Written By Unknown on Senin, 16 Maret 2015 | 23.38
A major offensive to retake an Iraqi city from Islamic State militants has been put on hold to allow civilians to flee the area, according to the country's interior ministry.
The operation, which began on 2 March, has seen soldiers, police officers, Shiite militias and Sunni tribal fighters reach the outskirts of Tikrit.
It is a crucial step towards liberating Mosul - Iraq's second city - from the terror group.
Mohammed Salem al Ghabban, interior minister, said militants had booby-trapped roads and buildings leading into Tikrit, forcing Iraqi troops to slow their advance.
He said: "The militants are squeezed into a small part of the city centre."
Video:Saddam Hussein's Tomb Destroyed
The offensive has so far not been aided by US-led air strikes, which have continued to target IS positions elsewhere in Iraq and Syria.
Officials said that at least 30,000 people are fighting to seize Tikrit, including an estimated 20,000 militia men.
The city lies around 80 miles north of Baghdad on the connecting road between the capital and Mosul.
Video:2 March: Iraqi Assault On Tikrit
US military officials have said a co-ordinated military mission to retake Mosul could begin in April or May and could involve up to 25,000 Iraqi troops.
It comes after the tomb of dictator Saddam Hussein was virtually destroyed during heavy fighting between IS militants and Iraq troops.
Footage showed that all that remains of the once-lavish tomb in Ouja, just south of Tikrit, were support columns that had held up the roof.
The first public screening of the last Fast & Furious film Paul Walker made before he died has left audiences in tears at the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival.
Furious 7 is the actor's final appearance as law enforcement officer Brian O'Connor in the franchise.
In the film, Vin Diesel's character says "those who are lost go on in the hearts of the living" and that was how it felt for many fans attending the midnight screening on Sunday.
Walker, 40, died as a passenger in a one-car crash in Malibu, California, in November 2013.
Before the screening, the film's producer Neal Moritz appealed to viewers not to reveal what becomes of Walker's character in the film.
Director James Wan, SXSW director Janet Pierson and actor Tyrese Gibson
"We honestly lost a dear friend, brother, comrade, while we were making this movie," Moritz said. "When we decided we were going to continue this movie, we were determined to honour his legacy and our love for him."
Walker had completed most of his scenes before his death, but Universal Pictures was forced to put production on hold to figure out how to continue filming without him.
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Gallery: Paul Walker's Memorial
Car enthusiasts, fans and friends of Paul Walker descended on a memorial to the Fast & Furious actor.
A number of high-performance motorbikes were also among the vehicles at the event.
Greece's finance minister insists film footage purportedly showing him giving Germany the middle finger is a fake.
Yanis Varoufakis claims the video had been doctored after being shown the clip on a late-night German political talk show on which he had been invited to discuss his country's financial crisis and relations with Berlin.
In the film, taken in Croatia in 2013, Mr Varoufakis is apparently seen making the rude gesture as he is heard to say: "Greece should simply announce that it is defaulting...and stick the finger to Germany."
But denying the claim, the former economics professor told the German TV host Guenther Jauch: "That video was doctored. I never gave the finger."
Mr Jauch's production company has said it is checking the video but so far had found no evidence it had been tampered with.
Video:Greece Clashes: Syriza Backlash
The footage is set to further heighten tensions between Athens and Berlin over Greece's €240bn (£169bn) bailout.
Mr Varoufakis has already been warned time is running out and told he must put forward concrete proposals if the country wants to secure funds agreed under an extension to its rescue package.
Athens got a lifeline last month when ministers agreed a four-month deal on extending its current EU-IMF bailout, subject to reforms being agreed.
Video:Does Germany Trust Greece?
The new radical left-wing government has pledged to streamline bureaucracy and tackle smuggling but its blueprint has been criticised as lacking detail.
The next payout of €7.5bn (£5bn) is due at the end of April.
Greece may have to leave the currency union if no reform programme can be agreed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has appeared in public for the first time since 5 March.
The 62-year-old met Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev at the Constantine Palace, outside St Petersburg, on Monday.
Laughing off speculation that ill health had forced him out of the public eye, Mr Putin said: "It would be boring without the gossip."
The Russian President in his last public appearance on 5 March
Mr Atambayev also vouched for his health, saying Putin "just now drove me around the grounds, he himself sat at the wheel".
The Russian leader was last seen in public when he hosted Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
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Gallery: Vladimir Putin - Man Of Action
Vladimir Putin has earned a reputation as something of an action man. Here in 2013 he is seen shaking hands with a walrus on a visit to the under-construction Primorsky Aquarium.
Seemingly always keen to be seen with members of the animal kingdom, he was also pictured touching a dolphin during his trip to the new attraction on the Russky Island, in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.
A near-total solar eclipse will occur in the skies above Britain this week, prompting warnings about the dangers of watching the spectacle without taking precautions.
The eclipse will begin around 8.30am on Friday and last for two hours as the moon moves in front of the Sun.
The proportion of the Sun covered by the moon will increase the further north you are.
In London, 84% of the Sun will be covered, while in Edinburgh the proportion is 93%.
The last solar eclipse of such significance took place in August 1999, when a total eclipse occurred.
Video:1999: Solar Eclipse
Tour operators have organised trips based around the event, which will briefly allow the Sun's outer atmosphere to be seen.
Robin Scagell, vice-president of the Society for Popular Astronomy (SPA), who will be travelling on the P&O cruise ship Oriana to witness the eclipse, said the event will be "memorable".
"We won't experience totality in the UK, but it will still be a memorable event," he said.
"Depending on where you are, up to 90% of the Sun will be covered over."
Organised events are being held in London's Regent's Park and the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
In the lead up to the event, experts have offered advice on safety and warned of the perils of Sun-watching.
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Gallery: 3 Nov, 2013: Rare Hybrid Eclipse Of The Sun
A bird flies across the sun in Sidon, Lebanon.
People in equatorial Africa got the best view of the hybrid eclipse, with totality lasting up to a minute.
Scotland Yard is to be investigated for alleged corruption over claims it covered up child abuse because police and MPs were involved.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission will carry out the investigation into the actions of the Metropolitan Police.
There are 14 referrals which detail alleged corruption dating back to the 1970s and stretching to 2005.
Sarah Green, deputy chair of the IPCC, said: "These allegations are of historic, high-level corruption of the most serious nature. We will oversee the investigations and ensure that they meet the terms of reference that we will set.
"Allegations of this nature are of grave concern and I would like to reassure people of our absolute commitment to ensuring that the investigations are thorough and robust."
A Met Police spokesman said: "The MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) recognised the severity of the allegations, and the importance of understanding whether or not our officers had in the past acted inappropriately, and therefore voluntarily referred the 16 separate allegations to the IPCC."
The allegations referred to the IPCC include:
:: A claim that a Parliament document found at a paedophile's address linked a number of "highly prominent individuals" including MPs and senior police officers to a paedophile ring but no further action was taken.
:: The allegation an investigation into young men being targeted in Dolphin Square, the apartment complex popular with MPs, was stopped because officers were "too near prominent people".
:: An allegation that an account provided by an abuse victim had been changed to omit the name of a senior politician.
:: A claim that a dossier of allegations against senior figures and politicians involved in child abuse was taken by Special Branch officers.
:: The allegation that police officers sexually abused a boy and carried out surveillance on him.
Scotland Yard is currently investigating allegations that a paedophile ring of high-profile figures - including politicians, law enforcement and military officials - operated in the 1970s and 80s.
Detectives from Operation Midland are also investigating claims the murders of three boys, aged between seven and 16, are linked to the alleged abuse centred on Dolphin Square in Westminster.
Speaking after the IPCC investigation was announced, Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: "Just when you thought this couldn't go any deeper, it does.
"For some time the police themselves have been looking at corruption but because of the severity of the allegations they have passed it on to the IPCC."
Russian president Vladimir Putin has launched massive military manoeuvres involving 40,000 servicemen in the Arctic, in an effort to expand its presence in the polar region.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who is overseeing an expensive modernisation of the armed forces, said Russia faced new threats to its security which obliged it to boost its military strength and capabilities.
In a statement carried by Russian news agencies, he said that more than 50 surface ships and submarines and 110 aircraft will be used in the snap exercises.
He said Mr Putin has ordered the manoeuvres in order to check the readiness of Russia's Northern Fleet.
The announcement came as speculation continued to swirl about the president's whereabouts.
Video:Feb 27: Ukraine Weapons Withdrawal
Mr Putin had not been seen in public since a meeting with Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi in Moscow on 5 March, prompting rumours that he was ill or distracted by the birth of a child with his girlfriend.
But on Monday he made an appearance with the Kyrgyz president.
Mr Shoigu said that "the new challenges and threats require further increase of the armed forces' capabilities".
Moscow has boosted its ambitions in the resource-rich Arctic region, where it shares a border with NATO member Norway.
The exercise comes amid Russia-West tensions over Ukraine. The United States is planning to conduct joint exercises with forces from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania later this month.
The West and Kiev accuse Russia of supplying arms and soldiers to support pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine who are fighting government troops.
NATO made new allegations last week that Russia was arming the separatists in east Ukraine, where more than 6,000 people have been killed in nearly a year of fighting.
It has also emerged that Mr Putin was "ready" to place Russia's nuclear forces on alert as he sought to annex the Crimean peninsula last year.
Speaking during a documentary aired on Russian state TV, the president said he was prepared to face "the worst possible turn of events" in the Crimea.
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Mercenaries are battling to take down the black flag of Boko Haram
South African and former Soviet bloc mercenaries have joined the war in Nigeria against Boko Haram in what many will see as a return to the dark days of the White Man in Africa.
But the reality is more complicated.
According to Sky sources in the community of guns-for-hire many of the battle hardened soldiers of fortune did indeed cut their teeth in the black liberation movements of southern Africa.
Some of them hail from the more notorious units in the vanguard of apartheid - the Namibian police unit Koevoet, South Africa's 32 Battalion (a foreign legion of racist mercenaries), ex-members of the elite Recces, and some spent time under cover in the "Third Force" as agents provocateurs charged with fomenting so-called black-on-black violence during South Africa's struggle for freedom.
These are men, not all of them are white, who are very good at making other people very dead.
1/7
Gallery: Profile Of Boko Haram Leader
Abubakar Shekau is the leader of Boko Haram. He took control of the Islamist group after the death of founder Mohammed Yusuf in 2009
Little is known about him, although he was born in Shekau village in the northeastern state of Yobe and is now thought to be in his early 40s
]]>
Shekau is Nigeria's most-wanted man and was designated a terrorist by the U.S. government in 2012. A reward of $7m has been issued for information leading to his location
]]>
Shekau is also known as "Darul Tawheed", a reference to his knowledge of an orthodox doctrine of Islam centred on the oneness of Allah
]]>
Nigerian authorities thought he had been been killed in 2009 during clashes with security forces, but he reappeared in a video in 2010
]]>
If, as Sky sources have confirmed, they are being employed to fight Boko Haram and have brought with them the weapons, command structures and all round bloodthirstiness needed to engage an enemy that threatens to destabilise three different countries at least, then it would be odd to be over-critical.
The Nigerian armed forces are in disarray. They are blighted by poor leadership, corruption, a lack of ammunition and a political class that appears indifferent to the future of the north-east of its own country.
Someone in the Ministry of Defence in Abuja has, however, come up with the scheme to roll Boko Haram back, alongside Chadian and Cameroonian forces using Nigerian petrodollars to fun the mercenaries.
There is a successful precedent for this policy.
Video:Boko Haram Pledges Allegiance To IS
During the early 1990s South African mercenary company Executive Outcomes (EO) was hired by Angola to make war against the dissident UNITA movement of Jonas Savimbi eventually forcing it out of diamond areas it used to fund itself and eventually into peace talks.
EO then moved into Sierra Leone, later handing over to the UK-based Sandline International where mercenaries, alongside West African troops, took on the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and drove it out of the capital, Freetown, into the bush.
The RUF resurfaced only when the contract to fight the RUF was suspended by the Freetown government under pressure from the then British government after criticism for allowing the successful operation to continue amid its claims of having an "ethical" foreign policy.
Some mercenaries were so drawn into the fight that they took Sierra Leonean citizenship and regular commissions in the local forces.
Video:Feb 2015: Battling Boko Haram
Sources in Nigeria have confirmed that there are several hundred mercenaries flying helicopter gunships as well as fighting on the ground.
Many are operational only at night and handing captured ground to the Nigerian army in daylight
Mercenaries may be just what is needed to deal with Boko Haram.
They're good at the business of killing, they require no thanks, and very few will miss those who do not come back.
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Mercenaries Launch Dark War Against Boko Haram
We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.
Mercenaries are battling to take down the black flag of Boko Haram
South African and former Soviet bloc mercenaries have joined the war in Nigeria against Boko Haram in what many will see as a return to the dark days of the White Man in Africa.
But the reality is more complicated.
According to Sky sources in the community of guns-for-hire many of the battle hardened soldiers of fortune did indeed cut their teeth in the black liberation movements of southern Africa.
Some of them hail from the more notorious units in the vanguard of apartheid - the Namibian police unit Koevoet, South Africa's 32 Battalion (a foreign legion of racist mercenaries), ex-members of the elite Recces, and some spent time under cover in the "Third Force" as agents provocateurs charged with fomenting so-called black-on-black violence during South Africa's struggle for freedom.
These are men, not all of them are white, who are very good at making other people very dead.
1/7
Gallery: Profile Of Boko Haram Leader
Abubakar Shekau is the leader of Boko Haram. He took control of the Islamist group after the death of founder Mohammed Yusuf in 2009
Little is known about him, although he was born in Shekau village in the northeastern state of Yobe and is now thought to be in his early 40s
]]>
Shekau is Nigeria's most-wanted man and was designated a terrorist by the U.S. government in 2012. A reward of $7m has been issued for information leading to his location
]]>
Shekau is also known as "Darul Tawheed", a reference to his knowledge of an orthodox doctrine of Islam centred on the oneness of Allah
]]>
Nigerian authorities thought he had been been killed in 2009 during clashes with security forces, but he reappeared in a video in 2010
]]>
If, as Sky sources have confirmed, they are being employed to fight Boko Haram and have brought with them the weapons, command structures and all round bloodthirstiness needed to engage an enemy that threatens to destabilise three different countries at least, then it would be odd to be over-critical.
The Nigerian armed forces are in disarray. They are blighted by poor leadership, corruption, a lack of ammunition and a political class that appears indifferent to the future of the north-east of its own country.
Someone in the Ministry of Defence in Abuja has, however, come up with the scheme to roll Boko Haram back, alongside Chadian and Cameroonian forces using Nigerian petrodollars to fun the mercenaries.
There is a successful precedent for this policy.
Video:Boko Haram Pledges Allegiance To IS
During the early 1990s South African mercenary company Executive Outcomes (EO) was hired by Angola to make war against the dissident UNITA movement of Jonas Savimbi eventually forcing it out of diamond areas it used to fund itself and eventually into peace talks.
EO then moved into Sierra Leone, later handing over to the UK-based Sandline International where mercenaries, alongside West African troops, took on the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and drove it out of the capital, Freetown, into the bush.
The RUF resurfaced only when the contract to fight the RUF was suspended by the Freetown government under pressure from the then British government after criticism for allowing the successful operation to continue amid its claims of having an "ethical" foreign policy.
Some mercenaries were so drawn into the fight that they took Sierra Leonean citizenship and regular commissions in the local forces.
Video:Feb 2015: Battling Boko Haram
Sources in Nigeria have confirmed that there are several hundred mercenaries flying helicopter gunships as well as fighting on the ground.
Many are operational only at night and handing captured ground to the Nigerian army in daylight
Mercenaries may be just what is needed to deal with Boko Haram.
They're good at the business of killing, they require no thanks, and very few will miss those who do not come back.
Ed Miliband has ruled out any coalition deal with SNP that would see Scottish ministers in Westminster.
The Labour leader insisted the party would not form a Government with nationalist MPs from north of the border if Labour did not win a majority in May.
Speaking at an event in Leeds, he said: "Labour will not go into coalition government with the SNP. There will be no SNP ministers in any government I lead."
Crucially, however, he stopped short of ruling out a looser arrangement that would see the SNP offering limited support to shore up Labour.
The Tory campaign has focused on an SNP Labour alliance
It would leave the door open to the two parties entering into a "confidence and supply" arrangement, which would see the SNP vote through Budget proposals and vote for the Government in a no confidence vote.
Mr Miliband added the real danger to the UK was the Conservatives going into a coalition with UKIP.
Video:Sturgeon: SNP Could Still Do Deal
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would be willing to "strike deals with a minority Labour UK Government" and added she "cannot see for the life of me" why Mr Miliband would want to rule out a coalition with the SNP.
She said: " ... working with Labour, in a looser arrangement, I certainly wouldn't rule out because I want to see SNP MPs being in the House of Commons arguing for and pushing for progressive change.
She noted that Mr Miliband had not entirely ruled out working together and said Labour would not be forgiven in Scotland if they missed the opportunity to work with the SNP to remove David Cameron from power.
There has been increasing pressure on Labour to rule out a coalition from the Conservatives, who have made it clear in attack posters they intend to campaign on the prospect of a power-sharing agreement between the two parties.
The latest poster saw a picture of Mr Miliband in the jacket pocket of the former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who is standing for Parliament in May.
Following Mr Miliband's comments a Conservatives spokesman said: "This changes nothing. Ed Miliband will not rule out a deal with the SNP because he knows it's impossible to become Prime Minister without being carried into Downing Street in Alex Salmond's pocket."
Video:How Could Hung Parliament Play Out?
The idea of Labour sharing power with a party that actively wants to break up the UK has caused unease among many voters in England.
It has also caused concern for Labour MPs campaigning in Scotland where the party is expecting to suffer heavy losses to the SNP.
Writing in the Scottish newspaper the Daily Record on Monday morning, Labour's chief election strategist Douglas Alexander also said the party did not want a coalition with the SNP.
"The SNP have already said they don't want a coalition with Labour. As Labour, we don't want a coalition with the SNP. The coalition we want is with working people across Britain to change who our economy works for," he said.
Mr Alexander listed a number of policies over which the SNP and Labour were at odds.
He said the nationalist party did not back Labour's plans for a mansion tax to pay for extra NHS staff or proposals to fund measures to help children going from school to work with a cut for pension tax relief for high earners.
Video:Ken Clarke Dismisses UKIP Pact
On Sunday, the shadow chancellor Ed Balls said: "We don't want any deal with the SNP; it's not part of our plans. It's nonsense."
Labour has looked to pressure the Tories over a deal with UKIP that could see the party hold on to power.
At the weekend Nigel Farage offered a confidence and supply arrangement with David Cameron's party in return for an immediate referendum on Britain's continued membership of the European Union – Mr Cameron has said there will not be a vote until 2017.
However, speaking on the Andrew Marr show, Chancellor George Osborne said the idea was "total nonsense".
The man tasked with investigating Jeremy Clarkson's "fracas" has reportedly begun his inquiry but the BBC is remaining silent over how long it will take.
Ken MacQuarrie, who is director of BBC Scotland, is in London to begin sorting out what is becoming an increasing embarrassment for the corporation.
Earlier Clarkson left his west London home and told reporters he was going for lunch with a friend - not to the inquiry.
Sources close to the investigation say it is impossible to put a deadline on its work until it hears from the two men central to the inquiry - Clarkson and producer Oisin Tymon.
The Top Gear host was suspended on Tuesday for allegedly punching Mr Tymon after filming for the show during a row over a hot meal at a hotel.
Video:PM: 'He's A Great Talent'
Sunday night's Top Gear episode was replaced with a programme about the Red Arrows. It is thought the viewing figures for BBC2's 8pm slot fell by around four million.
Communications watchdog Ofcom said it had received more than 100 complaints, with a spokesman saying it will take no action as it "can only assess a breach of the broadcasting code if a show has actually aired".
A BBC spokesman said: "The BBC's position is the one we set out in a statement last week. We have an investigation led by Ken MacQuarrie to establish the facts and people should wait for the outcome of that."
Clarkson is still scheduled to appear alongside co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond at four live shows in Norway on 27 and 28 March and a decision on whether to go ahead is expected early this week.
All three men's contracts expire three days after the Norway gigs, which could render any disciplinary hearings redundant.
Video:Clarkson 'Off To The Job Centre'
The controversy took a further twist this weekend when victims of Jimmy Savile denounced comparisons of the support shown to Clarkson to the widespread protection offered to the dead paedophile presenter as "upsetting" and "totally offensive".
A senior figure at the BBC was reported as suggesting Clarkson is able to behave as he wishes because of his celebrated position and support from powerful friends, including the Prime Minister.
The Mail On Sunday claimed the BBC chief compared the support for Clarkson to the way sex offender Savile was defended.
The reported comments drew a furious response from victims of the former Radio 1 DJ.
