Six In The Morning Tuesday March 24

Israel denies spying on US-Iran nuclear talks

24 March 2015

Israel has strongly denied a report that it spied on talks between Iran and the US over Iran's nuclear programme.

A senior Israeli official told the BBC that the claims, reported in the Wall Street Journal, were "utterly false".

The Journal said Israel wanted details of the talks in order to build a case against a nuclear deal with Iran.

It said US officials had been particularly angered that Israel allegedly sought to share confidential details with US lawmakers and others.

Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the US Congress that a deal being discussed could "pave Iran's path to the bomb".

The US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China are seeking to reach agreement to curtail Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

World's top zoo organisation accused of links to Taiji dolphin slaughter in Japan

Conservationists take World Association of Zoos and Aquariums to court for allegedly sanctioning a deal with fishermen in which dolphins were selected for capture

Oliver Milman and Justin McCurry

The world’s leading zoo organisation has been accused of being complicit in the infamous dolphin hunts in Taiji, Japan, by helping secure captured dolphins for one of its members, despite publicly condemning the practice.

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Waza) is being taken to a Swiss court by conservationists who accuse it of misleading conduct over its stance on the Taiji dolphin hunts, which gained global attention through the documentaryThe Cove.

Waza is accused of sanctioning a private deal involving the fishermen who herd and slaughter the dolphins and the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums(Jaza), which is an associate Waza member.

Waza’s code of ethics labels the dolphin hunts “inherently cruel”, but it allegedly agreed a “dolphin management protocol” with Jaza in 2009 that involved a “gentler” method of herding small numbers of dolphins towards shore where they would be captured for aquariums.

The future of GM: The greenhouses where Monsanto 'plays God' with the future of the planet

In the second in our series on genetically modified crops, Oliver Wright reports from St Louis – where science meets nature in the cause of feeding tomorrow's world 

OLIVER WRIGHT 

If you travel from downtown St Louis at night on Highway 40 towards Kansas City and look out to your right you will see a strange bright white haze emanating from the horizon.

Get away from the road, and what you see is stranger still. Sixty feet in the air and perched on top of a vast rectangular brick building are rows and rows of greenhouses illuminating the night sky.

The scene is like something out of a sci-fi movie – you almost expect to see a mad scientist emerge at any moment, cackling about world domination. But then, talk to some environmentalists, and that is pretty much what they think. Because these greenhouses belong to Monsanto and it was inside here that the first genetically modified crops were cultivated 20 years ago. And it is here today that the latest developments in biotechnology are being grown in the artificial light of day.

Vladimir Putin's Night Wolves biker gang lends muscle to rebel cause in east Ukraine

March 24, 2015 - 3:21AM

Maxime Popov

Lugansk, Ukraine: Dressed in leathers and camouflage, motorbike gang leader Vitali waves at two charred Ukrainian tank turrets decorating the entrance to his club as he recounts how his group has fought alongside pro-Russian rebels.

"My love for my homeland, for my territory, is my life," he explains as he stands outside his headquarters in separatist bastion Lugansk.

The biker - also known by his nickname "Prosecutor" - is boss of the east Ukraine branch of the Night Wolves motorcycle gang, a collection of Kremlin-loving toughs originally created in Russia that boasts close ties to President Vladimir Putin.

"I'm a Night Wolf, not a rebel," claims the 35-year-old former soldier.

"I'm just defending my homeland", he adds, explaining that his men often work "behind enemy lines".

Defying Toyko, Okinawa suspends US military base construction (+video)

The relocation of a US Marine Corps base on the island is aimed at removing a longstanding irritant in US-Japan relations. Tokyo backs the relocation plan, but the view in Okinawa is less positive. 

By Michael Holtz, Staff writer

The governor of Okinawa has ordered a halt to construction of a controversial new United States military base on the southern Japanese island, the latest setback in a long-running row over the US military presence there. 

Gov. Takeshi Onaga demanded that Japan's government suspend all work at the site after local officials discovered that concrete blocks – used in underwater drilling surveys – had damaged coral reefs.

At a press conference on Monday, Gov. Onaga said that the Japanese Defense Bureau, the branch of the Defense Ministry that's overseeing the project, had one week to stop all construction activity. He threatened to revoke the bureau’s license for ongoing drilling work if it failed to comply. 

Nigerian girls who escaped Boko Haram risk their lives to go to school

By Nima Elbagir and Lillian Leposo, CNN

Updated 0548 GMT (1348 HKT) March 24, 2015

In a side ROOM at the American University of Nigeria, four girls chat and giggle. One teenage girl in particular catches our attention. She looks familiar. Then we realize why.

We met her just a few weeks after Boko Haram had attacked her school and abducted almost 300 students. As the Boko Haram trucks carrying them began to speed away to the militants' territory, she and her friend bravely jumped, barely escaping with their lives. She was one of the lucky ones.

School, she says, from that day on became a reminder of what almost happened. A place she never wanted to return.

But now she is back and the change in her is remarkable. She dreams of remaining in the classroom as a teacher, so that just like her tutors, she can influence and inspire young minds.