Theresa May to resign as UK Prime Minister - live updates - CNN International

“I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back this deal,” May said of her attempts to pass a Brexit plan through Parliament.

“Sadly, I have not been able -- I tried three times,” she added. Her failure to do so will be her lasting legacy as prime minister. 

“I believe it was right to persevere….it is now clear to me that it is in the best interest of the country for a new PM to lead that effort,” May said.

She held back tears throughout the speech, but her voice croaked and May was visibly tearful as she came to her conclusion.

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2019-05-24 09:14:00Z
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Theresa May expected to announce resignation - live updates - CNN International

It's not exactly the big resignation that we're all waiting for, but a Conservative MP has left her post and called for new leadership of the party.

Helen Grant quit as the party's Vice Chair for Communities, saying she wants "actively and openly" to support one of the candidates for the Conservative leadership. She didn't confirm whom she will be endorsing.

"The PM has, of course, said she will be leaving, a decision that I respect and believe to be right," she added in her letter.

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2019-05-24 09:04:00Z
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Theresa May expected to announce resignation - live updates - CNN International

DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

Friday could be the day.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, bruised from three years of internal party disputes and unable to stem the tide of criticism over her unpopular Brexit bill, is expected to announce details of her resignation shortly.

She's facing a showdown over her future on Friday morning with Graham Brady, the head of the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, whose mutinous MPs are likely to change their rules and force her out if she won't clarify her exit strategy.

Yes, we've been here before -- speculation has hovered over May's head for most of her tenure -- but the walls are closing in on her faster than ever before.

It could be a long day in Westminster.

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2019-05-24 08:05:00Z
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Everest traffic jam creates lethal conditions for climbers - CNN

Indian climber Anjali Kulkarni, 55, died on her way back from climbing to the summit of Mount Everest Wednesday, her son Shantanu Kulkarni told CNN. She had become stuck in the "traffic jam" above camp four, which, at 8,000 meters (26,247 feet), is the final camp before the summit.

American mountaineer Donald Lynn Cash, 55, also died Wednesday after fainting from high altitude sickness while descending from the summit, according to the Nepalese expedition company Pioneer Adventure Pvt. Ltd.

Climber Nirmal Purja posted a picture on Instagram of the heavy human traffic on the mountain Wednesday, showing a dense trail of climbers huddling on an exposed ridge to the summit. He added that there were roughly 320 people in the queue to the top of the mountain in an area known as the "death zone."

The summit of Mount Everest has an elevation of 8,848 meters (29,029 feet). At that level, each breath contains only one-third of the oxygen found at sea level. The human body is also rapidly deteriorating at that altitude, meaning most people can only spend a matter of minutes at the top, without extra oxygen supplies, before it becomes intolerable.

According to Shantanu Kulkarni, his mother had trekked for over 25 years and had trained to climb Mount Everest for the past six. She had completed a number of major treks, including Mount Elbrus in southern Russia and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and was also an avid marathoner.

Anjali Kulkarni had owned an advertising agency with her husband, but they both retired to "pursue their dream of standing atop Mount Everest," Shantanu said.

Cash, a grandfather from Utah, collapsed near a portion of the trail which had an altitude of about 8,770 meters (28,700 feet), according to Pioneer Adventure.

"Our team did their best to save his life," the company noted, adding that Sherpa guides had attempted to keep him alive while pulling him down the mountain. "Despite their best efforts in providing the best guidance, sufficient oxygen supplies and medical support they could not save his life."

His children told CNN affiliate KSL-TV that he had died after achieving his goal of summiting the highest mountain on every continent.

"The last message he sent to me, he said 'I feel so blessed to be on the mountain that I read about for the last 40 years,'" his son Tanner Cash told KSL. His body will likely remain on Everest.

More than 200 mountaineers have died on the peak since 1922, when the first climbers' deaths on Everest were recorded. The majority of bodies are believed to have remained buried under glaciers or snow.

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2019-05-24 06:11:00Z
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Modi declares victory in India elections as opposition Congress Party concedes - CNN

In a victory speech at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in New Delhi, Narendra Modi said his win was a "guarantee of a bright future for the common people of this country."

"I want to bow my head before the 1.3 billion people of this country," he told throngs of cheering supporters on Thursday night. "This election is being fought by the people. If anyone has won, it is India. We dedicate this victory to the people of India."

At a press conference in New Delhi, the leader of the principal opposition Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, conceded that "the people of India have decided that Narendra Modi will be the next Prime Minister."

Although final results are still outstanding, data from India's election commission showed that Modi's ruling alliance, which needs 272 seats in the next parliament to form a government, was leading in 327 constituencies, giving his coalition a clear path to victory.

Full results are expected in the coming hours.

The results follows a polarizing election during which Modi and the BJP portrayed the incumbent less as an economic reformer -- the main message in the 2014 elections that first brought Modi to national office -- and more as a muscular nationalist firmly rooted in the Hindu right wing movement, a turn that made many liberals and minority Indians nervous.

The Congress, led by the scion of India's Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, struggled to make headway with voters.

The key challenge for Rahul Gandhi was to capitalize on the subdued economic mood to rebuild what was once a formidable national party machine that occupied the center-ground in Indian politics.

Trends show that this approach has failed.

Hindu-led campaign

India has a long history of sectarian violence, with members of the Hindu community, which accounts for some 80% of all Indians, often clashing with minority groups, among them the roughly 200 million Muslims who call the country home.

As a lifelong member of the Hindu rightwing movement, many members of which see India as an exclusively Hindu nation, Modi's rise has long fanned concerns about the erosion of India's secular foundations -- concerns that were front and center during the election.

A military standoff with Muslim majority Pakistan just weeks before polling was seen as boosting the BJP's campaign.

The trigger was a devastating terrorist attack on Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region in February. The bombing was followed by the first aerial confrontation between the countries in several decades, something that was held up by Modi's allies as proof that he was only leader who could effectively respond to terror threats that Delhi says emanate from Pakistani soil, a claim refuted by Islamabad.

In the charged electoral atmosphere, one of Modi's most prominent Hindu nationalist allies, the controversial Hindu ascetic turned chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, suggested that the Indian armed forces were in fact Modi's forces -- a remark that invited censure from India's electoral authorities, but which also underlined the thrust of the BJP campaign.

Meanwhile, the BJP named another controversial Hindu ascetic as one of its candidates in central India. Pragya Singh Thakur, who is currently facing terrorism charges connected to a bombing attack on Muslims several years ago, won the backing of the highest echelons of the BJP despite an uproar at her nomination. Thakur denies the charges, while the BJP has portrayed the case against her as a conspiracy by its opponents to tar the country's Hindu community.

Modi's victory

Above all, the BJP campaign presented the election as a binary choice for voters: Whether they were for or against Modi.

Backed by a ground campaign operation and publicity machine that has been years in the making, overseen by BJP president and Modi's closest political ally Amit Shah, Modi has successfully built a cult of personality that opposition parties, including the principal opposition Congress led by Gandhi, have struggled to counter.

Congress focused its campaign on what the party said were Modi's failures to deliver on the promises he made in 2014, principally on the economy. Instead, as an alternative, it promised minimum income guarantee for poor Indians, while also saying that it would work to protect India's diversity in the face of threats from divisive right wing Hindus.

Attempts were also made to cobble together a broad opposition alliance, bringing together regional parties opposed to the BJP, to take on the Modi juggernaut.

Yet these efforts seemed to have failed. Attention now turns to the priorities of the next Modi government, as the Indian economy, while still growing at relatively robust rates, faces a cocktail of issues: From a continuing youth jobs crisis, to indications of growing distress among India's farmers.

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2019-05-23 15:16:00Z
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'American Taliban' militant John Walker Lindh released from prison - Fox News

John Walker Lindh, the captured Islamic militant who at age 20 journeyed to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and fought alongside the terrorists in the days after 9/11,  was released from a U.S. federal prison in Indiana on Thursday, his lawyer confirmed to the Washington Post -- despite lawmakers' concerns about the “security and safety implications” of freeing an unrepentant terrorist who officials say continues to “openly call for extremist violence."

Lindh, dubbed the "American Taliban," had been serving his sentence at the Terre Haute, Indiana facility. He was discharged several years before completing the 20-year prison sentence he received for joining and supporting the Taliban, with officials citing "good behavior" for the early release. The former Islamist fighter and enemy combatant, named “Detainee 001 in the war on terror,” was captured alongside a group of Taliban fighters in 2001, just months after the Sept. 11 attacks and the start of the war in Afghanistan.

DAUGHTER OF AMERICAN KILLED AFTER SPEAKING WITH LINDH SLAMS UPCOMING EARLY RELEASE

As he reintegrates into American society, Lindh will have a set of heavy restrictions placed on him. Some lawmakers, however, question whether the safeguards are stringent enough.

“We must consider the security and safety implications for our citizens and communities who will receive individuals like John Walker Lindh, who continue to openly call for extremist violence,” Sens. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., wrote in a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons late last week and that was obtained by the Washington Post.

In the letter, the lawmakers reportedly sought details on how the agency is working to prevent prisoners such as Lindh from committing additional crimes after their release. They also asked which other “terrorist offenders” are next in line to be freed and how the Federal Bureau of Prisons determines whether or not someone is an “ongoing public threat.”

Lindh has been blamed for playing a role in the death of Johnny “Mike” Spann, a U.S Marine turned CIA paramilitary operative who became the first American to be killed in combat in Afghanistan. Spann’s daughter, Allison, told Fox News in March that Lindh’s early release “feels like such a slap in the face.”

LINDH IS SET TO BE RELEASED – SHOULD WE BE WORRIED?

In November 2001, U.S forces learned that an American – Lindh – was among the cluster of Taliban fighters left in limbo after their leader surrendered to the Northern Alliance in the northern Afghanistan province of Mazar-i-Sharif. Spann was the first to go into a compound there, serving as a prison, to interview Lindh, peppering him with questions about where he was from and what he was doing. But Lindh refused to respond.

“In those moments, when he chose to stay silent, he sealed his fate as a traitor to the United States,” Allison Spann said. “At any point, he could have warned him that something was being planned.”

Hours later, Lindh’s fellow detainees erupted in a violent revolt that left Mike Spann dead.

The initial charges leveled against the then 20-year-old Lindh in 2002 included one for murder conspiracy due to the role he played in the deadly prison rebellion.

However, nine of the ten counts in an indictment were then dropped and Lindh ended up pleading guilty to disobeying an executive order outlawing support to the Taliban and for possessing a weapon in Afghanistan.

Lindh at the time told a U.S. district judge he never intended to kill Americans.

“I did not go to fight against America, and I never did,” Lindh said, according to The Washington Post. “I have never supported terrorism in any form, and I never will … I made a mistake by joining the Taliban. Had I realized then what I know now, I would never have joined them.”

Sentencing reports have indicated that “good behavior” may serve as justification for Lindh’s early release.

A convert to Islam hailing from northern California’s Marin County, Lindh made the journey to Afghanistan after journeying through Yemen and Pakistan as a 19-year-old shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks. He underwent training in Kandahar and met with Al Qaeda chief Usama bin Laden on at least one occasion.

In 2017, the National Counterterrorism Center, according to documents obtained by Foreign Policy, underscored that Lindh continued to "advocate for global jihad and write and translate violent extremist texts."

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Furthermore, he is alleged to have told a TV producer last March that he would “continue to spread violent extremism Islam upon his release.”

When he leaves lockup, Lindh, according to court records viewed by the Washington Post, will need permission to obtain Internet-connected devices, will not be allowed to talk online in any language but English and will be barred from having a passport, among other restrictions.

Fox News' Greg Norman and Hollie McKay contributed to this report.

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2019-05-23 13:56:27Z
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'American Taliban' militant John Walker Lindh released from prison - Fox News

John Walker Lindh, the captured Islamic militant who at age 20 journeyed to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and fought alongside the terrorists in the days after 9/11,  was released from a U.S. federal prison in Indiana on Thursday, his lawyer confirmed to the Washington Post -- despite lawmakers' concerns about the “security and safety implications” of freeing an unrepentant terrorist who officials say continues to “openly call for extremist violence."

Lindh, dubbed the "American Taliban," had been serving his sentence at the Terre Haute, Indiana facility. He was discharged several years before completing the 20-year prison sentence he received for joining and supporting the Taliban, with officials citing "good behavior" for the early release. The former Islamist fighter and enemy combatant, named “Detainee 001 in the war on terror,” was captured alongside a group of Taliban fighters in 2001, just months after the Sept. 11 attacks and the start of the war in Afghanistan.

DAUGHTER OF AMERICAN KILLED AFTER SPEAKING WITH LINDH SLAMS UPCOMING EARLY RELEASE

As he reintegrates into American society, Lindh will have a set of heavy restrictions placed on him. Some lawmakers, however, question whether the safeguards are stringent enough.

“We must consider the security and safety implications for our citizens and communities who will receive individuals like John Walker Lindh, who continue to openly call for extremist violence,” Sens. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., wrote in a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons late last week and that was obtained by the Washington Post.

In the letter, the lawmakers reportedly sought details on how the agency is working to prevent prisoners such as Lindh from committing additional crimes after their release. They also asked which other “terrorist offenders” are next in line to be freed and how the Federal Bureau of Prisons determines whether or not someone is an “ongoing public threat.”

Lindh has been blamed for playing a role in the death of Johnny “Mike” Spann, a U.S Marine turned CIA paramilitary operative who became the first American to be killed in combat in Afghanistan. Spann’s daughter, Allison, told Fox News in March that Lindh’s early release “feels like such a slap in the face.”

LINDH IS SET TO BE RELEASED – SHOULD WE BE WORRIED?

In November 2001, U.S forces learned that an American – Lindh – was among the cluster of Taliban fighters left in limbo after their leader surrendered to the Northern Alliance in the northern Afghanistan province of Mazar-i-Sharif. Spann was the first to go into a compound there, serving as a prison, to interview Lindh, peppering him with questions about where he was from and what he was doing. But Lindh refused to respond.

“In those moments, when he chose to stay silent, he sealed his fate as a traitor to the United States,” Allison Spann said. “At any point, he could have warned him that something was being planned.”

Hours later, Lindh’s fellow detainees erupted in a violent revolt that left Mike Spann dead.

The initial charges leveled against the then 20-year-old Lindh in 2002 included one for murder conspiracy due to the role he played in the deadly prison rebellion.

However, nine of the ten counts in an indictment were then dropped and Lindh ended up pleading guilty to disobeying an executive order outlawing support to the Taliban and for possessing a weapon in Afghanistan.

Lindh at the time told a U.S. district judge he never intended to kill Americans.

“I did not go to fight against America, and I never did,” Lindh said, according to The Washington Post. “I have never supported terrorism in any form, and I never will … I made a mistake by joining the Taliban. Had I realized then what I know now, I would never have joined them.”

Sentencing reports have indicated that “good behavior” may serve as justification for Lindh’s early release.

A convert to Islam hailing from northern California’s Marin County, Lindh made the journey to Afghanistan after journeying through Yemen and Pakistan as a 19-year-old shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks. He underwent training in Kandahar and met with Al Qaeda chief Usama bin Laden on at least one occasion.

In 2017, the National Counterterrorism Center, according to documents obtained by Foreign Policy, underscored that Lindh continued to "advocate for global jihad and write and translate violent extremist texts."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Furthermore, he is alleged to have told a TV producer last March that he would “continue to spread violent extremism Islam upon his release.”

When he leaves lockup, Lindh, according to court records viewed by the Washington Post, will need permission to obtain Internet-connected devices, will not be allowed to talk online in any language but English and will be barred from having a passport, among other restrictions.

Fox News' Greg Norman and Hollie McKay contributed to this report.

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2019-05-23 13:34:54Z
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