BBC News with Jerry Smit.
The White House has described the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures as a serious national security matter. It says it was a malicious attack by what it called a sophisticated hacker. Although it did not name North Korea. Earlier, Sony announced that a comedy film about the plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would not be released anywhere in the world. The White House spokesman, here is Josh Earnest.
There is evidence to indicate that we have seen destructive activity with malicious attempt that was initiated by a sophisticated hacker and is being treated by those investigation agencies, both FBI and the department of Justice as seriously as you could expect. It has also been subject of a number of daily meetings that have been convened to the White House.
Hackers have threatened not only Sony but anyone who is thinking of watching the film, warning them to remember the September 11th attack. Our North America editor John Soper reports on the reactions in the US now the film will not be shown.
The decision by Sony executives has provoked a furious backlash. The actor Ben Stiller called the move a threat to freedom of his expression. The creator of the TV series the West Wing Aaron Sorkin said the US had its come to an unprecedented attack on the backdrop principle of free speech. While the real life occupant of the West Wing, Barack Obama urged people to continue going to the cinema.
The UN General Assembly has voted in favor of referring North Korea to the international criminal court to face charges of crimes against humanity. A UN report released in February said ordinary North Koreans face what he called unspeakable atrocities.
Kurdish forces said they have broken the siege of Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq, freeing thousands of people who have been trapped for months by Islamic State militants. The event began on early Wednesday. Jim Mill has the details.
45 air strikes were carried out, the most intensive such attacks since the Americans began using their air power in northern Iraq in August, then a big force of some 8000 Kurdish Peshmerg troops launched 2 rounds of ground assaults. Less than 48 hour later, they declared the operation a success. They said they had recaptured several hundreds square kilometers of terrain, breaking the IS’s siege of Mount Sinjar by opening a wide corridor to the thousands of the Yazidis and others trapped on the mountain top. If the Kurds have done all they said, it’s a significant advance, but there is still a long way to go.
European leaders are meeting in Brussels with reviving economic growth and improving stringent ties with Russia on top of the agenda. The EU Foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called on Russia’s president Putin to make a radical change in his attitude towards Ukraine where Moscow back separatist rebels. She spoke as EU announced tighter restrictions on tourism and oil and gas investment in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in March.
News from the BBC.
A BBC investigation has found poor working conditions at an Apple production factory in China in breaching the technology giant’s promise to protect workers. Apple said it will investigate any concern brought to them. Richard Bilton reports.
The undercoverred team filmed a Foxccon factory on the outskirts of Shanghai. After a spate of suicides in 2010 Apple published standards designed to protect workers. The BBC found they were routinely breached. All of the undercoverred reporters were on shifts of 12 hours or more, the longest was 16 hours. As well as excessive hours, the investigation found other breaches of Apple’s code. Apple said in a statement that it strongly disagrees with the investigation’s conclusions. Adding we are aware of no other companies are doing as much as Apple to ensure fair and safe working conditions.
US Congress members opposed to president Barack Obama’s new Cuba policy have threatened to block efforts to restore diplomatic relations after 50 years of hostility. The Republican Senator Mark Kirk said he haven’t thought the nomination of any U.S. ambassador to Cuba. At this, both Republican and Democratic Parties are divided over Cuba.
An important base used by aid agencies to store Ebola treatment supplies have burned down in Guinea, one of the countries worst affected by the epidemic. The fire broke out in the early hours of the morning at the warehouse of the airport in the capital of Conakry. Firefighters were unable to control the blaze. The building as well as the equipment inside it have been burned. It’s unclear how the fire started.
Israel has criticized as gimmick Palestinian efforts to set a 3-year deadline for it to end its occupation of Palestinian territories. A draft resolution which was formally submitted by Jordan to the United Nations Security Council also says there should be a peace accord within a year.