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  1. French culture minister calls urgent meeting after television network TV5Monde was taken over by individuals claiming to belong to Islamic State Angelique Chrisafis in Paris and Samuel Gibbs Thursday 9 April 2015 13.22 BST The French culture minister has called an urgent meeting of media groups to assess their vulnerability to hacking after the television network TV5Monde was taken over by individuals claiming to belong to Islamic State, blacking out broadcasts and hacking its websites and Facebook page. Visiting the network’s headquarters in Paris after the attack, Fleur Pellerin said she would bring together all heads of big French TV companies as well as newspaper groups and the news agency Agence France-Presse within 24 hours “to assure myself of their vulnerable points, any risks that exist and the best way to deal with it”. The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said an inquiry had been opened and that France had already increased its anti-hacking measures to protect against cyber-attacks following January’s gun attacks on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and the bloody hostage taking at a Kosher grocery store in Paris, which left 17 people dead. The Socialist prime minister, Manuel Valls, called the attack on TV5Monde “an unacceptable insult to freedom of information and expression” and expressed his support for the editorial staff in a tweet. For three hours on Wednesday night, between 10pm and 1am, all broadcasts were brought down in a blackout by hackers claiming allegiance to Isis. The hackers were able to seize control of the television network, simultaneously hacking 11 channels as well as its website and social media accounts. The hackers posted documents on TV5Monde’s Facebook page purporting to be the identity cards and CVs of relatives of French soldiers involved in anti-Isis operations, along with threats against the troops. “Soldiers of France, stay away from the Islamic State! You have the chance to save your families, take advantage of it,” read one message on TV5Monde’s Facebook page. “The CyberCaliphate continues its cyberjihad against the enemies of Islamic State,” the message added. TV5Monde had regained control of its social networks by 2am on Thursday but said television broadcasts were likely to take hours, if not days, to return to normal. On Thursday morning, the station had restored its signal but was still only able to broadcast pre-recorded material. The network’s director general, Yves Bigot, said its systems had been severely damaged by the unprecedented attack. He said hacking on this scale would have needed weeks of preparation. He said: “When you work in television and you hear that your 11 channels have been blacked out, it’s one of the most violent things that can happen to you. At the moment, we’re trying to analyse what happened: how this very powerful cyber-attack could happen when we have extremely powerful and certified firewalls.” The attack appears to have been orchestrated by the Isis hacking division, which took credit for alleged attacks resulting in the leak of personal information from US military personnel in March, prompting an investigation by the Pentagon. It is likely the hackers gained entry into the corporate network of TV5Monde, which would then have given them access to the channel’s camera and broadcast control systems, allowing them to take the station offline. The message on the TV5Monde website had read in part “I am IS” with a banner by a group that called itself Cybercaliphate. That was replaced later on Thursday by a simple message saying it was undergoing maintenance. A group with the same name hacked Newsweek’s Twitter feed in February. The hackers of TV5Monde had accused the French president, François Hollande, of having committed “an unforgivable mistake” by getting involved in “a war that serves no purpose”. “That’s why the French received the gifts of Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher in January,” it said on the broadcaster’s Facebook page, referring to the bloody twin attacks by Islamist gunmen in Paris which traumatised France. France is part of a US-led military coalition carrying out air strikes against Isis in Iraq and Syria, where the jihadist group has seized swaths of territory and declared an Islamic “caliphate”. More than 1,500 French nationals have joined the militants’ ranks, where they represent almost half the number of European fighters present, according to a report released on Wednesday by the French senate. TV5Monde, which calls itself the “worldwide French cultural channel”, broadcasts programmes produced in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada, as well as movies, news and other programmes. It is broadcast in more than 200 countries worldwide. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/09/french-tv-network-tv5monde-hijacked-by-pro-isis-hackers
  2. Deal is ‘best option so far’ to stop Tehran developing nuclear weapon John Boehner says Congress must review details before sanctions are lifted Sabrina Siddiqui in New York and Paul Lewis in Washington Friday 3 April 2015 08.20 BST Barack Obama has praised a “historic agreement” over Iran’s nuclear programme, shortly after a tentative framework was announced that would lift international sanctions on Iran in exchange for new limits on Iran’s nuclear capabilities. In remarks delivered from the Rose Garden at the White House, a defiant Obama characterised the deal as “the best option so far” to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. But Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu was fiercely critical, telling Obama that his country “vehemently opposes” the deal. “This has been a long time coming,” Obama said. “It is a good deal, a deal that meets our core objectives … If this framework leads to a final, comprehensive deal, it will make our country, our allies and our world safer.” The framework, the culmination of marathon talks between world leaders in Lausanne, provides the basis for a more comprehensive nuclear agreement that is to be reached by 30 June. Obama acknowledged the work was far from complete and that there would be “a robust debate in the weeks and months to come”. But he emphasised the need to resolve the matter through diplomacy, and said that pulling out now would risk another military conflict in the Middle East. “If we can get this done, and Iran follows through on the framework that our negotiators agreed to, we will be able to resolve one of the greatest threats to our security, and to do so peacefully,” Obama said. Under the tentative agreement, restrictions will be placed on Iran’s enrichment of nuclear material so that it cannot lead to atomic weapons. In return, the US and European Union will terminate all nuclear-related economic sanctions on Iran once the UN nuclear agency confirms that Iran has complied. The White House said Obama spoke separately on Wednesday with François Hollande, Angela Merkel and David Cameron to discuss the framework. The leaders agreed that while nothing is final, the framework represents “significant progress”, the White House said. Back home, Obama faces mounting opposition from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, particularly Republicans who control both chambers of Congress. In recent months, the GOP has sought to undermine the talks while positioning itself as a close ally of Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu – who has been at loggerheads with Obama over US efforts to secure a nuclear deal with Iran’s. Obama phoned Netanyahu on Thursday to discuss the nuclear agreement, according to the White House. In a statement, a spokesperson said that the Obama emphasised that the US “remains steadfast in [its] commitment to the security of Israel.” Netanyahu told Obama that Israel “vehemently opposes” the framework deal. In a statement released after his conversation with the US president he said: “A deal that is based on this framework will threaten Israel’s existence ... The alternative is to stand firmly and increase pressure on Iran until a better deal is reached.” The Israeli PM is convening senior ministers on Friday to discuss the deal. During his speech, Obama took a thinly veiled shot at Republicans over a letter 47 of their senators sent to the Iranian leadership warning that any deal could be overturned by Congress or a future president. “This is not simply a deal between my administration and Iran,” Obama said. “The issues at stake are bigger than politics,” Obama said. “These are matters of war and peace.” Obama also addressed criticism that concessions have largely been one-sided, favouring only Iran. “Iran is not going to simply dismantle its programme because we demand it to do so. That’s not how the world works, and that’s not what history shows us,” Obama said, adding that if the US rejected what “the majority of the world considers a fair deal”, it would be doubtful that the country could even keep in place its current international sanctions. In a further nod to his sceptics, Obama pointed out that Iran will face “the most robust and intrusive inspections and transparency regime ever negotiated for any nuclear programme in history”. “If Iran cheats, the world will know it,” he said. “This deal is not based on trust. It’s based on unprecedented verification.” Amid criticism that his administration has not adequately engaged US lawmakers on the negotiations, Obama said he planned to speak with congressional leaders and would welcome cooperation from Congress. But he implored legislators to act in the interest of national security, and not politics. “If Congress kills this deal, not based on expert analysis and without offering any reasonable alternative, then it is the United States that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy,” Obama said. “International unity will collapse and the path to conflict will widen.” Republicans showed little interest in heeding Obama’s call, offering swift criticism of the framework and signalling a battle ahead. “The parameters for a final deal represent an alarming departure from the White House’s initial goals,” John Boehner, the House speaker, said in a statement. “My longtime concerns about the parameters of this potential agreement remain, but my immediate concern is the administration signalling it will provide near-term sanctions relief. Congress must be allowed to fully review the details of any agreement before any sanctions are lifted.” Boehner, who recently led a GOP delegation to the Middle East to meet with allies in the region, added that “it would be naive to suggest the Iranian regime will not continue to use its nuclear programme, and any economic relief, to further destabilise the region.” Democrats also remained circumspect of the deal but reserved judgment pending further review of the details. Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, said he had spoken with Obama and was “cautiously optimistic” about the framework. “We must always remain vigilant about preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon but there is no question that a diplomatic solution is vastly preferable to the alternatives,” Reid said in a statement. “Now is the time for thoughtful consideration, not rash action that could undermine the prospects for success.” http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/02/barack-obama-historic-agreement-iran-core-objectives
  3. GOP senator to announce run Tuesday in Louisville, Kentucky, before touring primary states, hoping to convince voters of an unusual mix of political views Paul Lewis in Washington @PaulLewis Tuesday 7 April 2015 07.58 BST Republican senator Rand Paul will formally launch his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday, hoping an unorthodox and somewhat diluted libertarian campaign will lure a new generation of GOP voters without repelling the party’s conservative base. Paul will launch his campaign for the White House in Louisville, the largest city in his home state of Kentucky, in front of thousands of activists and reporters in an opulent, 23,000-sq-ft ballroom. The senator is attempting the kind of dance rarely attempted in American politics: reassuring Republican primary voters of his conservative credentials while appealing to some on the left who are drawn to his stances on criminal justice, privacy and foreign policy. Paul wants to be the candidate that wins Christian evangelicals one day and college students who want to liberalise drug laws the next. Many party insiders believe that may be an impossibly complex path to the White House. But no one is yet ruling out the former ophthalmologist, who has done more than any other senior figure in his party to build legislative alliances with Democrats and has even attempted to court some of their voters, from African Americans to the denizens of Silicon Valley. Paul topped the presidential straw poll of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) for the third time this year, and polling puts him among the early frontrunners in both Iowa and New Hampshire. After the launch in Kentucky, Paul is scheduled to begin an expensive and ambitious tour across the early primary states: New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada. He will later head to California, for private meetings with west coast donors. Each stop will involve a different speech based around a key political theme, carefully orchestrated to either exploit Paul’s strengths or address his perceived weaknesses as he lays down a marker as a serious contender for his party’s nomination. Analysis from Republican insiders in the early nomination states suggests Paul is already viewed among the top tier of Republican presidential aspirants such as former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Florida senator Marco Rubio. He is especially well-placed to make a mark in New Hampshire, a state with strong libertarian tendencies where the rules permit voters outside the GOP to cast a ballot in the primary. He is not expected to do as well in socially conservative South Carolina, which he visits on Thursday. That stop will be about addressing Paul’s achilles heel: the perception among Republicans that the senator’s libertarian political ideals would render him a weak commander-in-chief. Aides believe the reputation is an unwarranted inheritance from his father, Ron Paul. The former congressman, who twice sought the Republican presidential nomination, is loathed by Republican military hawks for his anti-war, non-interventionist approach to American nation-building. Rand Paul therefore needs to distance himself from this father’s radical foreign policy, without alienating the large and committed base of libertarian activists Ron Paul cultivated during a lifetime in politics. In South Carolina, Paul will talk about national security in front of the USS Yorktown, a giant decommissioned warship from the second world war. It is the kind of militaristic backdrop that would make some of his father’s more trenchant supporters squeal, but Paul’s campaign team evidently believes the caricature of the Kentucky senator as a dove on foreign policy warrants some unambiguous messaging. The recent spate of national security crises, from the Russia-Ukraine conflict to the sudden rise of the Islamic State, have elevated foreign policy discussions among the Republican base and increased its thirst for a president willing to flex America’s military muscle. Texas senator Ted Cruz, who last month became the first Republican to formally enter the race for the party’s presidential nomination, and is competing for some of Paul’s traditional base support, is positioning himself as a Tea Party hawk. For Paul, looking to chart an untested path to the Republican nomination – and, later, the White House – success may rely on his own discipline. He will need to sidestep the kind of awkward questions that could repel either the GOP base or the younger, less partisan voters he is trying to bring under his wing. The last week has been a case in point. When controversy broke out over the Indiana law that critics said would be used to discriminate against LGBT people, Bush, Cruz, Rubio and Walker all backed the state’s Republican governor, Mike Pence. Two days later, when the historic nuclear deal with Iran was unveiled in Switzerland, the same four presidential hopefuls were quick to condemn the agreement. Paul, who was supposedly vacationing in in Kentucky, avoided taking a stance on either issue, thereby avoiding the kind of base-pandering remarks that would have alienated supporters who are not hardcore GOP activists. That kind of strategic tap dance is what could make him the most interesting Republican to watch. Senator Rand Paul in Oxon Hill, Maryland, last month. Photograph: Mike Theiler/Reuters http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/06/rand-paul-launches-2016-presidential-campaign
  4. Mating session between Xi Mei and Lu Lu lasted 18 minutes and three seconds and was welcomed by researchers who have struggled to get pandas to breed in captivity By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney, video source YouTube / iPandaChannel 11:01AM BST 05 Apr 2015 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11516700/Giant-pandas-in-China-set-record-for-longest-recorded-sex-session.html
  5. Investigators find tablet computer at Andreas Lubitz’s apartment as French prosecutors say second black box found at crash site Ben Knight Thursday 2 April 2015 19.10 BST Andreas Lubitz, the Germanwings co-pilot believed to have deliberately crashed flight 4U9525 last week, did online research into cockpit doors and suicide methods in the days leading up to the crash, according to Düsseldorf prosecutors. As French investigators announced they had found the second black box recorder from the wrecked plane, Ralf Herrenbrück, the German prosecutors’ press spokesman, said the a tablet computer found in the co-pilot’s flat had been analysed. “The browser history had not been deleted, in particular search terms called up using this device in the time from 16 March to 23 March 2015 could be reconstructed,” Thursday’s statement from Herrenbrück said. “According to these, the user was, on the one hand, looking into medical treatments and, on the other, learning about the different methods and possibilities of committing suicide.” On at least one day, according to the statement, Lubitz had spent several minutes entering search terms about cockpit doors and their security arrangements. The user name, personal correspondence and search terms found on the tablet all appeared to confirm that the device belonged to Lubitz, Herrenbrück said. He added that they would not be releasing the exact search terms used and that the device was still being examined. At a press conference in France, the second since the crash, French public prosecutor Brice Robin confirmed that the second black box, the digital flight data recorder (DFDR) had been found. “The second black box, the DFDR, was found by a female gendarme from Chamonix,” he said. “This box was the same colour as the rock. It was found to the left of a ravine that had already searched but it was embedded. It had to be dug out. It had obviously been in the fire, because it is charred, however, its general state leads us to hope there is a possibility that it can be exploited.” Robin said the DFDR would normally contain 500 registered flight recordings, of speed, altitude, motors and other technical data that he said were “vital ... for finding out the truth” of the Airbus A320 crash. The flight recorder was flown to Paris on Thursday evening to be sent for examination by experts at the French air accident investigation bureau (BEA). “It will give us all the details of the flight itself from its departure from Barcelona to the crash and, above all, the actions of the pilot,” Robin said. “It will tell us if there was only one pilot operating at the time of the crash ... it’s a complement to us understanding the final minutes of this flight.” Robin said the evidence appeared to confirm that Lubitz was alive and conscious right until the end and had acted twice in response to two speed alarms. The prosecutor said 40 mobile telephones had been found in the wreckage, all of them in a “very bad state”. This information came 24 hours after Paris Match magazine claimed it had seen a video from a mobile phone sim card made by a passenger in the final moments of the doomed flight. Robin told journalists that search teams had found 2,285 DNA strands giving 150 different “profiles”. “This doesn’t mean we have identified all the 150 victims and I stress this point. We have to compare this postmortem DNA with the DNA of these people before they died provided by the families. This work will begin as soon as possible next week. “At each identification, the victim’s family will be notified, I promise that,” he said. However, he warned that the return of body parts could only happen when all 150 victims had been identified and following a meeting of all the legal, civil and judicial authorities “The box will answer the question: did he go right to the end on automatic pilot, or did got manual and pilot the plane right to impact,” Jean Serrat told BFMTV. “I don’t think it’s going to tell us anything we don’t already know, but it removes the last possible doubts.” There has been growing public anger in Germany about some of the media coverage of the crash. After a pupil at the Joseph-König high school in Haltern wrote a blog post complaining of the press siege outside her school, the organisers of a vintage plane air show posted an open letter, addressed to an unnamed press agency, in which it explained why it would not answer the request for footage that might contain images of Lubitz. The letter described mass-media coverage as “serving low voyeurism and generating circulation through horror”. On Thursday, German politicians attempted to show they were taking action to improve safety and security in the aftermath of the crash. The transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, announced a new regular taskforce for optimising flight safety. Following a meeting with representatives of the airline industry association BDL and the civil aviation authority, he said the taskforce would re-examine cockpit door mechanisms and the medical and psychological tests for pilots. The interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, said it was time to review European Union regulations for passport checks inside the Schengen area. “We need to know for security reasons who is on board a flight,” he told Bild newspaper. “At first, it wasn’t even clear who was on board the flight.” The comments were immediately condemned by opposition politicians. “A pure placebo reaction to a human tragedy,” Green party MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht told Der Spiegel magazine. Investigators have reconstructed what they believe are Andreas Lubitz’s computer searches from a tablet found in his apartment in Düsseldorf. Photograph: IBL/Rex http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/02/germanwings-crash-second-black-box-found
  6. Italian high court’s surprise decision to definitively clear him, and former girlfriend Amanda Knox, of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher was like a ‘rebirth’ Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome Monday 30 March 2015 14.17 BST Raffaele Sollecito, the Italian who, along with Amanda Knox, was definitively acquitted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, has said he will no longer accept being called a murderer and needs “time to heal” following the seven-and-a-half year legal saga. Sollecito, 31, and his former American girlfriend served four years in prison after Kercher was found dead in Perugia in 2007. On Monday, he expressed a sense of disbelief that the battle to prove his innocence was finally over after the unexpected verdict from Italy’s highest court. “It’s affected my heart, it’s affected my mind. This wound will always bleed,” he said at a press conference in Rome. He added that he had briefly spoken to Knox, who is living in Seattle, and had congratulated her after the ruling from the court of cassation came in on Friday night. The two did not, however, have any plans to meet, he said. Sollecito’s words seemed reflective and defiant, even as some press accounts of the surprise verdict continued to raise questions about the night of the murder and the unanswered questions surrounding the circumstances of Kercher’s death. “I don’t expect from now on to be called an assassin and I’ll be ready to defend my dignity,” Sollecito said. Sollecito, who has been fully exonerated, did not explicitly say he would seek compensation for being wrongly convicted and imprisoned. But his attorney, Giulia Bongiorno, said that her client was “evaluating” whether to seek payment. If he did, she said, it would not be as an act of revenge. “We are not going to whip the people who made mistakes,” she said, adding that they would wait to read the legal rationale for the judges’ decision before acting. The full decision will be released in less than 90 days. Sollecito denied being surprised at the verdict even though his own attorneys seemed stunned when it was read out by the presiding judge in the case. Such outright acquittals are exceedingly rare in the high court, but Sollecito insisted this one had been inevitable. “It had to end this way because this is what happened. This is the right ending,” he said. He added: “It was the beginning of a new life.” Kercher and Knox met while they were studying abroad in Perugia, Italy. They were housemates when the Briton, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was sexually assaulted and killed in November 2007. Rudy Guede, a petty criminal who was known to Perugian police, was convicted of Kercher’s murder but was not believed by judges to have acted alone. Both Sollecito and Knox were convicted of her murder but then acquitted in 2011. That ruling was subsequently reversed and their convictions were reinstated in 2014. The long-running legal saga came to a definitive end on Friday, when the high court threw out the charges. Usually, the high court would send a case back for re-trial or uphold a prior conviction. The Kercher family have said that the annulment verdict surprised and shocked them. But Sollecito said he had been accused of murder “without an element of proof” and that the high court’s decision was like a “rebirth”. “I am very sorry that Meredith’s family is disappointed about the verdict,” he added. Speaking in English at the end of the press conference, he said it was hard to imagine a life that was no longer in limbo. “Seven years and five months is an unbelievably long time and it is hard to think that now everything has changed,” he said. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/30/raffaele-sollecito-defiant-that-he-is-not-a-and-will-defend-his-dignity
  7. Politician who hoped to sign historic peace accord with Palestinians is to be sentenced over claims he accepted cash bribes from US businessman Associated Press in Jerusalem Monday 30 March 2015 09.54 BST Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has been found guilty of accepting bribes in a retrial on corruption charges, the latest chapter in the downfall of a man who only years earlier hoped to lead the country to a historic peace agreement with the Palestinians. Olmert’s lawyers said they would likely appeal against the ruling by the Jerusalem district court. He will be sentenced at a later court hearing. Olmert has claimed he was on the brink of a historic agreement with the Palestinians when he was forced to resign in early 2009 amid corruption allegations. His departure cleared the way for hardliner Binyamin Netanyahu’s election, and subsequent peace efforts have foundered. Olmert was acquitted in 2012 of a series of charges that included accepting cash-stuffed envelopes from US businessman Morris Talansky when Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem and a cabinet minister. Olmert was found to have received about $600,000 (£400,000) from Talansky during his term as mayor, and additional cash during his term as a cabinet minister, but a court did not find evidence the money had been used for unlawful personal reasons. The acquittal on the most serious charges at the time was seen as a major victory for Olmert, who denied being corrupt. He was convicted only on a lesser charge of breach of trust for steering job appointments and contracts to clients of a business partner, and it raised hopes for his political comeback. But Olmert’s former office manager and confidante Shula Zaken later became a state’s witness, offering diary entries and tape recordings of conversations with Olmert about illicitly receiving cash, leading to a retrial. In the recordings, Olmert is heard telling Zaken not to testify in the first trial so she would not incriminate him. On Monday, a panel of judges at the Jerusalem district court ruled that Olmert had accepted $153,950 from Talansky when he was a cabinet minister, with the money kept hidden by an Olmert aide in a safe. The judges concluded that Olmert gave Zaken part of that money in exchange for her loyalty and used the money for his own personal use without reporting it according to law and in exchange for favours to Talansky, calling it a “serious conflict of interest”. They convicted him on charges of fraud and breach of trust. Olmert’s lawyer, Eyal Rozovsky, said Olmert’s legal team was “of course very disappointed” by the ruling and said his lawyers would review it and likely appeal. The conviction was met with anger in Israel. “I want Ehud Olmert to apologise to the people of Israel,” said columnist and former Olmert confidant Dan Margalit on Israel Radio. Separately, Olmert was convicted in a bribery trial in March 2014 and sentenced to six years in jail. He appealed and has been allowed to stay out of prison until a verdict is delivered. At the time Olmert resigned as prime minister, Israel and the Palestinians had been engaged in more than a year of intense negotiations over the terms of Palestinian independence. The Palestinians seek all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, in addition to the Gaza Strip, for an independent state. Israel occupied all three areas in the 1967 six-day war, though it withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Since leaving office, Olmert has said he presented the Palestinians the most generous Israeli proposal in history, offering roughly 95% of the West Bank, along with a land swap covering the remaining 5% of territory. He also proposed international administration in east Jerusalem, home to the city’s most sensitive religious sites. Palestinian officials have said that, while progress was made during the talks, Olmert’s assessment was overly optimistic. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/30/former-israeli-prime-minister-ehud-olmert-guilty-corruption
  8. Speaking after her sensational acquittal, Knox said she was 'full of joy' and grateful to have her life back By Agencies 3:58AM GMT 28 Mar 2015 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11501141/Amanda-Knox-Meredith-was-my-friend-she-deserved-so-much-more.html
  9. A building in New York's East Village side has collapsed, reportedly trapping people inside By Nick Allen, and Harriet Alexander, video source APTN 9:15PM GMT 26 Mar 2015 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11498157/Manhattan-building-explodes.html
  10. Tensions are running high in Lithuania, over Russia's involvement in the Ukrainian  conflict. And, writes Rageh Omaar, there are growing fears within the former Baltic state that they could become the next targets for Russian aggression By Rageh Omaar, International Affairs Editor for ITV News 7:00AM GMT 22 Mar 2015 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/lithuania/11487802/Putins-war-of-attrition-Is-Lithuania-next.html
  11. If Knox and Raffaele Sollecito’s 2014 guilty verdicts for the murder of Meredith Kercher are upheld this week, a battle to extradite Knox to Italy could be next Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome and Nicky Woolf in Seattle Friday 20 March 2015 18.32 GMT Amanda Knox was en route to Seattle from Rome – a free woman whose conviction for murder had just been overturned – when David Thorne, the US ambassador to Italy, sent a cable to the State Department declaring that the case was officially over. Thorne’s relief seemed palpable. Knox’s arrest, trial and imprisonment for the brutal slaying of her British housemate, Meredith Kercher, had dominated headlines all over the world, and was closely followed by American officials in Rome, diplomatic cables would later reveal. “Post considers this case closed,” he wrote in October 2011. It turned out to be premature, but the depth of the ambassador’s miscalculation will only fully be known next week, when a highly-anticipated ruling in the ongoing case by Italy’s highest court could open the door to a whole new legal battle over Knox’s potential extradition from the US, a decision that would have significant diplomatic and political consequences from Rome to Washington DC. Knox – who has been portrayed both as a maligned and naive innocent and as a sex-crazed psychopath – has already said she would have to be dragged “kicking and screaming” back to Italy. Many factors could influence the outcome of a potential extradition request. Even the decision of whether or not Knox wishes to have a child – she plans to marry a schoolfriend called Colin Sutherland – could become a factor in her forced return to the bel paese because American officials might delay the extradition of the mother of a small child. But the final decision – Italy’s to seek the extradition and the US’s to grant such a request – could ultimately hinge on politics, legal experts say. The case has been long and complicated so far, with a series of drawn out decisions, appeals and reversals that are common in the notoriously slow and backlogged Italian justice system. Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of Kercher’s murder in 2009, then freed on appeal two years later because of doubts about the veracity of physical evidence, including the alleged murder weapon found at Sollecito’s apartment. Both Knox and Sollecito have always maintained their innocence. That acquittal was then thrown out of court in 2013 because the appeals court was ruled to have been inconsistent in its judgment of the evidence. A year later, after a retrial, the pair were found guilty – again – of murder, with Knox sentenced to 28 and a half years in prison, and Sollecito to 25 years. Under Italian law, that decision will not be considered final unless and until it is upheld by the court of cassation in its ruling this week, which could come as soon as Wednesday. That is why Knox has been able to live freely in the US, even though she is currently considered guilty of murder in Italy. Sollecito is also free in Italy right now, but would be arrested immediately if the conviction were upheld. If it does not uphold the conviction, the court could also decide to send one or both defendants back to trial, but it does not have the power to acquit Knox or Sollecito outright. The pair knew one another for seven days prior to the murder. Their public canoodling shortly after Kercher’s body was discovered aroused suspicion at the time and fueled the perception – among those who believe they are guilty – that Knox, in particular, was a psychopath. Though they are no longer a couple, the pair have faced justice together since their first interrogations by police in Perugia. That, too, could change this week. Sollecito’s attorney hinted last year that she would seek to exploit differences in their cases. “They’re not Siamese twins,” Giulia Bongiorno told reporters last year. The court’s latest conviction relied on a written confession Knox made – and then later retracted – after being questioned by police, in which she said she had been in the house when the murder occurred but not participated in the crime, and that her boyfriend was not there. A third man, an Ivorian named Rudy Guede, was also convicted of murdering Kercher in 2008 after a fast-track trial. He has almost served half of his 16-year sentence. Although Sollecito has long maintained that both he and his former lover are innocent, his defence will now rely on the truthfulness of a confession that Knox has said was made under duress. “If you believe in the confession, Sollecito is extraneous to the facts,” Bongiorno told the Guardian. “The words of Amanda Knox … exonerate Sollecito.” Even if their convictions are upheld, the wheels of justice will continue to move slowly. After the court releases its legal rationale for the decision – which could take up to 90 days – the Italian minister of justice would then have up to six months to determine whether to demand Knox’s return from the US. Michael Scadron, a former lawyer for the US Department of Justice and a keen observer of the Knox case, predicts the Italians would not seek extradition under pressure from the US. “They will use back channel diplomacy to prevent a request,” he says. If such a request was nevertheless made, the US would technically have to abide by it under the strict terms of an extradition treaty between the countries. “If the Italian supreme court sustains the conviction, it will be nearly impossible for the US – despite the political uproar that will occur among those who believe she is innocent – not to extradite her to Italy,” says Steve Clemons, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and foreign policy expert. “Emotions may run high, but in the end the relations between Italy and the US are deep, strategic, complex, and are designed to respect each other’s laws, even in controversial cases,” he added. Relations have not always been rosy, however. In 2001, diplomats from both sides had to duke out an agreement over a woman called Silvia Baraldini, an icon of the Italian left who had been convicted of bank robbery and kidnapping in the US but was released to Italy under the condition that she serve nine more years of her prison sentence. Baraldini was released early to be treated for cancer following tense negotiations in an episode that insiders say created mistrust between the parties. Under US law, if an extradition request is made, it would be scrutinised by the State Department and then the Justice Department, and would then have to be approved by a US court, where Knox could appeal the extradition. If the courts approve of the request, the final decision rests with the US secretary of state, John Kerry. It is far from clear on what grounds the US government could ultimately challenge a legal request. Some lawyers have said the fact that Knox was once acquitted of the crime, and then convicted, smacked of “double jeopardy”, the concept that a person cannot legally be tried twice for the same crime. Double jeopardy is specifically outlined as an exemption in the US-Italy extradition treaty, though it has never been tested in court. Italian legal experts flatly reject that argument. They say Knox has not been charged in separate legal cases. She has gone through a single process that has not been particularly unusual in the multi-tiered Italian justice system, which the US agreed to respect. Back in her home town of Seattle, Knox has begun tentatively to try to return to some semblance of a normal life. In the face of immense attention from journalists and paparazzi, she has kept a low profile. Last year, she started working for a local newspaper, the West Seattle Herald, writing features and theatre reviews. Her editor, Patrick Robinson, told the Daily Beast that he had approached her “to give her the opportunity of a normal life”. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/20/amanda-knox-ruling-by-italys-highest-court-could-lead-to-new-legal-battle
  12. Best eclipse in the UK since 1999 First contact recorded in Madrid and Newquay Full eclipse due over the Faroe Islands and Svalbard archipelago All you need to know about the 2015 eclipse Share your eclipse photos and stories on GuardianWitness Matthew Weaver Friday 20 March 2015 11.06 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2015/mar/20/solar-eclipse-live-updates
  13. Satirical TV show host Jan Böhmermann claims he doctored footage to make it look as if Greek finance minister made offensive gesture Agence France-Presse in Berlin Thursday 19 March 2015 08.15 GMT A German TV presenter has admitted to faking a video showing the Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, giving the middle-finger gesture to Germany, after the politician vehemently contested its authenticity. Jan Böhmermann, host of the satirical programme Neo Magazin Royale on public broadcaster ZDF, said he had been waiting since Sunday for someone to ask him if he had faked the controversial footage, but no one had. “Sorry, Mr Varoufakis, we won’t do it again,” Böhmermann said, claiming to detail how a production team had manipulated the video. The footage showed Varoufakis in 2013, before he became finance minister, speaking at an event in the Croatian capital of Zagreb. Varoufakis talks about the problems facing his debt-laden country, and says “stick the finger to Germany” as he appears to make the gesture. Greece and Germany, Europe’s paymaster, have been at loggerheads since Greece’s Syriza party came to power in January on promises of ending austerity and erasing most of the country’s massive debt. The footage, originally shown during the Günther Jauch weekly talk show on Germany’s ARD channel late on Sunday, prompted an immediate and vehement rebuttal by the Greek minister, who was a guest on the programme. Varoufakis, who took part in a live discussion with other guests via a link from Athens, insisted on air that the video had been “doctored”. Jauch’s show, which draws millions of viewers, said on Monday it had seen “no indication whatsoever of manipulation or falsification in the video shown during the live show”. However, Böhmermann said on Wednesday his team had doctored the footage in late February, and described manipulating shadows to make the changes more realistic. ZDF did not confirm his statement. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/19/i-faked-the-yanis-varoufakis-middle-finger-video-says-german-tv-presenter
  14. Country in shock and president declares ‘war on terror’ after two gunmen kill 17 tourists and two Tunisians at Bardo national museum Chris Stephen in Tunis Thursday 19 March 2015 10.20 GMT More protests against the deadly attack at Tunisia’s Bardo national museum are planned for Thursday, as the Tunisian PM said one of the two gunmen was known to security services. The country is in shock after two Tunisian gunmen killed at least 17 tourists and two Tunisians on Wednesday in the deadliest attack on civilians in the country for 13 years. The gunmen were shot dead by security forces. In an interview with France’s RTL radio on Thursday morning, the prime minister, Habib Essid, said Tunisia is working with other countries to learn more about the attackers, identified as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui. He said Laabidi had been flagged to intelligence, although not for “anything special”. In an address to the nation on Wednesday night, the newly elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi, said: “I want the people of Tunisia to understand firstly and lastly that we are in a war with terror, and these savage minority groups will not frighten us. “The fight against them will continue until they are exterminated.” Hours after the police ended the siege, thousands of Tunisians flocked to the capital’s main thoroughfare, Avenue Habib Bourguiba, waving red Tunisian flags and singing songs from the 2011 Arab Spring revolution. Mohammed Nasri, a young activist, said: “After the last election we thought we made a big step forward to real democracy, but what happened today was like a KO to our future. An attack so close to our parliament makes us speechless.” Tunisia’s main trade union confederation and other civil society groups called for a silent demonstration later on Thursday outside the Bardo museum. The groups called on Tunisians to gather at 3pm GMT “to demonstrate our national unity in the fight against terrorism”. Authorities launched a manhunt for two or three accomplices in the attack. The gunman killed four Italians, three Japanese, two Colombians, two Spaniards, an Australian, a Pole and a French national. The nationalities of the other three murdered tourists were not confirmed, but reports said an unknown number of South African tourists may have been involved. Two Tunisian nationals also were killed by the militants. At least 44 people were wounded, including tourists from Italy, France, Japan, South Africa, Poland, Belgium and Russia, the authorities said. The targeting of tourists by terrorists is a new phenomenon in Tunisia and a big blow to a country whose struggling post-revolution economy depends largely on its beach resorts and foreign visitors. Tunisia, which peacefully elected a new parliament in December, has prided itself as a model of political transition since the overthrow of the brutal authoritarian Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, in contrast to the post-revolutionary difficulties of its troubled neighbours. But it has also been struggling to tackle the growing terrorist threat in the region and thousands of Tunisians have left to fight foreign jihad. The attack immediately raised questions about the Islamist terrorist threat to Tunisia amid mounting anxiety that jihadi violence is spilling over the border from neighbouring Libya, as well as Algeria. Wednesday night’s protests took place close to the French embassy, which has been ringed by barbed wire and concrete barriers for many months, a sign of the apprehension the city feels about the threat of terrorist attack. That threat has become real with the killings at the Bardo museum, in what is the first jihadi strike against civilians in Tunisia since its 2011 revolution; previously militants had restricted attacks to military and government targets. “Today’s murderous assault targeted not only tourists and Tunisians but also the tolerant and rights-respecting society that Tunisians have been struggling to build,” said Eric Goldstein of Human Rights Watch. The dilemma for many Tunisians now is how the government should respond: many are proud of their break from dictatorship, but worry about how the government can crack down on terrorism while preserving hard-won freedoms. “Everybody is shocked,” said Houeida Anouar, of Huffington Post Magreb. “The government now has a huge responsibility. I hated the state when you had no right., I don’t want Tunisians to go there, it would be a horrible back-pedalling.” The attack began just after midday as gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs opened fire in front of the Bardo museum, the country’s largest and an important tourist attraction, which houses one of the world’s biggest collections of Roman mosaics and is built in a 19th-century palace adjacent to parliament. As the gunmen struck, tourists were getting out of coaches to visit the museum on a spring day that had seen scores of visitors, many from cruise ships docked in the port for the day. Wafel Bouzi, a guide with a Spanish-speaking group, told journalists that on exiting the museum with his group, he saw in the car park “a young 25-year-old man, dressed normally, without a beard” who was holding a kalashnikov. “I thought he was playing with it. Then he opened fire.” The gunmen began shooting near the coaches then entered the museum where hundreds of panicked visitors had taken refuge. Josep Lluís Cusidó, mayor of the small Catalan town of Vallmoll, was at the museum as part of a wedding anniversary trip with his wife. “A few men walked in and started shooting. We’re alive thanks to a miracle,” he told the Spanish news agency Efe. “These men suddenly started shooting and people started falling to the ground dead and things started falling from the ceiling … Everything happened so fast.” Two Britons were “caught up in” the shootings, the British Foreign Office said, but did not specify whether they were among the dead or injured. Wednesday’s attack was the worst since 2002, when an al-Qaida militant killed 21 people, mostly German tourists, after detonating a truck bomb in front of a historic synagogue on the Tunisia’s island of Djerba in 2002. It came days after the death of Ahmed Al-Rouissi, a Tunisian also known as Abu Zakariya Al-Tunisi, who led a contingent of Islamic State fighters in Libya. He was killed in clashes with Libyan troops near the town of Sirte, a stronghold of followers of Muammar Gaddafi, the late Libyan strongman. Tunisian commentators speculated there might be a connection between his death and Wednesday’s deadly attack. Pro-Isis Twitter accounts hailed the attack as “ghazwat Tunis” or the “raid of Tunis” (ghazwa is the description given to the early Islamic battles) and have cheered on the attackers. A purported Isis video from last December threatened attacks on Tunisia. Last month, Tunisia arrested more than 30 suspected militants – some of whom returning from fighting in Syria – who were planning attacks, officials said at the time. Interior ministry officials said counter-terrorism forces had prevented attacks against vital installations, including the interior ministry and civilian buildings in Tunis. Tunisia is a major source of fighters travelling to Syria, with the number of Tunisians fighting there estimated at about 3,000. Tunisia has been more stable than other countries in the region, but has struggled with violence by Islamic extremists who have sworn allegiance to both al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. The Associated Press contributed to this report Protesters hold placards which read ‘no to terrorism’ as they gather on Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis. Photograph: Chedly Ben Ibrahim/Demotix/Corbis A woman holds a placard which reads ‘We are all Bardo’. Photograph: Chedly Ben Ibrahim/Demotix/Corbis Escorted by security forces, rescue workers bring a stretcher to the Bardo museum on Wednesday. Photograph: Salah Ben Mahmoud/AP http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/19/tunisians-streets-denounce-bardo-museum-attack-war-terror
  15. With nearly 99.5% votes counted, Likud ahead winning 30 seats Opposition leader Isaac Herzog calls Netanyahu to congratulate him Exit polls had put Herzog and Netanyahu at dead heat with 27 seats Netanyahu had appealed to right wing by rejecting Palestinian statehood Arab Joint List, Yesh Atid and Kulanu vie for influence in outcome Alan Yuhas and Claire Phipps Wednesday 18 March 2015 07.38 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/mar/17/israel-elections-netanyahu-herzog-voters-coalition-knesset
  16. Police officers injured as vehicles are set ablaze and streets blocked by burning tyres in clashes ahead of Mario Draghi speech Matthew Weaver Wednesday 18 March 2015 12.40 GMT Dozens of police officers have been injured and hundreds of people detained after anti-austerity protesters clashed with riot police near the new headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt. At least seven police cars were set on fire as streets were barricaded at the “Blockupy” demonstration to mark the opening of the billion-euro building on Wednesday morning. Some protesters said they were injured when police used pepper spray. At least 350 people were held by police, according to the German news site Deutsche Welle. Police used water cannon to try to make a path through the mass of black-clad protesters to the entrance of the building. The new building was targeted because the ECB has come to symbolise spending cuts and market reforms of the kind being forced on Greece. The German justice minister, Heiko Maas, said that “everyone has the right to criticise institutions like the ECB. But pure rioting goes beyond all limits in the battle for political opinion.” Hundreds of officers ringed the ECB. The inauguration ceremony took place as planned, with the ECB president, Mario Draghi, thanking guests “for being here despite the difficult situation outside”. He said the new headquarters for the currency union’s central bank was “a symbol of what Europe can achieve together”. “European unity is being strained,” Draghi said, according to an advance text quoted by Reuters. “People are going through very difficult times. There are some, like many of the protesters outside today, who believe the problem is that Europe is doing too little. “But the euro area is not a political union of the sort where some countries permanently pay for others.” The Blockupy alliance estimated that about 10,000 demonstrators were at the rally. They included trade unions and Germany’s Left party. “Our protest is against the ECB, as a member of the troika, that, despite the fact that it is not democratically elected, hinders the work of the Greek government. We want the austerity politics to end,” Ulrich Wilken, one of the organiser told Reuters. The Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, last week criticised ECB policy towards Athens as “asphyxiating“, a criticism also made by the protest organisers. Demonstrators dressed as clowns pass by a burning police car during the Frankfurt protests. Photograph: Michael Probst/AP A police vehicle is parked near the European Central Bank building. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/mar/18/anti-capitalist-protesters-clash-police-ecb-frankfurt-hq
  17. As Libya's war keeps foreign visitors away, the Roman Empire's magnificent capital in Africa lies forgotten, with weeds growing among the cracks of the cobbled stones By Ruth Sherlock, Leptis Magna, video by Sam Tarling 4:39PM GMT 16 Mar 2015 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/11475388/Leptis-Magna-war-torn-Libyas-forgotten-ancient-Roman-city.html
  18. Russian president says life "would be boring without gossip" as he attends meeting in Saint Petersburg on Monday, after days of rumours about his absence By Howard Amos, Moscow, and Andrew Marszal, video source APTN 11:17AM GMT 16 Mar 2015 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/11474395/Vladimir-Putin-due-to-reappear-in-St-Petersburg.html
  19. The country that fought for freedom is falling back into factionalism and bloodshed By Ruth Sherlock, video by Sam Tarling 6:00AM GMT 14 Mar 2015 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/11471411/Special-report-from-Libya-How-Natos-toppling-of-Gaddafi-has-turned-to-disaster.html
  20. Rima Karaki tells London-based Sheikh Hani Al-Siba’i: ‘In this studio, I run the show,’ during tense exchange on al-Jadeed TV about Islamic State Aisha Gani @aishagani Monday 9 March 2015 15.52 GMT A video has gone viral of a Lebanese television presenter who cut short an interview with a London-based Islamist scholar after he told her to “shut up”. Rima Karaki, a TV host and university professor, told the scholar: “In this studio, I run the show.” . During the discussion about reports of Christians joining Islamic State (Isis), which aired on Al-Jadeed TV on 2 March, Sheikh Hani Al-Siba’i, an Egyptian scholar, told Karaki: “Are you done? Shut up so I can talk.” The presenter responded by saying: “How can a respected sheikh like yourself tell a TV host to shut up?” Siba’i then said: “It’s beneath me to be interviewed by you. You are a woman who ….” His microphone is then cut off. Karaki stopped the interview after just three minutes, saying: “Just one second. Either there is mutual respect or the conversation is over.” The argument began when Karaki interrupted the scholar, who said Christians joining Isis was “nothing new” and was similar to people joining the “leftist revolutionary movement” in the 1970s, such as the Red Brigades in Italy and the Baader Meinhof group in Germany. The host asked him to focus on the question instead of going on a historical tangent, and asked: “At present, what slogans are used to attract [Christians] to these groups?” Siba’i said: “Listen, don’t cut me off. I will answer as I please,” adding: “I will not answer the way you like, because I’m here to to serve the idea in which I believe.” Kiraki explained that there was limited time and said: “Please don’t get all worked up. We respect you and know you want to give a complete answer.” Siba’i said: “You think you are so high and mighty?” To which Kiraki said: “Go on. But do not call me names.” She added: “If we start discussing history, we won’t have enough time for our topic.” The video clip shared by MEMRI, a US-based Middle East media watchdog, has been viewed on YouTube more than 2.3m times since it was posted last week. This article was amended on 9 March 2015 to correct a quote from the video. Sheikh Hani Al-Siba’i said, “You are a woman who …” before his microphone was cut off, not “You are a woman.” Lebanese TV Host Rima Karaki. Photograph: screengrab Video on link http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/09/lebanese-tv-presenter-cuts-short-interview-with-sexist-islamist-scholar
  21. Sigma Alpha Epsilon says it is disgusted by footage featuring members of its Kappa chapter at the university participating in racist chant Staff and agencies Monday 9 March 2015 09.40 GMT A university branch of one of the largest fraternities in the United States has been closed and its members suspended after a video of members appearing to participate in a racist chant was posted online. Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) said on Sunday that an investigation into footage apparently featuring students from the University of Oklahoma (OU) chanting about lynching and using racist epithets against black people had left it embarrassed and disgusted. “We apologise for the unacceptable and racist behaviour of the individuals in the video, and we are disgusted that any member would act in such a way,” the SAE leadership said in a statement. “We have more than 15,000 collegiate members across the nation, and this incident should not reflect on other brothers because this type of hateful action is not what Sigma Alpha Epsilon stands for,” it added. The 10-second video was first posted online on Sunday by a black student group, Unheard, at OU, and first reported by the Oklahoma Daily, a student newspaper. It showed people on a bus chanting in unison and using offensive language in reference to African-Americans, vowing to never admit any into the fraternity. The chant also made light of lynchings. “This video contains language that is offensive, disrespectful, and unacceptable,” Unheard said in a statement posted with the video. “Even after 50 years after the events that occurred in Selma, Alabama, we still have a reason to march. We as a people have indeed come a long way, but yet still have so far to go.” Unheard, which describes itself as an alliance of black students from OU focusing on the lack of representation and support on campus, said it would hold a demonstration on campus on Monday morning. The SAE leadership determined that members of its Kappa chapter at the University of Oklahoma were involved. “I was not only shocked and disappointed but disgusted by the outright display of racism displayed in the video,” Brad Cohen, the fraternity’s national president, said in the statement, noting that “SAE is a diverse organisation, and we have zero tolerance for racism”. On Twitter, Cohen added that the students involved in the video would be “dealt with”. The national leadership said it hoped to be able to re-establish the Oklahoma Kappa chapter “at some point in the future”. In an emailed statement to the New York Times, OU president David Boren said the administration was also investigating the video. “If OU students are involved, this behaviour will not be tolerated and will be addressed very quickly,” said Boren. “This behaviour is reprehensible and contrary to all of our values.” The University of Oklahoma clock tower. Photograph: Alamy Warning: this video contains graphic language http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/mar/09/university-oklahoma-fraternity-sigma-alpha-epsilon-closed-racist-video
  22. A late-night US talkshow has not broadcast from Cuba since 1959 Says special was thrown together: ‘We didn’t really tell anybody about it’ Amanda Holpuch in New York @holpuch Thursday 5 March 2015 14.07 GMT With a white suit and matching fedora topping his famous carrot-colored coif, Conan O’Brien welcomed viewers on Wednesday night to the first US talkshow to broadcast from Cuba since the embargo began. The special Cuba episode of O’Brien’s eponymous show Conan aired on TBS and featured the host ambling through the streets of Havana as he took lessons in rumba, cigar-rolling and Spanish. US president Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raúl Castro, announced in December that the two countries planned to re-establish diplomatic ties. Though relations are starting to thaw, Americans still face tight restrictions if they want to travel to Cuba. “This is a very historic time,” O’Brien said on the show. “Relations between Cuba and the United States are finally starting to thaw. I thought this was an amazing opportunity for me to come to Cuba, talk to the people and get to know them.” Many journalists have broadcast from the country since the US embargo began in 1962, but a late-night TV host has not broadcast from the country since 1959. In February of that year, Jack Paar interviewed Fidel Castro from a Havana hotel. Paar was sharply criticized by some for putting a communist on the national stage, but O’Brien has largely avoided such criticism. O’Brien and his crew travelled to the country over the Presidents’ Day holiday weekend in February for four days to shoot the special. The trip was not announced until production had nearly wrapped. O’Brien told the LA Times that production of the special was thrown together and that they “didn’t really tell anybody at Turner [TBS] we doing it”. While the show broadcast on TBS, O’Brien shared some of his favorite moments from the trip on Twitter: Conan O'Brien ✔ @ConanOBrien Follow An iconic American writer known for his rugged manliness poses with Ernest Hemingway. #ConanCUBA 5:55 AM - 5 Mar 2015 Conan O'Brien ✔ @ConanOBrien Follow Shared a lot of laughs with the kids down by the sea wall in El Malecon. #ConanCUBA 5:49 AM - 5 Mar 2015 Dancing in the streets: Conan O’Brien soaking up the culture in Cuba. Photograph: Turner http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/mar/05/conan-obrien-cuba-special-episode
  23. The world’s largest rainforest depends on its hottest desert to survive as 28 million tons of dust delivers the life-sustaining nutrients on which Amazon ecosystem depends By Philip Sherwell, New York 8:26PM GMT 04 Mar 2015 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/11449918/Vast-Saharan-dust-plumes-shown-heading-across-Atlantic-to-the-Amazon-in-images.html
  24. The discovery is the earliest known fossil of the genus Homo and suggests humankind's ancestors were living in open grassland environments, near lakes and rivers By AFP, video source ITN 7:59AM GMT 05 Mar 2015 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/ethiopia/11450962/First-human-Jawbone-fossil-in-Ethiopia-sheds-light-on-human-origins.html
  25. LA police officers scuffle with a homeless man before shots rings out and onlookers cry out in alarm By Nick Allen, Los Angeles, video source Facebook / Anthony Blackburn 7:00AM GMT 02 Mar 2015 Warning: This video contains images some viewers may find distressing http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11443883/Video-shows-Los-Angeles-police-shooting-homeless-man.html
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