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Rolling Stones treat Cuba to spectacular and historic gig –
Hundreds of thousands thronged to the Ciudad Deportiva stadium to see the British rockers, who follow hard on the heels of a visit by Barack Obama, in a week that few on this island are ever likely to forget. Amid growing hopes of reform and further opening, the Stones frontman emphasised how far the country has already come in cultural opening from the 1960s, when their songs were considered ideologically divergent. “We know that years ago, it was difficult to listen to our music in Cuba, but now here we are in your beautiful land,” Jagger said in Spanish. “I think that, finally, the times are changing. That’s true, no?” The crowd roared their agreement. [The Guardian]
Mick Jagger in 2014

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Helios – Embrace from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo.

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War
  • Palmyra offensive (March 2016)
    • Syrian troops advance into Palmyra on multiple fronts with the help of Russian airstrikes and take several neighbourhoods, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. However they were unable to encircle the city. (BBC)

Arts and culture

• British rock band The Rolling Stones performs in Havana, Cuba, the first Western band to play an open-air free concert in the country, in what has been called a “historic moment.” Western music used to be banned in Cuba as being “ideologically divergent.” (The Guardian)
• Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert De Niro announces the film, Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, will not be screened at the 2016 Festival as previously announced. “Grace [Hightower] and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined,” Mr. De Niro said. “… (our) Tribeca Film Festival team and others from the scientific community … do not believe (this film) contributes to or furthers the discussion (about autism) I hoped for,” the actor/producer said. (USA Today)

Business and economics

• British newspaper The Independent publishes its last print edition. (Sky News)

Health and medicine

• Zika virus outbreak
  • Chile confirms its first case of sexually transmitted Zika virus. The case involves a 46-year-old woman whose partner was infected while in Haiti. (Reuters)
  • The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises women exposed to Zika, which means traveling to South American (or other) countries where the disease is rampant, have protected sex for at least two months before attempting to get pregnant. Men exposed should not have unprotected sex for at least six months. (UPI)

International relations

• U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford makes a proposal to President Barack Obama to increase the number of American troops in Iraq, so as to help the Iraqi Army with advisors closer to the front lines and to recapture Mosul, which fell to ISIL in June 2014. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Politics and elections

• United States presidential election, 2016, Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016
  • Voters in the U.S. states of Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington gather for Democratic Party caucuses. (Washington Times)
  • Senator Bernie Sanders is the projected winner in Alaska and Washington. (U.S. News & World Report)

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