5 Things for Thursday, March 23: London Attack, Russia, Health Care Bill

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 3/23/2017, 10:14 a.m.
Here's what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
UK police are investigating a "firearms incident" near the British Parliament in London

By Doug Criss

CNN

(CNN) -- Here's what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.

1. London attack

Seven people were arrested in raids this morning as police investigate London's deadliest terror attack in more than a decade. The car-and-knife attack near Parliament left three people dead -- a police officer, a woman in her mid-40s and a man in his mid-50s. At least 40 people were injured. The attacker, who UK officials think was inspired by ISIS, ran over pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing his car near Parliament and trying to enter the building. He was shot to death. London is still in shock today as officials fret over how to stop low-tech attacks involving something as mundane as a car.

2. Russia investigation

The FBI has information that indicates associates of President Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign, US officials told CNN. Neither the White House nor the FBI have commented. And that wasn't the day's only bombshell. House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, a Republican, stunned everyone when he revealed that communications of Trump and his associates may have been picked up post-election by intel agencies spying on foreign targets. Nunes rushed to brief the President -- before telling members of his own committee. Now Democrats are ticked, saying Nunes put a "cloud" over the investigation. Trump says he feels partially vindicated in his claims that he was being watched.

3. Health care bill

The House votes today on the GOP health care bill, and it's anyone's guess at this point if it will pass. Some 24 Republicans, most of them members of the uber-conservative House Freedom Caucus, have said they won't vote for it. That's enough to defeat the bill, so the White House and GOP leaders are in wheel-and-deal mode, trying to sweeten the pot by promising to strip out things like prescription drug coverage and mental health benefits. And now the Koch brothers have gotten in the game, promising millions of dollars to the 2018 campaign of any House GOP member who votes no on the bill.

4. Racial stabbing

A Baltimore man walked into a police station in New York and made a stunning announcement: he had stabbed a man to death on a Manhattan street simply because the victim was black. Police say the suspect had harbored feelings of hate toward black men for a decade before he caught a bus from Maryland, scoped out a target and stabbed his victim, who was rummaging through garbage, several times in the back.

5. Rivers

"Ol' Man River" isn't just a song anymore. India is now the second country to give human status to a river. It's the latest move in a long-running fight against pollution. An Indian court declared the Yamuna and Ganges rivers "living entities" on the grounds the waterways are "losing their very existence." The move comes a week after New Zealand gave the Whanganui River "all the corresponding right, duties and liabilities of a legal person." In both cases, guardians were appointed to speak for the rivers, which provide water to millions and have deep spiritual meaning for those who live nearby.

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