It seems a woman on death row in the state of georgia is about out of options. She was sentenced to death for convincing her lover to murder her husband. The u. S. Supreme court denied a last ditch stay of execution. Martin savage has been following the story and joins us live from atlanta. Just spring us up to speed with where things stand right now. Is she out of options . Does she have any more chances of reprieve on the state level . Just help us on where things stand . Yeah, they got thereon a number of different legal hurdles and also gone for the georgia parole board. There are very few options left. I wont say none. As long as shes alive her lawyers are going to hope theres some last ditch effort. First of all, they had to go through the parole and pardons board of georgia. There was a hearing held in the state. It lasted for a number of hours. There was system given, even by her own children. They said dont give her death, give her life in prison. That did not happen. That set up a whole series of legal actions taken up on the part of the legal team. What they were essentially arguing was number one, look, the coconspirator in this case, she is convicted of murdering her husband, but she didnt actually do the crime. That was done by her boyfriend. He had a separate trial. He had a lesser conviction. In fact, he got essentially life in prison with the opportunity for parole. She didnt actually carry out the deed, even though she planned it. She gets death. Many of those opposed to the Death Penalty says this shows you the flagrant discrepancies in the legal system here in the u. S. But time after time, whether it was the u. S. Georgia Supreme Court, whether it was the u. S. Supreme court, every one of those turned down. And now it appears her very last hope, which rested with the u. S. Supreme court which they went to not once, but twice to tonight, that appears to have failed as well. Ironically, she has been to this threshold, i guess you could say twice before. In february, they halted her execution due to bad weather. Then about a month later, they halted it again because they looked at the chemicals to be used and felt maybe they were cloudy and possibly wo wouldnt carry out the lethal execution. And now were to the threshold again. Some have said that is beyond what is considered fair and also humane in this case. But it appears theyre going to go forward with this execution. She would be the first woman executed in georgia in 70 years. John and aisha. Appreciate the update. I know youre going to stay on this for us. Stand by for us for some more perspective. Lets bring in lisa bloom who joins us now in the studio. Shes a trial lawyer and analyst with avo. Com. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Let me pick up on what martin just said. She would be the first woman to be executed in georgia in a number of years. She did not kill her husband. She would also be the first nontrigger person to be executed if this goes ahead. Many people dont understand why despite the appeal for clemency, the post intervening, the fact that shes turned her life around. The fact that her children have been begging for their life to be spared. Theyre not just her children, its the children of the victim. But they have turned her life around. All of that seems to have fallen on deaf ears, bowe in the georgia parole board and the Supreme Court on the if ted ral side, all the way up to the Georgia Court of appeals and the Supreme Court on the state side and theyve all been rejected. We have these live images outside the prison there. Jackson, georgia, many gathering outside to show their support. One thing which i find interesting, you mention the pope made this plea. Peter denied jesus three times. Here in the United States over the next 72 hourser the u. S. Will be denying the pope three time. He was here pleading for the sanctity of life and to spare people on death row. He made a personal plea for her here. What is behind this flurry of activity with prisoners being put to death it . s six over the next couple of weeks. Thats right. We still have the Death Penalty here in the u. S. 32 states still awe lie it, although 80 of people put to death in the u. S. Is just in three states florida, texas and missouri. But we still do it. Unfortunately the pope doesnt get a vote. The people of the county dont get a vote. Even the victims family members only have a limited say. Its up to the parole board. I want to also add that the victims other family members, other than his children, they are strongly in favor of the penalty. This is a fair penalty for the crime. Thats what they say. They say they have waited for 18 years, enough is enough. Shes had every possible appeal and she has to pay for what she did. And the sentence that was imposed by the judge must be carried out. We know that the European Union has banned the export of execution drugs to the United States. How is that impacting the application of the Death Penalty here . Thats a very interesting issue. Weve used all sorts of methods, hanging, fire squad, and now its generally lethal injection. And some places have had a real tough time executing prisoners because they cant get the medication and the drugs that they need. In fact, in the case of this very woman, one of the prior dates on which she was supposed to be executed was postponed because the medication was too cloudy. And so they decided to put it off. Now here she is many months later. Is there a problem for people of the United States that essentially theyre in the company of countries like china, like iraq, like saudi arabia, north korea, countries which routinely execute their own citizens. Listen, absolutely. And there are many antiDeath Penalty activists here in the United States that make that very argument. Make the argument that over 100 people on death row have been exonerated. Meaning proved innocent. How many of those who have been executed were actually innocent . To me, thats probably the strongest argument against the Death Penalty. Its irreversible. You cant fix it. Great to have you with us. Appreciate your insight. Thank you so much. Thank you. Now to another developing story, the u. S. Is pulling its spies out of china, following the hack on the u. S. Office of personnel management. A u. S. Official tells cnn, the country believes chinese hackers were behind the breach which exposed the personal data of more than 21 million u. S. Government workers. Justice correspondent evan perez joins us. How many intelligence agents do we know are impacted by this . Essentially how many are being pulled out of chien sna. Well, we dont know an exact number, but what we do know is that the chinese have a very good idea of who our u. S. Intelligence Agency Employees in beijing because they have so much data on who exactly really works for the state department. There are 21. 5 million employees of the u. S. Government whose data was stolen in this hack. And one of the things we been hearing for several months, john, has been that the cia was pretty confident that their data was not stolen. The nsa was pretty confident their data was not stolen. Well, the problem is that now the chinese have a very good idea. They have a roster of everybody who works at the state department. And because of that, they can verse engineer a list of people who arent on their list, and they can figure out who works for the cia, the nsa, the Defense Intelligence agency. So all of these people are going to have to be pulled out, simply because their data will now be will now be found out by chinese. Yeah, process of elimination, essentially. So longterm, though, how hard will it be to replace these agents . They have a vast universe of data on u. S. Government workers. They know whos gone through the process of getting security clearance and it takes years to train people to be able to go to a place like china. They have to have some familiarity with the country. It takes years to train these people. Soo the fear im hearing from intelligence officials here in the United States is that for years, the chinese are going to have a pretty good idea of who is working for the cia and other Intelligence Agency, and theyre going to have to figure out other ways to get human intelligence from them. Evan perez on the line from washington thank you. Thank you. Well, this all comes after u. S. President barack obama met with chinese president x xi jianping in the United States. Online espionage is one of the topics they discussed. I know were working to get Chinese Government reaction to this development. But today, whats been the chinese goths position on this hacking of the u. S. Governments Personnel Office . They have time and time again, this is certainly not a statesponsored hacking. Hacking of any kind for commercial property. We saw that deal last week. Going to the United States, the Chinese Government released a statement saying blaming them for the hack is not responsible and counterproductive. But as you say, we havent got any official word today. There is a ministry of Foreign Affairs briefing later. Were going to be asking questions for you there. Aisha . As you mentioned, there was a deal struck or an understanding w reached during president xis first state visit last week. The question many has is, the details of that understanding, and is any agreement likely to stick . What they agreed on was they dont indulge in any cyberespionage related to intellectual property. The theft of corporate ideas which would please, of course, businesses which have long been complaining about cyberhacking coming from china again. Having said that, it doesnt cover, of course, traditional Cyber Espionage. Last week when i was reporting on this, i spoke with an expert at Toronto University monk school who said the United States is one of the best, if not the best, intelligence gatherers of information in the cyber world itself. And that is the main Sticking Point between china and the United States. Everyone knows that everyone is doing it. How far do you go. And what are the limits . China says we know the u. S. Is doing this and why dont we . Thats why it might not stick for longs the u. S. Wants it to. Very, very interesting. Interesting perspective there. Thank you. A short break here on qcnn newsroom. The u. S. And coo bah breaking the ground work for better relations. A look at what each side wants from the other. Plus, Donald Trumps tax plan is getting trashed by his opponent. The issues they have with the business moguls proposal just ahead. 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Headquarters today. Outside the building, traditionally, only Member States flags are on display outside the u. N. Tower. The Palestinian Authority has nonmember observer stall tus and the palestinians see this as another step towards cementing a place within the international community. We have been talking to israelis and palestinians about their reaction to the flag raising. How much significance are people attaching to this flag raising. This is a proud moment for palestinians. But they say this has to last more than a moment. This has to be followed by concrete steps towards a palestinian state. Its a proud moment for israelis. Different reactions there. Some who support a twostate solution and some who do not. Symbols can carry tremendous significance. Perhaps no symbol stirs up more emotions and controversy than the palestinian flag. Youll see the flag in bethlehem in the west bank and now youll find the palestinian flag at the United Nations. The palestinian flag will be raised at the United Nations. What does that mean to you . It means thats what it means for us as a pill stanni stannians. That maybe this is the beginning to get the freedom. Its the first step forward. I hope it will be followed. We dont want to see only flag. What does it change here . In essence nothing much in theory or geology. It means that people are beginning to recognize us. If the flag doesnt support strong, its only color. Twe asked the israelis the same question. The palestinian flag will be raised at the u. N. For the first time. What do you think about that . I dont agree with that. Im very happy for that, and i hope it means that its only a beginning for something more than initial action. They have had many opportunities to bring peace to the land, to flourish. Our leaders have offered them amazing deals. And i feel that at this point in time to give them any credence in the world audience is totally insulting to humanity. So for palestinians a very significant flag raising on their path towards recognition of a palestinian state. But again, they say this has to be followed up by concrete action perhaps at the security council. Thank you orrin. U. S. President barack obama and his cuban counterpart are discussing how to improve relations. They met at the u. N. On tuesday. Raul castro says it must lift i its embargo on cuba and end guantanamo bay. The more cuba does to improve its mu man rights record, the more compromises the u. S. Will make. You are here with us on set, which is great to see. Thank you. Lets go back to what i can say is almost a standoff now between obama and castro. Obama is saying youll get the embargo lifted, more things that improve in cuba, castro is unlikely to make any big bold changes that will threaten his grip on power. My read is were coming to a stall between relations between u. S. And cuba. It could be a stall but it could also be a slow and steady climb. The seminal moment, talks arent proceeding as fast as people thought they were. That being said, progress has been made on trade issues, Civil Aviation agreements are under way and talks are under way in that front. But there are many issues that president obama and the white house simply cannot touch because of the u. S. Embargo under congressional control. And so that remains to be seen. I think the president probably tried to telegraph as much as possible in his meeting with raul castro that h hes limited in his powers. Congress wont move until castro moves. Its possible that congress may move but they may wait until after the election or next year, especially with senator rubio and his showing so far in the polls. If he is a nominee, this is an issue that he along with the Republican Party will try to preserve as far as their animous with opening ties to cuba. Lets talk about what the president can or cannot do. You talk about limitations because of congress. The Cuban Foreign minister rodriguez says he could do more to ease the impact of the embargo by using his executive action. What can he do . Right, exactly. I think were going to see those types of actions taking place next week via the commerce secretary going to havana. And we continuously have the talks taking place between the u. S. State department and the Cuban Foreign ministry. And those are proceeding well, albeit slowly. So there are executive actions and orders that president obama can take in the arenas of trade, allowing u. S. Telecommunication industry to go in more firmly. Aviation agreements. We seen this obviously with the excitement over travel potentially increasing. And obviously the lifting or softening of visa restrictions for u. S. Tourists. But there are other arenas in which the president simply cannot act. What i found interesting is that the cuban leader wants compensation for the 53 em forward goeed. Theyre putting a price tag on that. Theres not a snowball chance of that happening, right . Snowball chance. Obviously the president has made this an issue since he campaigned for