By Paula Hancocks, CNN

(CNN) — Iran warned any attack on the country would spark a regional conflict.

The United States and Israel either did not believe them or judged it a risk worth taking. Eleven days into the war, it is the Gulf Arab nations that are paying the price, none more so than the United Arab Emirates.

More than 1,700 missiles and drones have been fired towards the UAE since the war began, according to the country’s defense ministry, more than 90% of them downed by interceptors, fighter jets and helicopters.

US President Donald Trump admitted in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper last week that Iran’s willingness to strike its Arab neighbors had been his biggest surprise of the war.

On Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was using 60% of its firepower against what it called US “bases” and “strategic interests” in neighboring Arab countries, with the rest directed at Israel.

More projectiles have been fired at the UAE than any other country, seemingly even more than Israel, which alongside the US started this war. Several have landed on homes, offices and roads in densely populated urban areas, killing four – all civilians.

Why Dubai?

“Dubai is really the epicenter of globalization,” says Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. “Iranian leaders view Dubai as the foundation of the Western global economic system… it rattles the world economy, not just Dubai and the UAE.”

Perception is key. Images of a fire burning in front of an international hotel in Dubai or a strike within the grounds of Dubai International Airport grab international attention as tens of thousands of expatriates and tourists try to leave the country. No one was injured in either of these attacks, but the psychological impact can be significant.

Gerges points out the irony of the UAE having served as an economic lifeline for Iran for years as Tehran struggled under one of the most severe sanction regimes in history. A UAE official told CNN that relations would eventually normalize, but it could take “decades” to rebuild trust.

The UAE is one of Iran’s biggest commercial partners, ranking second after China. Business between the two countries had been expanding even as the US kept tightening sanctions on the regime. Bilateral trade stood at $28 billion for 2024, according to the World Trade Organization.

Around half a million Iranians call the UAE home.

Iran cites the Abu Dhabi’s decades-long strategic alliance with Washington as a justification for the attacks. Designated a “major defense partner” by the US last year, the UAE has made clear who it trusts for its security.

It has poured tens of billions of dollars into American fighter jets, helicopters and air defense systems, which are now actively engaged in protecting Emiratis and expatriates from Iran’s unprecedented attack.

Inflicting pain on US allies

Sanam Vakil from Chatham House says the UAE ticks more than one box for the Islamic Republic in its desire to inflict pain on the US and its allies.

“By striking the UAE, Iran is not only targeting a key US partner but also signaling that a country hosting millions of expatriates and serving as a major node in global finance, aviation, and trade cannot be insulated.”

The extent of the retaliation may signal the extent to which the regime sees this war as an existential threat. When Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities, joined in the final days by the US, Iran’s response was limited: a strike on the al Udeid airbase in Qatar which is believed to have been flagged ahead of time.

By Jeff Zeleny, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s sway over the Republican Party faces a fresh test Tuesday with a free-for-all special election in northwest Georgia to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Trump ally-turned-critic who vacated her seat in Congress in January.

Clay Fuller, a former prosecutor and Air Force veteran, won Trump’s endorsement from a field of nearly 20 candidates. But the presidential seal of approval, which Trump delivered last month on a visit to the district, has done little to streamline the remarkably crowded contest.

The president’s decision to weigh in on the Georgia race, which has several self-described MAGA candidates on the ballot, was intended to help avoid a runoff and fill the seat quickly to give Speaker Mike Johnson more cushion in his razor-thin House Republican majority.

While Fuller has repeatedly said he would be “a warrior for President Trump on Capitol Hill,” other GOP rivals have also vowed to fully support the president’s agenda.

Colton Moore, a former state senator and conservative firebrand, has been running ads suggesting he is the true “America First” candidate and Trump loyalist in the race. He praised the president but dismissed the importance of a Trump endorsement, saying: “The swamp money has come in against us.”

“There’s a lot of folks who talk a big conservative game, but when it comes down to doing conservative stuff, they’re nowhere to be found,” Moore said Monday in an interview on a conservative talk radio show on WLAQ, a station in the district based in Rome, Georgia. “We need to find a fighter, a legislator, who’s willing to bring that fight with true vigor.”

Tom Gray, a pastor who is also running to replace Greene, expressed his support for Trump but added: “We’re independent thinkers and decision-makers.”

Jim Tully, a former Greene staffer and longtime Republican activist who is on the ballot, also touted his admiration for Trump. Yet he said voters loyal to the president could draw their own conclusions about the race, saying: “We’ve never talked about this being President Trump’s district. This district belongs to the people.”

Could a Democrat win?

The sprawling 14th Congressional District covers 10 counties stretching from the Atlanta suburbs to the Appalachian foothills along the Tennessee state line.

It’s ruby-red Trump country but with enough Democrats and independents to cause heartburn for Republicans in a special election that sends the top two vote-getters — regardless of party — into an April runoff if no candidate wins over 50%.

“If Georgia 14 turns blue, it would be a tragedy for the president’s agenda,” Fuller told CNN. “We as a party need to start having an honest conversation about that.”

Shawn Harris, a retired Marine brigadier general who lost to Greene in 2024, is the Democratic contender who worries Republicans the most. He received nearly 135,000 votes the last time he was on the ballot — a fraction of which would likely vault him into a runoff — though turnout on Tuesday is expected to be lower than in the 2024 contest.

Harris said Republicans tried to get him to change parties, but instead he is trying to recruit moderates or disillusioned Republicans to his campaign — even, he said, if they come secretly.

“Voting is not church,” Harris said in an interview. “You don’t have to confess. You just have to go in there and do what’s best for you, your family and your grandkids.”

Re

By Ella Nilsen, CNN

(CNN) — The federal regulatory agency tasked with keeping America’s nuclear power plants safe and running smoothly is set to make huge cuts to the amount of time its staffers spend on safety and emergency inspections, opening the door to more self-policing from the industry.

As it embarks on a reorganization to fulfill executive orders from President Donald Trump, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to dramatically reduce its inspection hours for existing nuclear power plants, cutting back on the amount of time independent inspectors look for plants’ security procedures, radiation protection for staff, maintenance and safety.

The NRC has been a crucial part of keeping America’s nuclear energy operating for the past 40 years — and experts say its authority is only more necessary than ever as the Trump administration seeks to usher in a new golden age of nuclear energy. But Trump wants to streamline the agency, and staff cuts combined with executive orders are troubling signs that Trump is undoing the NRC’s independence, experts said.

That is “an issue of national security,” according to former NRC commission chair Allison MacFarlane, now the director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia.

MacFarlane pointed to Japan’s Fukushima nuclear meltdown, a tragedy that culminated after years of collusion between the government and electric utility operating the plant — including “self-inspections” that overlooked safety problems. “If there is political influence on the regulator and the regulator doesn’t regulate properly, the entire country is at risk,” MacFarlane told CNN.

Nuclear safety inspections could be reduced

Much of way nuclear power regulation operates in this country today can be traced to 1979 – the year the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania experienced a series of mechanical and emergency response failures that led to a partial meltdown in the plant’s Reactor 2.

The worst commercial nuclear accident in US history was contained and ultimately had only very minor health impacts on the surrounding area. But it forced the government to take a hard look at safety reforms to ensure no such accident would happen again.

Among the many new federal safety reforms was the creation of a separate enforcement office within the agency.

Today, NRC inspectors regularly visit nuclear power plants throughout the year to do a variety of safety checks. They are tasked with making sure a plant can withstand a severe weather event or the seismic shock of an earthquake, and ensuring the plant is not overworking the nuclear fuel that generates power.

Other duties include checking to make sure plant equipment is running correctly in case of an emergency – making sure valves close, water pumps are working, and electrical equipment can supply power. In addition, there are typically two onsite resident inspectors from the NRC at each nuclear power plant (onsite inspectors would not be impacted by the NRC’s proposed cutbacks, according to officials).

The US nuclear industry has a strong safety track record and its own internal safety group, but NRC’s federal inspectors continue to play an important role in checking the operations and safety of America’s aging nuclear power plants — the average age of which is about 42 years old.

“We have found stuff the plants did not find,” an NRC staffer told CNN, describing some catches as “significant safety findings.”

“No one’s going to catch everything, and we’re there as the independent oversight, auditing and quality check,” the staffer added.

The new changes NRC officials are proposing in order to meet Tr

By Elise Hammond, CNN

(CNN) — Charles Burton may just have days left to live. And though he has spent the last three decades on death row, the topics of conversation on a recent phone call are light: he reminisces about growing up in Alabama, chats about how he enjoys writing letters and offers the wisdom he thinks the next generation needs to hear.

Burton, known as “Sonny” to his family and friends, is scheduled to be executed on Thursday. The 75-year-old, who now uses a wheelchair, is on death row for the murder of Douglas Battle, despite the fact he himself did not commit the fatal shooting.

“I didn’t kill no one, true enough, but I made a mistake by being part of the crime,” Burton told CNN in an interview. “I made a mistake, and it seems like all my friends have forgave me. I hope that my friends will remember me and remember that I was a real friend, a good friend.”

In August 1991, Burton and five other men robbed an AutoZone store in Talladega. One of the men, Derrick DeBruce, shot and killed Battle. Though he was not the shooter and was not in the store at the time of the killing, Burton was convicted of capital felony murder and sentenced to death by a jury in 1992.

DeBruce also received a death sentence, but it was reduced to life in prison without parole in 2014 after he successfully argued his trial lawyers were ineffective. He died in prison in 2020.

Now, as the clock ticks toward his execution date, Burton’s advocates are calling for his execution to be halted, either by the US Supreme Court or Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, whom Burton has asked to grant him clemency and commute his sentence to life without parole.

A spokesperson for Ivey told CNN the governor “carefully considers all the findings, facts and circumstances” around all executions but at this time “has no plans to grant clemency” to Burton.

“Over the past 33 years, his conviction and sentence has been reviewed at least nine times, and no court has found any reason to overturn the jury’s decision,” Gina Maiola, the spokesperson, said.

The victim’s daughter – identified as Tori in Burton’s clemency petition – and some of the jurors in Burton’s case have backed his request for commutation. In a letter to Ivey, Tori wrote that her father “was strong, but he valued peace. He did not believe in revenge. And in that way, I am very much his daughter.”

“I do not see how this execution will contribute to my healing. And it disturbs me to think of a man who is now elderly, being executed, who if he had a better lawyer, probably never would have ended up on death row,” she wrote.

Cases like Burton’s — in which the non-shooter receives a death sentence under a felony murder statute — are “exceedingly rare,” according to Elizabeth Vartkessian, the executive director of nonprofit Advancing Real Change. It’s even more rare that they are executed, she said, because similar scenarios are not usually prosecuted as capital crimes.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has also stood by Burton’s conviction and death sentence and opposed several appeals by the inmate’s legal team.

“That conviction and sentence have been upheld at every level,” an attorney general spokesperson told CNN.

Burton branded as robbery’s ‘ringleader’

In August 1991, Burton and five other men piled into two cars and drove to Talladega, according to court documents. They parked one vehicle at a nearby carwash and headed to their target: an AutoZone.

Inside, Burton purchased some items and went to the bathroom, court records say. Then, DeBruce pulled out his gun and told everyone in the store to get on the floor.

Burton took an e

KPRC, KSNV, WWL, CNN

By Alexandra Skores, CNN

Washington (CNN) — Travelers stuck in line for hours at airport security this week are the latest victims of a partial government shutdown that has dragged on for nearly a month.

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed in mid-February amid a standoff between Republicans and Democrats over immigration reform. Now, Transporation Security Administration screeners are about to miss a paycheck just as the Spring Break travel season heats up.

Here’s what’s going on and when the long lines might go away.

These are the airports being hit the hardest

While most of the more than 430 commercial airports in the US have TSA staff, some locations have seen an outsized impact.

Security lines at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport stretched for more than three hours on Sunday and Monday, the agency reported. The airport was advising passengers to arrive four to five hours before their flights but reduced the recommendation to three to four hours Monday night.

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport said Monday TSA waits can extend up to two hours and advised passengers to arrive at least three hours before their flight. By late afternoon the airport reported wait times of up to an hour and said passengers should arrive at least two hours before their flight.

Other airports that saw long wait times included Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Charlotte Douglas International, and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

Is PreCheck still open?

TSA PreCheck lines remain open at most airports.

The program allows travelers who pass a verification process and pay a fee to go through a quicker security screening. DHS said last month they would be closed due to the shutdown so agents could focus on the standard screening lanes, but the department quickly reversed course.

TSA “will evaluate on a case-by-case basis and adjust operations” according to staffing changes, a spokesperson for the agency told CNN at the time.

Global Entry, which allows trusted travelers who pay a fee to quickly go through customs, remains closed.

What could be done right now to make this easier for travelers?

Many aviation officials have called on Congress to fund DHS or find a way to pay TSA workers in the interim.

In January, a bipartisan group of 16 House members introduced legislation that would guarantee federal employees, military service members, reservists and contractors get paid in full and on time in the event of a government shutdown, Read more