By Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN

(CNN) — As a large SUV rolled past a block of Austin’s lively bars and late-night crowds in Sunday’s early hours, a sweatshirted arm reached out the driver’s side window with a pistol and began to pull the trigger.

Over the course of just one minute, the gunman sailed down the city’s bustling Sixth Street and then exited his car, firing off even more bullets, ultimately killing three people and injuring 13 others before he was fatally shot by police.

The suspect, 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, was wearing a hoodie emblazoned with the words “Property of Allah,” a picture obtained by CNN shows. Law enforcement later found Diagne – who was fatally shot by police – was wearing a T-shirt stamped with an Iranian flag design, according to a source.

Though investigators have kept details close to the vest, they are probing whether the Texas shooting was inspired by this weekend’s strikes on Iran by the US and Israel, multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the case said.

Diagne, a Senegalese immigrant-turned US citizen, was not on the radar of local police nor the FBI before Sunday’s attack, officials said at a Monday news conference. Now, his personal life, criminal history and private affiliations are under extreme scrutiny as investigators dissect his motive.

Making a life in the US

Diagne made his way to the United States from his home country of Senegal, initially settling in New York before moving to Texas, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told CNN.

Diagne entered the US on March 13, 2000, on a B‑2 tourist visa, a Department of Homeland Security official told CNN. These nonimmigrant visas are intended for visitors traveling to the US temporarily, such as for vacation or visiting family.

Diagne married a US citizen, allowing him to adjust his status to lawful permanent resident in June 2006, the DHS official said. He became a naturalized citizen on April 5, 2013.

CNN has been unable to confirm the identity of Diagne’s wife or whether they are still married.

Though it is unclear when Diagne relocated to Texas, public records indicate he was still a resident of Bronx, New York, in the late 2010s. Since moving to the Lone Star State, he has had multiple addresses, the law enforcement official told CNN.

‘A potential nexus to terrorism’

Diagne’s motive is still unclear, but items discovered during the investigation have led authorities to consider whether the attack was an act of domestic terrorism or motivated by the nascent US war with Iran, multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the case have said.

“Obviously, it’s still way too early in the process to determine an exact motivation, but there were indicators on the subject and then his vehicle that indicate a potential nexus to terrorism,” Alex Doran, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio division, said Sunday morning.

After police secured the sprawling, chaotic scene Sunday, federal partners were called to “address concerns of potential terrorism,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said.

A search warrant has been executed on at least one residence connected to the suspect. A bevy of law enforcement, some from federal agencies, gathered at a home connected to Diagne in Pflugerville, a suburb just north of Austin.

Investigators hauled boxes of items from the home and examined a car in the driveway, CNN affiliate KEYE reported. A Quran was also found in the suspect’s car, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the in

Análisis por Stephen Collinson, CNN

Al prometer una victoria sobre Irán, Pete Hegseth mostró este lunes la grandilocuencia típica del comienzo impactante y pasmoso de las guerras estadounidenses.

“Terminaremos esto con las condiciones de ‘Estados Unidos primero’ que elija el presidente Trump, y de nadie más, como debe ser”, declaró el secretario de Defensa en el Pentágono.

Pero su comentario recordó fatídicamente otra promesa hecha en 2001.

“Este conflicto se inició en el momento y los términos que otros decidieron; terminará de la manera y a la hora que nosotros elijamos”, prometió el presidente George W. Bush a una nación traumatizada por los atentados del 11-S. Poco después, llevó a Estados Unidos a guerras que duraron casi dos décadas.

El eco de la historia sólo alimentará los temores de que esta administración no recuerda las sangrientas lecciones del pasado reciente.

La magnitud de la apuesta de Donald Trump al lanzar una guerra junto a Israel que ya condujo a la muerte del líder supremo de Irán, el ayatola Alí Jamenei, queda resumida en la escala de los posibles resultados.

El riesgo es que el conflicto, arraigado en una lógica cuestionable, propague el caos por todo Medio Oriente y acabe matando a miles de civiles, a la vez que sembrará nuevos ataques terroristas contra los estadounidenses en los próximos años.

Sin embargo, existe un escenario alternativo para un presidente que lanzó un ataque contra Irán que sus predecesores nunca se atrevieron.

Trump podría forjar una victoria estratégica si neutraliza la amenaza regional de un enemigo declarado de Estados Unidos durante casi 50 años y cataliza el nacimiento de la libertad en Irán.

“Esta guerra que Trump lanzó es injustificada e ilegal. Eso no significa necesariamente que no tenga éxito”, declaró el historiador y experto en política exterior Max Boot en una conferencia telefónica del Consejo de Relaciones Exteriores el lunes, al tiempo que criticaba al presidente por su arrogancia.

Al entrar la guerra en su cuarto día, Estados Unidos e Israel prometen intensificar los ataques contra Irán. El liderazgo remanente de Teherán está decidido a fomentar el caos regional.

Parecen posibles tres resultados generales:

► El escenario más prometedor es que días de ataques aéreos contra los instrumentos de represión del Estado iraní podrían precipitar un levantamiento popular. Un nuevo Irán podría transformar Medio Oriente.

► Una posibilidad más compleja, y quizás más probable, es que los líderes iraníes supervivientes construyan un nuevo régimen. Sin embargo, la operación estadounidense aún podría tener éxito si destruye la capacidad nuclear, misilística y militar que convierte a Irán en una amenaza regional. Este puede ser un resultado aceptable para Israel, pero podría conducir a futuras guerras que impidan que el nuevo régimen iraní reconstruya sus capacidades.

► El peor escenario posible sería que Irán siguiera el ejemplo de Libia, sumido en un vacío de poder en un Estado destruido por años de autoritarismo. Podrían estallar luchas entre facciones o una guerra civil, sembrando el caos, provocando una crisis de refugiados y dejando las reservas de uranio de Irán vulnerables a grupos extremistas.

Si los estadounidenses están confundidos por lo que se avecina, no es sorprendente, ya que la administración sigue Read more

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By Sandee LaMotte, CNN

(CNN) — At least 111 substances of unknown safety have been added to foods, drinks and supplements sold in the United States without alerting the US Food and Drug Administration, a new investigation found.

“Food companies are deciding on their own to secretly add unreviewed chemical ingredients to products instead of following existing federal guidelines meant to assure food is ‘generally recognized as safe,’ or GRAS,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president for government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, a health and environmental health advocacy organization that conducted the investigation published Tuesday.

To meet the GRAS standard, companies must demonstrate a new food ingredient is safe by providing widely accepted scientific evidence that’s publicly available. Notifying the FDA of that safety data is customary and ensures regulatory compliance. It’s also voluntary — which means manufacturers can legally self-determine their products to be safe.

“Manufacturers now routinely exploit this GRAS loophole — it’s fast becoming more ‘generally recognized as secret’ instead of ‘generally recognized as safe,’” Benesh said.

The EWG investigation found 49 of the chemicals added by industry in approximately 4,000 products listed in the US Department of Agriculture’s FoodData Central database, which provides public access to nutrient and ingredient information.

“Because the government has never reviewed these chemicals, consumers have no way of knowing if they are safe or carry unknown health risks,” Benesh said.

Even though the GRAS loophole is legal in the United States, it’s difficult to justify from a “scientific and ethical standpoint,” said Mathilde Touvier, director of research at France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris, who studies the health harms of additives in ultraprocessed foods.

“It is highly problematic that companies are allowed to self-determine that their own ingredients are ‘GRAS,’ given the obvious financial conflict of interest,” said Touvier, who was not involved in the EWG investigation. “Decisions about the safety of food chemicals should be based on independent assessment by public health authorities.”

CNN reached out to the American Beverage Association and the Consumer Brands Association, who both represent food and drink manufacturers. The ABA did not send a response before publication.

Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of the Consumer Brands Association, said CBA was part of a coalition, Americans for Ingredient Transparency, which is advocating for “federal legislation establishing national uniformity for ingredient safety and disclosure.”

“We support GRAS reform being a part of that bill,” Gallo said, adding that the US has one of the “safest and most highly regulated food systems in the world.”

Adding extracts from ‘natural’ foods

Of the 49 chemicals found in foods, 22 were extracts, according to the investigation. Many appear natural and harmless: aloe vera, cinnamon, cocoa, cranberry seed oil, grape skins, green coffee beans, hemp, lemon balm and mushrooms, to name a few.

“When you start taking substances from grape skin, aloe vera and mushrooms, for example, you may have a concentrated extract or cocktail of substances that come out of it,” said biochemist Maricel Maffini, a former research assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston who coauthored