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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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world lead
Russia troop increase at Ukraine border raises concerns
Donetsk, Ukraine (CNN) - A new buildup of Russian troops along the Ukraine border raised concerns Tuesday that Moscow might be contemplating another intervention like the one that annexed Crimea earlier this year.
According to a NATO official, Russia now has about 20,000 troops stationed "in an area along the entire border with eastern Ukraine." The buildup nearly doubled the troop deployment in the last week by adding 8,000 more forces to 12,000 already there, the official said.
national lead
Obama, Perry meet in Texas amid 'urgent humanitarian situation'
(CNN) – President Barack Obama arrived Wednesday in Texas to discuss the immigration surge there, but he had no plans to visit the border area at the epicenter of what his administration labels an urgent humanitarian problem.
The trip to the Lone Star State includes Democratic Party fundraising events, and after some political squabbling, a meeting with Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who greeted Obama at the airport in Fort Worth after originally declining such an encounter.
buried lead
A former president's steamy affair with his neighbor's wife
Washington (CNN) – Long before computers or televisions existed, a man who would become a U.S. senator and then president started an affair with his neighbor's wife.
Even telephones were relatively new back then, so Warren Harding wrote Carrie Phillips smoldering love letters during their 15-year relationship that ended prior to his inauguration in 1921.
"I love you more than all the world, and have no hope of reward on Earth or hereafter, so precious as that in your dear arms, in your thrilling lips, in your matchless breasts, in your incomparable embrace," said a 1910 letter first revealed in the book "The Harding Affair" by James David Robenalt.
national lead
Supreme Court rules against Obama in contraception case
Washington (CNN) - Some corporations have religious rights, a deeply divided Supreme Court decided Monday in ruling that certain for-profit companies cannot be required to pay for specific types of contraceptives for their employees.
The 5-4 decision on ideological lines ended the high court's term with a legal and political setback for a controversial part of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law.
politics lead
Obama prepared to send military advisers to Iraq
(CNN) – President Barack Obama said on Thursday he's prepared to send up to 300 military advisers to Iraq to "assess how we can best train, advise and support Iraqi security forces."
Obama added that "American forces will not be returning to combat" but will help Iraqis "take the fight to terrorists who threaten the Iraqi people, the region and American interests as well."
