Around the World: February 13, 2015

Here's what's happening across the United States and around the world today.
 
Skeptical US looks for new Ukraine peace deal to take hold as arms, fresh sanctions considered
 
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is taking a wary, wait-and-see approach toward the new Ukraine peace agreement, which was reached without direct American input and as the U.S. considers whether to give defensive weapons to Ukraine and slap fresh sanctions on Russia.
 
Despite reservations about the agreement, U.S. officials say any action on lethal aid or new sanctions is on hold at least for the moment.
 
While welcoming the deal in principle, the administration is concerned that the compromise — struck on Thursday after 16 hours of negotiations in Minsk among the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine — may give too much to Russia and the pro-Russian rebels. U.S. officials are highly skeptical that either the rebels or Russia will abide by the pact, which lays out a series of phased steps for Ukraine and the separatists to take, starting with a cease-fire to begin on Sunday.
 
That skepticism was evident in notably cautious statements about the agreement issued by the White House, which described it as a "potentially significant step," and Secretary of State John Kerry, who noted that there is "a long road ahead before achieving peace and the full restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty."
 
"This agreement must now be followed by immediate, concrete steps to fulfill the commitments by all parties," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. "The true test of today's accord will be in its full and unambiguous implementation, including the durable end of hostilities and the restoration of Ukrainian control over its border with Russia."

Obama visiting Silicon Valley in push for improving cybersecurity
 
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Responding to unprecedented data breaches and cyberattacks, President Barack Obama is trying to spark alliances between policymakers who want to regulate the online world and tech innovators who traditionally shun Beltway bureaucracies.
 
In California's Silicon Valley on Friday, Obama was participating in a White House summit on cybersecurity and consumer protection, joining hundreds of administration officials, tech and other CEOs, law enforcement officials and consumer and privacy advocates. The focus is on encouraging every player to do better at sharing information that can help the private sector prevent and respond to costly and potentially crippling threats to the security of their online networks.
 
Obama was delivering the keynote address at the daylong event, as well as leading a round-table discussion with a group of business leaders.
 
J.J. Thompson, CEO and managing director of Rook Security, a consulting firm founded in San Jose, California, said the symbolic significance of the gathering could not be overstated, despite its "dog and pony show" aspects. The summit is being held at Stanford University, a hub of tech innovation.
 
"Cybersecurity is at the forefront of everyone in America right now, from the Beltway to California," Thompson said in an interview.

Second Al-Jazeera journalist also freed from Egypt prison; both reunited with families
 
CAIRO (AP) — Al-Jazeera Television says its journalist Baher Mohammed has also been freed from an Egyptian prison, just hours after his colleague Mohammed Fahmy was let go on bail.
The network and the relatives of the two say that both have been reunited with their families on Friday. They spent over 400 days behind bars on terror-related charges.
 
Mohammed's wife, Jehan Rashed, told The Associated Press that her husband arrived home around 7 a.m. Mohammed also appeared in photos posted on the "Free Baher" Facebook page.
Earlier in the day, Fahmy's brother tweeted that he posted $33,000 bail following Thursday's court decision that freed the journalists pending retrial.
 
Their third colleague, Australian Peter Greste, was deported to his home-country, Australia, two weeks ago.

David Carr, who wrote Media Equation column for New York Times, drug memoir, dies at age 58
 
NEW YORK (AP) — Media columnist David Carr, who wrote the Media Equation column for The New York Times and penned a memoir about his fight with drug addiction, collapsed at his office and died on Thursday. He was 58.
 
Just hours before his death he had moderated a "Times Talks" conversation with Edward Snowden, director Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald about the documentary "Citizenfour," which chronicles Snowden's leak of National Security Agency documents. Carr, engaged as always, drew them out with pointed questions and wry observations to speak candidly about the film.
 
The Times' publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., said Carr had "formidable talent" and was "one of the most gifted journalists who has ever worked at The New York Times." He called him "an indispensable guide to modern media."
 
Executive Editor Dean Baquet also heaped praise on Carr and said he was special.
 
"He was the finest media reporter of his generation, a remarkable and funny man who was one of the leaders of our newsroom," Baquet told Carr's colleagues in an email. "He was our biggest champion, and his unending passion for journalism and for truth will be missed by his family at The Times, by his readers around the world, and by people who love journalism."

Evidence at 'American Sniper' trial reveals accused ex-Marine's actions, words after killings
 
STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) — Eddie Ray Routh spoke of insanity, anarchy and the apocalypse when police tried to arrest him after the shooting deaths of "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and his friend.
 
Much of the dramatic evidence presented so far in Routh's capital murder trial, including the police video of his arrest, has outlined for jurors his actions and words on the day Kyle and Chad Littlefield were killed at a rural Texas shooting range two years ago. Testimony is set to continue Friday.
 
Defense attorneys are mounting an insanity defense for the former Marine. Prosecutors have described the 27-year-old as a troubled drug user who knew right from wrong despite any history of mental illnesses.
 
If convicted, Routh faces life in prison without parole. Prosecutors aren't seeking the death penalty.
 
The case has drawn intense interest, largely because of the Oscar-nominated film based on Kyle's memoir that details his four tours in Iraq. The film has grossed nearly $300 million.

Even 70 years later, Allied firebombing of Dresden still fresh in survivor's mind
 
DRESDEN, Germany (AP) — Soviet troops were pressing into Germany from the east and the other Allies from the west, but for 12-year-old schoolboy Eberhard Renner the war seemed far away.
 
Dresden had been spared the destruction suffered by other cities like Berlin and Hamburg, and Renner clung to the hope that the Saxon capital would stay off the target list with the war so clearly near its end.
 
Even as air-raid sirens started screaming 70 years ago Friday, Renner's father dismissed the attack as another reconnaissance mission.
 
Then the bomb fell into Renner's backyard. It blew the thick oak door off the shelter where the family had taken refuge, slamming him and his mother to the ground. Somebody yelled that the roof was on fire, and they ventured out into the streets as the bombs rained down.
 
The Allied decision to firebomb Dresden — immortalized in Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Slaughterhouse Five" — has long been a source of controversy.
 
Seven Harvard grads were CEO when their companies went public, easily topping closest rivals
 
NEW YORK (AP) — Harvard is top of the IPO class for 2014.
 
The Ivy League school is the alma mater for seven chief executives who led their companies' IPOs last year. That's more than twice the amount of the next highest schools in the rankings, according to figures from Equilar, an executive compensation data firm.
Harvard's performance wasn't a fluke. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, school has led the rankings for at least the last three years, according to Equilar.
 
Tied for second place last year were Columbia University, Stanford University, Texas Tech University and University of North Carolina. Each school produced three CEOs who took their companies public.
 
The seven newly publicly traded companies led by Harvard alumni range from online bank Ally Financial to pharmaceutical company Kite Pharma. The group notched an average gain of 74 percent from the date of their market debut to the end of the year. By comparison, the FTSE Renaissance US IPO index, which tracks the performance of U.S. initial public offerings, gained 9.6 percent last year.

Thailand braces for Valentine's Day with warnings, a new hashtag and calls for morality
 
BANGKOK (AP) — Ah, Valentine's Day. Call the police, or better yet the Moral Promotion Center.
 
In most countries, Feb. 14 is a highly commercialized day of romance. In Thailand, it's also a time for strict warnings — and this year a new Twitter hashtag aimed at preventing premarital sex.
 
The Culture Ministry's Moral Promotion Center launched a widely publicized campaign earlier this week called "Just a Meal for Valentine's Day" that urges teens to go home after their dinner dates. It's also asking youths to show support for the campaign by tweeting (hashtag)DinnerOnly in Thai. A Twitter search Friday found that the request had drawn varied reactions of mockery with many postings of the Thai equivalent to LOL!
 
Despite its well-earned reputation to the outside world as a freewheeling destination for sex tourism, Thailand's socially conservative authorities are on a constant mission to uphold the country's traditional Buddhist values among Thai people. Hollywood movies are censored with sex scenes and cigarette smoking pixelated out, and Thai soap operas can't show alcohol consumption. Authorities annually warn youths to avoid "inappropriate activities" on Valentine's Day, which is widely celebrated in Thailand.
 
"Parents and teachers should create correct understanding about Valentine's Day with children," Narathip Pumsap, the Moral Promotion Center's director, was quoted as saying on the English-language website of the Khaosod newspaper. Narathip suggested that instead of engaging in intimacy, teens "show love to their family, society, themselves and the country."

Experts: Brian Williams suspended for stretching the truth, but everybody embellishes stories
 
NEW YORK (AP) — Brian Williams had been a trusted voice in news for decades, until questions arose last week about his credibility when he admitted he embellished a story he covered in Iraq.
 
Some speculate that the NBC news anchor started telling tall tales to appear more interesting as he made the rounds on the late-night talk shows. Others suggest he caved to the pressure to sound anything but boring in an insatiable social media-driven society.
 
Williams was suspended Tuesday by the network for six months for stretching the truth, a stunning fall from grace, but he's far from alone. Puffing up one's experiences — whether it's falsifying a resume or exaggerating stories to amplify the derring-do factor — is something that everyone does for myriad reasons, whether they admit it or not, experts say.
 
"Any human being who tells you they have never embellished their own life story is probably lying," said Bob Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "My story of how hard it was to get home in the snow on Monday is a lot better on Wednesday. There are all kinds of new things, like abominable snowmen."
 
Williams had claimed in numerous reports and appearances that he was riding in a helicopter that was hit by a grenade. But last week, when he was exposed, he admitted that another helicopter — not his — was struck.

Put it on paws: Dog lovers from Norway to Nicaragua to Nairobi log in to watch Westminster
 
NEW YORK (AP) — Macarena Robledo loves hounds. All of 'em, especially petit basset griffon Vendeens.
 
So she fully intends to plop down for a front-row look Monday when the beagles, whippets and Plotts enter the judging ring at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.
Her view comes with a nice summer breeze, too — from the garden at home in Rancagua, a copper mining city in central Chile.
 
Robledo and others around the globe will be watching thanks to new tech at America's top pooch pageant, a Westminster app designed to give each of the 2,711 dogs its own live shot.
"You get the illusion that you are actually attending the show, even if you are miles away from it," she wrote by email. "In my case, it would imply an almost 12-hour flight that costs way more than the mobile app."

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