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Don Lemon appeared on CNN Thursday evening to let viewers know that he found the idea that Jussie Smollett staged the assault against him to be increasingly credible.On set with Chris Cuomo, Lemon said that if Smollett was guilty he should confess and plead for mercy and forgiveness.“It’s hard to see how this would indeed be a set-up,” Lemon said. “I say if it is true, confess. Throw yourself on the mercy of the court, and of the people, and then see where that leads you.”Also Read: Jussie Smollett 'Feels Betrayed,' Legal System 'Wants to Skip Due Process,' Actor's Reps SayCuomo agreed.“If you screwed up and did this, own it. You want to say why you did it this way, do that, but you’re not helping the cause,” he said. “I’ll tell you that right now, there’s a lot of truth that’s going to get covered up by one untruth.”Also Read: Jussie Smollett Returns to 'Empire' Set After Posting Bail in False Police Report CaseAfter news of the alleged attack was first reported, Lemon swiftly became one of Smollett’s staunchest defenders on air and in private. Earlier this month, he told Entertainment Tonight that he texted Smollett every day after to check up on him.“So every day I say… ‘I know you think I’m annoying you, but I just want to know how you’re doing. And that you’re OK. And that if you need somebody you can talk to me because there’s not a lot of us out there,'” Lemon said. “Sometimes he responds, sometimes he doesn’t. He responded and said, ‘You are not annoying.'”Also Read: See Jussie Smollett's Mug Shot (Photo)Smollett was taken into custody by Chicago police on Thursday and is currently facing a felony charge of filing a false police report. He was released the same day after posting $100,000 bond. In a press conference, Chicago police superintendent Eddie T. Johnson laced into Smollett, saying the “Empire” star fabricated the hate crime because he was unhappy about his salary on the show.“Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career,” Johnson said. “Bogus police reports cause real harm. They do harm to every legitimate victim who is in need of support by police and investigators as well as the citizens of this city … I’m offended by what happened and I am also angry.”For his part, Smollett has continued to profess his innocence.“Today we witnessed an organized law enforcement spectacle that has no place in the American legal system,” a statement put out on his behalf read. “The presumption of innocence, a bedrock in the search for justice, was trampled upon at the expense of Mr. Smollett and notably, on the eve of a Mayoral election. Mr. Smollett is a young man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence and feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing.”Read original story Don Lemon to Jussie Smollett: If Charges Are True, ‘Confess, Throw Yourself on the Mercy of the Court’ At TheWrap

"This is going to be an especially chaotic time," said the host of "CuomoPrime Time

The 38-year-old is one of many Venezuelans suffering from malnutrition as the once-prosperous, oil-rich OPEC nation has seen its economy halve in size over the last five years under President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuelans' diets have become ever more deficient in vitamins and protein, as currency controls restrict food imports and salaries fail to keep apace with inflation that is now above 2 million percent annually. Growing malnutrition is one of the reasons Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido has moved ahead with his plans to bring supplies of food and medicine into Venezuela by land and sea on Saturday, despite resistance from Maduro.

Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’’s crown prince, on Friday defended China’s use of concentration camps for Muslims, saying it was Beijing’s “right”. "China has the right to carry out anti-terrorism and de-extremisation work for its national security,” Prince Mohammed, who has been in China signing multi-million trade deals much to the annoyance of his Western allies, was quoted as saying on Chinese state television. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, told the crown prince the two countries must strengthen international cooperation on de-radicalisation to “prevent the infiltration and spread of extremist thinking”. China has detained an estimated one million Uighur Muslims in concentration camps, where they are undergoing re-education programmes allegedly intended to combat extremism. The Uighur are an ethnic Turkic group that practices Islam and lives in Western China and parts of Central Asia. Beijing has accused the minority in its Western Xinjiang region of supporting terrorism and implemented a surveillance regime. Uighur groups had appealed to Saudi’s powerful young prince to take up their cause, as the ultraconservative kingdom has traditionally been a defender of the rights of Muslims worldwide. But Muslim leaders have so far not broached the issue with China, which has in recent years become an important trading partner with the Middle East. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, became the first to condemn Beijing, however, describing China's treatment of its Uighur population as "a great cause of shame for humanity" last month and asking it to close the "concentration camps". Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had once accused China of "genocide" but has since established closer diplomatic and economic relations with Beijing. Imran Khan, prime minister of Pakistan, where Prince Salman has just visited, said he “did not know” much about the conditions of the Uighurs.

Step aside Kris Jenner ― the Kardashians have a new momager in town