legislatures. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced on Sept. 18 that it would resume abortion care services, after a judge ruled that a law from 1849 widely interpreted as an abortion ban did not apply to abortion procedures.  The South Carolina Supreme Court in August reversed a temporary block on a “heartbeat bill” — which would ban abortion at the time when a fetus’ heartbeat can be detected, usually as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

This year, health care providers and abortion activists have continued to file legal challenges to stop bans in several states from being enforced. In July, Iowa banned most abortions at about six weeks of pregnancy, before most people know they are pregnant. A district judge, however, placed a temporary hold  just a few days after it went into effect. Abortions remain legal in Iowa until 22 weeks.  Also in July, a  Wisconsin judge blocked a first-of-its-kind ban on abortion pills a week before it was intended to take effect in the state. Georgia’s six-week abortion ban was stopped last November by a state court, but days later, the state’s Supreme Court allowed the ban to go into effect while an appeal plays out.

As these legal challenges make their way through the courts, patients seeking access to the procedure must navigate a complicated patchwork of legislation, often requiring them to travel hundreds of miles.

Here’s where abortion access currently stands in the United States.

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Hunting restrictions have been lifted across Maine, the state’s commissioner of public safety, Michael Sauschuck, said Friday.

Earlier Friday, Sauschuck announced that hunting was prohibited in Lewiston, Lisbon, Bowdoin and Monmouth until further notice.

At Friday night’s news conference, Sauschuck said hunting would reopen tomorrow now that the body of mass shooting suspect Robert Card has been found.

Hunting season begins for residents in the state on Saturday, as CNN previously reported.

Past high-profile law enforcement manhunts have impacted hunters, such as the 2014 manhunt for an accused cop-killer in Pennsylvania. During that weeks-long search, Pennsylvania authorities temporarily restricted hunting in certain regions of the state being searched by law enforcement, citing public safety concerns.

CNN’s Sara Smart, Michelle Watson and Josh Campbell contributed reporting.