the region. also important to note, most of those embassies and consulates typically closed on friday and today. they would normally be open tomorrow. it would prevent people standing in long visa lines outside as targets, something that could put more people at risk. emily, the anniversary of benghazi coming up next month, talk about how that s feeding the caution in what you see in how the administration is handling this. you think about that deadly attack in benghazi, almost a year ago, september 11th, 2012. that, of course, was when we saw the deadly effects of the an attack on the u.s. there were four americans killed there, including u.s. aem bass dror christopher stevens. and after that the obama administration was criticized for not taking the threats seriously enough when it happened. officials say this time, they re acting out what they call an abun kansas dance of reaction. what s the reaction on this,
new england patriots tight end said he is not guilty. he wrote when he s exonerated, quote, all the people who turned on me will feel like crap. a ninth woman is accusing bob filner of sexual harassment of. emily gilbert a marilyn monroe impersonator. she said the 70-year-old inappropriately touched her. on monday, he will take a two-week hiatus from what he said. ariel castro has been moved from a cleveland jail to a maximum security prison in graphton, ohio. he ll be kept in isolation at least for now. a judge sentenced castro to life to up to 1,000 years on thursday. a federal grand jury wants to know if the government s largest security background check rushed its review of nsa leaker edward snowdenen. that s according to the wall
good morning, everyone. i m brianna keilar. oh, lindsay. i m victor blackwell. 7:00 here at cnn headquarters. this new day saturday. we re starting on a serious note. the reminder that al qaeda is still throughout and still a threat. that s right, the u.s. is worried that al qaeda could strike again. prompting it to close almost two dozen embassies and consulates. late details from cnn s emily schmidt in washington. emily, what led the obama administration to pull the trigger on these embassy closings? victor and brianna, it came as a result of a big uptick in chatter. officials have been tracking this chatter for weeks, maybe the last few months, but in the past few days they say that chatter increased. they really believe the yemeni-based al qaeda in the arabian peninsula could be on attack. they re concerned about the next few days. ramadan is entering its final
day. the embassy closing is officially scheduled for sunday, but we re told it could be extended. it includes western and u.s. targets and that worldwide travel alert which was issued separately and certainly in conjunction with this extends through august 31st. emily, we ve got a map that we want to put up to show you and our viewers. if you would, just talk about just how much of an area this covers. a lot of ground covered here. yeah, you take a look at that. i mean, you re talking about nearly two dozen embassies and consulates. a huge area. all of that in yellow. but if you look closely, you see yemen almost right in the middle. one official says that threat really appears to be centered right there, coming from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. the threat is considered credible, officials say are taking it very seriously. but here s the problem, it s not official proof of what could be planned. cover those two embassies and consulates, really concerned about u.s. personnel a