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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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world lead
Iraq crisis: ISIS advances on Baquba as U.S. moves firepower to region
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) - As Islamic militants continue their murderous advance across Iraq, they have a new target in their sights: the city of Baquba, less than 40 miles north of Baghdad.
Gun battles erupted in the city, only a 45-minute drive from the capital, on Tuesday as fighters and Iraqi government forces clashed.
Civilians are fleeing violence there and elsewhere in Iraq even as the United States bolsters its manpower in the region while it mulls what action to take.
world lead
Extremists put Baghdad in their sights
The U.S. has bolstered security at the American embassy in Baghdad, adding between 50 and 100 marines and Army personnel, according to a U.S. official.
The Sstate Department strongly warns against all but essential travel to the country, adding that U.S. citizens in Iraq "remain at high risk for kidnapping and terrorist violence."
CNN international correspondent Nic Robertson reports.
world lead
Officials: No link between missing plane and 2001 hijack plot
(CNN) - As new clues bolster the theory that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was deliberately flown off course, the one nagging question for investigators, beyond where the plane ended up, is why anyone would do this?
Investigators have been able to rule out at least one possibility – that the plane was targeted by the same group behind a Malaysia hijack plot in 2001, officials tell CNN.
CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson reports.
world lead
Putin says gays 'can feel safe' at Sochi, but 'please leave our children in peace'
Sochi, Russia (CNN) - Russia's Vladimir Putin again sought to downplay fears that gay visitors will be discriminated against as he paid a visit to the Sochi area Friday, exactly three weeks before the Winter Olympics get under way.
Putin's remarks came as he met with volunteers for the games, the state-run Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The President said Russia, unlike some other countries, does not criminalize homosexual relationships.
world lead
Apollo Theatre ceiling collapses in London
London (CNN) - A rescue operation was under way Thursday after part of the ceiling in the Apollo Theatre in central London collapsed during a performance, initially trapping people inside and causing casualties, officials said.
Authorities responded to a report of a ceiling collapse at about 8:15 p.m., police said in a tweet.
Within an hour, a spokesman for the fire department said all of the people who had been hurt - estimated at 20 to 40 - had been freed from the building, which had held some 700 theatergoers.
