By Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, CNN

(CNN) — The expiration of the last remaining nuclear treaty between the United States and Russia on Thursday has sparked fears about a nuclear arms race, with the two biggest nuclear superpowers without limits on their arsenals for the first time in decades.

“The worst case is it spirals and then some unforeseen or foreseeable incident touches off a conflict that escalates rapidly to a nuclear conflict,” said Thomas Countryman, a former acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.

Though some experts argue the limitations of the New START treaty were outdated and unnecessarily constrained the US, especially when China is looking to expand its nuclear arsenal.

The landmark treaty went into force in February 2011. It capped both countries at 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads; 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and heavy bombers equipped to transport nuclear weapons; and 800 “deployed and non-deployed” launchers. It put limits on Russian intercontinental nuclear weapons that could reach the US.

But critics of the treaty, including President Donald Trump, pointed out it did not cover China, which is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal and could have some 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035 if they continue to expand their stockpile at the current pace, according to a Pentagon report from 2022.

The treaty was originally in place for 10 years. In 2021, the US and Russia agreed to extend it for another five years, through February 4, 2026.

The agreement was not eligible to be extended again, but the two countries could agree to continue to adhere to the caps outlined in the treaty. Concerns over the future of arms control – which the US and Russia have worked on together for decades – comes as Trump also vowed last year that the US would resume nuclear testing, but there has been no movement towards that end.

Last September, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed doing so for another year. At the time, Trump said the proposal “sounds like a good idea to me.”

However, Trump in recent weeks has expressed little concern about the lapse, telling the New York Times, “If it expires, it expires. We’ll do a better agreement.”

And on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that the US would not agree to maintain the limits of the treaty, citing Trump’s call for a nuclear deal between the US, Russia and China.

“The president has been clear in the past that in order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it’s impossible to do something that doesn’t include China because of their vast and rapidly growing stockpile,” he said.

Beijing has consistently rebuffed the idea of trilateral negotiations both privately and publicly.

‘Erroneous and regrettable’

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said they had received no answer from the Trump administration and that public comments from the US government indicate “that our ideas have been deliberately left unanswered.”

“This approach seems erroneous and regrettable,” the statement said.

The foreign ministry said that “in the current circumstances,” they assume the two countries “are no longer bound by any obligations or symmetrical declarations in the context of the Treaty, including its core provisions, and are in principle free to choose their next steps.”

Asked about the statement, a Trump administration official told CNN, “President Trump has spoken repeatedly of addressing the threat nuclear weapons pose to the world and indicated that he would like to keep limits on nuclear weap

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Por Leah Asmelash, CNN

El martes de la semana pasada, CBS News anunció un grupo de 19 nuevos colaboradores, como parte de los esfuerzos continuos de su recién instalada editora en jefe, Bari Weiss, para renovar el perfil público de la cadena. Entre los nombres —“todos expertos en sus campos”, según CBS— estaba el del Dr. Peter Attia, un médico famoso especializado en medicina de longevidad.

Tres días después, el Departamento de Justicia publicó un nuevo conjunto de documentos de los archivos de Jeffrey Epstein, que incluían una correspondencia amistosa y de tono sexual entre Attia y el depredador sexual convicto. En una respuesta particularmente vulgar, Attia escribió: “La vagina es, de hecho, baja en carbohidratos. Aunque todavía estoy esperando los resultados sobre el contenido de gluten”.

Algunos de los seguidores de Attia han expresado repugnancia desde que los correos electrónicos se hicieron públicos. Un usuario en Reddit, quien dijo haber aprendido “mucho” del trabajo de Attia a lo largo de los años, lo calificó de “moralmente en bancarrota, trepador social, ególatra”. La publicación más reciente de Attia en Instagram se llenó de respuestas enojadas, incluida una de una influencer y enfermera retirada que decía “TIENES UNA HIJA”. Otra, de un exseguidor, dijo: “Ojalá pudiera recuperar cada centavo que gasté en tu libro y en recomendarte a la gente. Me das asco”.

Attia tiene una pequeña, aunque costosa, práctica médica llamada Early Medical, con una lista de espera para los pacientes que deseen unirse. Según dijo a “60 Minutes” de CBS en 2025, veía a menos de 75 pacientes. No reveló el precio exacto de sus servicios, solo que cobraba “más cerca de US$ 100.000 que de US$ 500.000”.

Sin embargo, su interés en alargar la vida lo ha convertido en un nombre destacado en los últimos años. Ha hecho apariciones en “The Joe Rogan Experience” y en CNN International, donde fue entrevistado por Becky Anderson sobre cómo la tecnología está cambiando la salud. También fue entrevistado por Oprah, donde ambos hablaron sobre “vivir mejor por más tiempo”. Ese video, que podía verse a principios de esta semana en YouTube, ya no está disponible públicamente.

Y antes de que Weiss asumiera el mando en CBS News, él habló con ella en su podcast, “Honestly”. En esa entrevista, Weiss dijo que Attia “siempre logra ir al grano” en la industria de la salud y el bienestar.

En una declaración publicada en X el lunes, Attia dijo que “no estuvo involucrado en ninguna actividad delictiva”, que “no tuvo nada que ver con el abuso sexual ni la explotación de Epstein contra nadie”, y que nunca estuvo “presente en ninguna fiesta sexual”. Attia no ha sido acusado de ningún delito.

“Para ser claro, nunca presencié comportamientos ilegales ni vi a nadie que pareciera menor de edad en su presencia”, escribió.

Hasta el martes, CBS News supuestamente retiró una repetición planeada de un segmento de “60 Minutes” con Attia de octubre que iba a emitirse durante el Super Bowl, reportó primero The Guardian. La cadena también estaríaRead more

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN

(CNN) — The Office of the Director of National Intelligence obtained voting machines from Puerto Rico and probed them for security vulnerabilities, the office said in a statement to CNN Wednesday.

The extraordinary move comes amid Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s broader search for voter fraud at the behest of President Donald Trump, who has falsely claimed that the 2020 election was rigged despite numerous court rulings and audits debunking the claim. Gabbard was present as FBI agents executed a search warrant in Fulton County, Georgia, last week related to the 2020 election.

The ODNI claimed in its statement to have found “extremely concerning” cybersecurity and operational deployment practices with the voting machines in Puerto Rico but did not provide evidence.

The US attorney in Puerto Rico, Homeland Security Investigations agents and an FBI supervisory special agent “facilitated the voluntary turnover of electronic voting hardware and software to ODNI for analysis,” an ODNI spokesperson said. It’s unclear exactly when the agency received and studied the voting machines.

In justifying the voting equipment probe, the ODNI cited “publicly reported claims relating to elections in Puerto Rico alleging discrepancies and systemic anomalies in their electronic voting systems.”

David Becker, the executive director of a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works with election officials, told CNN that voting machines are subject to regular testing and a strict chain of custody. The machines count paper ballots that are audited and recounted to confirm the machine counts. Those are all security controls that have proven effective, he said.

The director of national intelligence coordinates intelligence from across the 17 other organization in the US intelligence community. It is unprecedented for the ODNI to play such a hands-on role in election infrastructure, former intelligence officials and election experts told CNN.

“This is well beyond what ODNI has the authority or expertise to do,” a former senior US intelligence official who has worked on election security told CNN Wednesday in reaction to the ODNI statement. “This is amateur hour.”

The ODNI activity in Puerto Rico “appears intended to intimidate and denigrate election officials, along with the constant threats of prosecutions, and the repeated lies about our election system,” Becker told CNN.

Reuters first reported ODNI’s probe in Puerto Rico and said the activity took place last spring.

It was not clear if and when ODNI would release more public information on its probe of voting equipment in Puerto Rico. The agency “is currently coordinating with our partners across the U.S. government to provide the findings from our inquiry to agencies that can take actions to improve the security of our system,” the ODNI spokesperson said.

CNN has requested comment from election officials in Puerto Rico.

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