Amir Vera

Breaking News Editor

Amir Vera is a breaking news editor for CNN's Live News Team.
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Amir Vera
Amir Vera

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A cloud of smoke erupts during an Israeli air strike on the village of Sujud in southern Lebanon on September 25, 2024. Israel announced dozens of new air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on September 24, a day after 492 people, including 35 children, were killed in the deadliest bombardment since a devastating war in 2006. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP) (Photo by RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images)
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Rabih Daher/AFP/Getty Images
Live Updates September 26, 2024 Middle East conflict news
Sep 27, 2024
Israel carried out strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which it said killed a Hezbollah commander, as the US and allies call for a 21-day ceasefire. Follow for live news updates.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
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Live Updates September 26, 2024, presidential campaign news
Sep 27, 2024
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are racing to make their pitch to voters ahead of Election Day.
Left: Former U.S. President and current Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks about the economy, inflation, and manufacturing during a campaign event at Alro Steel on August 29 in Potterville, Michigan. Right: Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at the Enmarket Arena on August 29 in Savannah, Georgia.
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Live Updates September 6, 2024, presidential campaign news
Sep 7, 2024
With just days until the debate, Donald Trump is traveling to battleground North Carolina this afternoon while Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to continue to prepare for the event in Pennsylvania.
People attend a vigil at Jug Tavern Park following a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, U.S. September 4, 2024. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage
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Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters
Live Updates September 6 Georgia school shooting news
Sep 7, 2024
A 14-year-old Apalachee High School student and his father, who are both charged in connection with the mass shooting at the Georgia school, appeared in court Friday, both declining to enter a plea to the charges against them.
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Live Updates September 4 Georgia school shooting news
Sep 5, 2024
Two students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
Rikki Olds Boulder shooting victim
courtesy Bob Olds
These are the victims of the Boulder grocery store shooting
Aug 27, 2024
They are 10 people who went to the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, on March 22, 2021, and never returned. They were victims of yet another mass shooting in the United States, whose lives are still remembered by family and friends.
BOULDER, CO - MARCH 22: Shattered windows are shown in front of a King Soopers grocery store where a gunman opened fire on March 22, 2021 in Boulder, Colorado. Dozens of police responded to the afternoon shooting in which at least one witness described three people who appeared to be wounded, according to published reports. (Photo by Chet Strange/Getty Images)
Chet Strange/Getty Images
‘Gun, gun, gun! Run, run, run!’ Grocery store witnesses describe the deadly rampage in Colorado
Aug 27, 2024
“This feels like the safest spot in America, and I just nearly got killed for getting a soda and a bag of chips,” one shopper said.
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 03: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of the United States Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol March 3, 2015 in Washington, DC. During his speech, Netanyah said, "Today the Jewish people face yet another attempt by another Persian potentate to destroy us." (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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Win McNamee/Getty Images/File
Live Updates White House condemns antisemitism and violence at DC protests
Jul 25, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a defiant tone in his address Wednesday to the US Congress.
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Evan Vucci/AP
Live Updates July 16, 2024, coverage of the Trump assassination attempt
Jul 17, 2024
Three days after the assassination attempt, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are warning of the potential for violent “follow-on or retaliatory attacks, the agencies said in a joint statement.
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Live Updates July 2-3, 2024, Hurricane Beryl news
Jul 4, 2024
Hurricane Beryl, a strong Category 4 storm, is hammering Jamaica before heading toward the Cayman Islands.
A Red Cross convoy carrying Israeli and foreign hostages heads to Egypt from the Gaza Strip at the Rafah border crossing on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023
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Fatima Shbair/AP
Live Updates November 28, 2023 Israel-Hamas war
May 29, 2024
Twelve hostages, comprising 10 Israelis and two Thai citizens, were released by Hamas on Tuesday, according to officials. Thirty Palestinians were also freed from Israeli prisons, officials said.
Palestinians walk amidst the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City on November 26, 2023, on the third day of a truce between Israel and Hamas.
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Omar El-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images
Live Updates November 27, 2023 Israel-Hamas war
May 29, 2024
The first groups of Israelis and Palestinians have been released under a brokered agreement that brought a temporary halt to fighting in Gaza. Israel said it received a list of a second group to be freed Saturday — and it includes children, a source told CNN.
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Jabalia as seen from Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip on May 19, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant Hamas group.
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Stringer/AFP/Getty Images
Live Updates May 20, 2024 Israel-Hamas war
May 21, 2024
The Biden administration denounced efforts by the International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants for top Israeli officials and Hamas leaders, saying the court’s efforts put the terrorist organization and a top US ally on equivalent footing.
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 27: The funeral program for 1-year-old Davell Gardner Jr sits on a table at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church on July 27, 2020 in New York City. At the ceremony, local elected officials, activists, and clergy gathered to mourn the loss of Davell and condemn the gun violence responsible for his death at a Brooklyn cookout on July 12. (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)
Scott Heins/Getty Images
2 men charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy in New York
May 9, 2024
Dashawn Austin and Akeem Artis were two of 18 charged in a 63-count indictment for gang-related activity including multiple counts of murder and weapons charges.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 25: Columbia University students participate in an ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment on their campus following last week's arrest of more than 100 protesters on April 25, 2024 in New York City. In a growing number of college campuses throughout the country, student protesters are setting up tent encampments on school grounds to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and for their schools to divest from Israeli companies. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
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Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Live Updates April 30, 2024 - US university protests
May 1, 2024
Over 100 demonstrators were arrested at Columbia University and City College of New York after police cracked down on people protesting Israel’s war in Gaza.
PROTESTAS #1
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Live Updates April 29, 2024 - Columbia begins suspending student protesters
Apr 30, 2024
The deadline set by Columbia University for demonstrators to vacate an encampment there or face suspension has passed.

About

Vera was previously a writer on CNN Digital’s National News Desk where he reported on some of the biggest breaking news stories. He also wrote in-depth and explanatory features on the topics of race, culture, criminal justice and education. His reporting and commentary earned him a 2021 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Salute to Excellence Award in online features projects.

Prior to CNN, Vera worked at two Virginia newspapers – The Progress-Index in Petersburg and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk – where he won multiple awards from the Virginia Press Association and Society of Professional Journalists.

Vera is an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), and an alumnus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.