By Hanna Park, Alisha Ebrahimji, Elise Hammond, CNN

(CNN) — The death of a Rohingya refugee in Buffalo, New York, has raised pressing questions about how federal immigration agents handled his release from their custody – and what happened in the five days he was missing before his body was found.

Nurul Amin Shah Alam, 56, who spoke little English and was nearly blind, was released from the Erie County Holding Center on February 19. Border Patrol agents briefly took custody of him on an immigration detainer before determining he shouldn’t be deported and, later that night, dropped him at a closed coffee house alone in near freezing temperatures. His body was found on February 24, about four miles away.

US Customs and Border Protection has defended the agents’ actions, but local and state leaders are calling for investigations.

Meanwhile, Shah Alam’s friends and family gathered at a mosque Thursday for his funeral, offering prayers before accompanying him to a cemetery for burial.

“We do not want his death to just go to waste,” Khaleda Shah, a spokesperson for the family, told the Associated Press. “We want his death to bring awareness to his community, his family, his community at large. We want his name, his story to be a voice for those who are still suffering.”

The case comes amid growing concerns about the constitutional protections and treatment of people who come into contact with federal immigration authorities, regardless of their immigration status, under the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.

Here’s what we know – and don’t know – about his death:

Who was Nurul Amin Shah Alam?

Shah Alam entered the US as a refugee on December 24, 2024, according to US Customs and Border Protection. He and his family are Arakan Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority from Myanmar that the US government has said was subjected to genocide.

Shah Alam previously worked in construction in Malaysia and came to the US with his wife and two children, searching for opportunity, Imran Fazal, who knows the family, told CNN affiliate Spectrum News Buffalo.

Shah Alam’s son, Mohamad Faisal, told CNN he last saw his father on February 19, before he was released from jail.

Faisal told Reuters that Shah Alam did not read, write or use electronic devices.

What we don’t know:

• What was the extent of Shah Alam’s visual impairment?
• What was his health condition before he was released?
• Did he have diagnosed medical conditions requiring treatment?

Why was he in jail?

Shah Alam was arrested in February 2025 after what his son described as a misunderstanding.

He had gone for a walk using a curtain rod as a walking stick, became lost and wandered onto private property, Faisal told Reuters. When officers arrived and ordered Shah Alam to drop the rod, he did not comply because he did not understand.

Body camera video obtained by CNN affiliate WGRZ shows Shah Al

By Oren Liebermann, CNN

(CNN) — The US embassy in Israel has authorized non-essential personnel to leave the country amid the possibility of a strike on Iran.

The US embassy announced on its website on Friday that the State Department had authorized non-emergency staff and family members to leave “due to safety risks.”

The embassy went on to say, “Persons may wish to consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available.”

CNN has reached out to the State Department for more details.

The announcement comes the day the USS Gerald Ford carrier strike group is expected to arrive in northern Israel as part of the buildup of US forces in the Middle East ahead of a potential strike on Iran.

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By Alexandra Banner, CNN

Nearly 8,000 images from around the world were submitted for the Underwater Photographer of the Year 2026 competition. In the end, an Australian photographer claimed the top prize for capturing a tender moment of elephant seal pups nuzzling in a rockpool.

Here’s what else you need to know to get up to speed and on with your day.

1⃣ Clinton depositions

Former President Bill Clinton is set to be questioned today about his past relationship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Documents show Clinton rode on Epstein’s private plane 16 times, though he has maintained that his interactions with Epstein took place before the financier’s crimes were exposed. On Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concluded hours of defiant testimony before the House Oversight Committee, repeatedly saying she had no ties to Epstein or his criminal conduct. She also blasted GOP lawmakers for fixating on her instead of questioning President Donald Trump and others named in the Epstein files. Neither of the Clintons nor Trump has been accused by law enforcement of any criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein.

2⃣ Iran tensions

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday sought to reassure Americans uneasy about the prospect of the US entering a prolonged conflict in the Middle East, as President Trump weighs whether to take military action against Iran. “The idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight — there is no chance that will happen,” Vance told The Washington Post. Trump has been briefed on potential military options in Iran, sources say, but it’s unclear whether he would authorize a strike or continue pursuing a diplomatic path as negotiations unfold. The US held talks with Iran in Geneva on Thursday, with some signs of progress but no major breakthrough.

3⃣ Anthropic

American artificial intelligence company Anthropic has until 5:01 pm ET today to comply with the Pentagon’s demands or risk being designated a “supply chain risk” — a label typically reserved for companies tied to foreign adversaries. The Pentagon, which uses Anthropic’s Claude AI system on its classified networks, wants broad authority to use it for “all lawful purposes.” But Anthropic has two red lines for the Pentagon: no use in autonomous weapons and no mass surveillance of US citizens. The Defense Department claims that it has no interest in using AI for either purpose and that it needs the freedom to use the technology it is licensing. Anthropic, however, said Thursday that it has no intention of dropping its conditions.

4⃣ Stock market

Technology stocks are no longer driving the market the way they once did. After years of gains fueled by optimism around AI and productivity, the sector has stalled. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite hasn’t hit a record in four months while the S&P 500, which is roughly flat this year, is on track for its worst month since March. At the same time, stocks with less exposure to AI are outperforming. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is less reliant on tech, is up about 3% this year. The shift reflects broader uncertainty on Wall Street

Por Gonzalo Zegarra, CNN en Español

Los habitantes de varias zonas de La Habana, ya acostumbrados al olor a basura por la falta de recolección, están ahora habituándose a una sensación más molesta. Es el humo contaminante que provocar ardor en la garganta y llega producto de la quema de las montañas de residuos en la capital, un intento desesperado de solución para lo que es solo uno de los síntomas del agravamiento de la crisis en la isla.

Sin el apoyo de Venezuela y cercada por Estados Unidos, Cuba se sumerge en una crisis que ya la obliga a tomar medidas extremas de racionamiento energético, lo que afecta el turismo y amenaza con paralizar casi por completo su economía, con pocas alternativas a la vista. La falta de apoyo internacional y los problemas internos confluyen para alargar un túnel cada vez más oscuro.

Y, como si fuera poco, otro punto de tensión se sumó esta semana cuando fuerzas cubanas mataron a cuatro personas, una de las cuales era ciudadana estadounidense, en una lancha rápida registrada en Florida que intentaba ingresar a aguas cubanas el miércoles e “infiltrarse” en la isla, según denunció el Gobierno de Cuba.

Son inmediatas las comparaciones con el “período especial” a principios de la década de 1990, posterior a la caída del bloque soviético, que sostenía gran parte de la economía cubana. Algo similar a los envíos de crudo venezolano, que representaban cerca del 30 % de las necesidades energéticas de la isla. El presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel ya hizo referencia a la situación vivida hace poco más de tres décadas, delineando un plan de supervivencia con racionamientos extremos.

“Al sacar a Venezuela como proveedor, empieza un conteo regresivo. El jaque mate viene con la declaración presidencial del día 29”, dijo a CNN Sebastián Arcos, director del Instituto de Investigaciones Cubanas de la Universidad Internacional de Florida (FIU), en referencia al decreto firmado por Donald Trump que le permite sancionar a países que le vendan petróleo o derivados a Cuba. Con esa medida, “EE.UU. confirma que dejó de ser un observador de la situación para convertirse en un agente activo de cambio, a promover un cambio de régimen”, agregó Arcos.

Díaz-Canel confirmó días atrás que Cuba no ha recibido petróleo en lo que va de 2026 y no dio detalles sobre cuándo podría llegar algún buque.

El ministro de Medio Ambiente, Armando Rodríguez Batista, aclaró que no incita la quema de residuos sólidos y advirtió que atenta contra la salud. “En estos momentos difíciles provocados por la escasez de combustibles, derivada del bloqueo energético, nos enfrentamos a situaciones complejas que requieren análisis profundos y soluciones inmediatas”, dijo en un mensaje en Facebook. La isla trata de acomodarse a una nueva rutina con medidas muchas veces improvisadas para paliar la situación.

Para analistas consultados por CNN, la caída económica en La Habana todavía no es tan pronunciada como en los noventa, pero subrayan que el efecto es más notorio porque el punto de partida es más bajo, tras años de recesión, falta de inversión y con un déficit energético que ya se notaba en los apagones diarios y prolongados.

“Cuando cae la Unión Soviética, la infraestructura cubana estaba relativamente en buen estado. 30 años de poca inversión nos llevan al punto en el que estamos hoy”, dijo Arcos. “Es una multicrisis: sanitaria, alimentaria, energética, de educación, de legitimidad política”, añadió.

El historiador Michael Bustamante, profesor asociado y director del programa de estudios cubanos en la Universidad de Miami, considera que, en términos porcentuales, la pérdida de la actividad económica “no sería tan grave” como hace tres décadas, pero “muchos pe

By Rick Davis

(CNN) — It was sometime in 1991 when I got a call from my boss, senior news executive Ed Turner.

“Rick, how would you like to get another show?” he asked.

At the time I was the executive producer of CNN’s Washington-based public affairs shows, including “Crossfire,” “Evans & Novak,” “Capital Gang” and “Reliable Sources.”

Ed told me CNN wanted me to oversee a weekly show with Jesse Jackson out of the DC bureau. That sounded like a bad idea, and I told Ed that Jesse was not a journalist. We shouldn’t do that.

Well, Ed said firmly, it is not up for debate. The decision has been made. Meet with Jesse and make it work.

I couldn’t imagine it at the time, but that conversation would begin a 35-year professional and personal relationship with the charismatic civil rights leader, who died at 84 last week in Chicago.

I can’t add much to the many beautiful and insightful words written about Jesse on his passing. Others can better explain his remarkable journey to make America better for the disenfranchised, and his zeal to help create a true rainbow of inclusion.

But I can tell you about the man I got to know behind the scenes.

Let’s start with the show, which aired weekly on Saturdays. I named it “Both Sides with Jesse Jackson” to signal it wouldn’t be dominated by Jesse’s point of view. I felt the format had to be somewhat of a debate since Jesse was just a few years from his two history-making runs for the Democratic presidential nomination. And I decided that for the show to be taken seriously, we’d need to book guests from across the political spectrum to have civil conversations about the issues he cared about.

We had our challenges. While my work on these CNN shows was my only job, it certainly wasn’t Jesse’s. It may have been one of his last priorities. That led to eight-plus years of weekly frustration with Jesse’s schedule, which usually meant he arrived less than an hour or two before the Friday taping.

But that was the only negative part of the relationship. Most weeks we produced a smart program that dealt with the most important issues of the moment – domestic and international – with guests who wanted to come debate the great Jesse Jackson.

The show’s staff and I soon got to know Jesse and his many good qualities: His commanding presence, his good humor, how he lit up a room and how he greeted so many with big bear hugs. And maybe most importantly, how he pushed us to focus on issues that didn’t always get attention on the rest of the network or elsewhere.

By then I had learned how to manage on-air pundits’ unique personalities and, yes, egos. But I soon learned that Jesse was way more than just a civil rights icon and political heavyweight. For me, it eventually became personal.

Early on I saw up close what a big heart he had. The first year of the show, 1992, was a devastating one for my family. In February my wife Linda lost her sister Frankie to melanoma in her early thirties. Two months later I lost my beloved brother Alan to lung cancer. In both cases Jesse took the time to call our parents to console them and to send them flowers.

Jesse called me all the time, either because he wanted me to get him on CNN to discuss an important issue or to complain about something on CNN that he didn’t like. But he never started a conversation without asking, “How’s your family?” And he meant it. He always wanted to hear how my parents were doing.

Here are a few personal memories of Jesse that I will never forget.

‘Put her on speaker’

A few weeks after my brother died, Jesse walked into my office before a taping and said, “What’s the matter? You look down.” I told him I had just spoken to my mother and she was depressed about t