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Holy cow! Documentary on ‘Batkid’ to hit big screen
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IRAQIS REGROUP OVER RAMADI
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U.S. says security force can take city back from ISIL
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uGoodbye, Dave: We look back at Letterman’s final show
Jim Michaels USA TODAY
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USA SNAPSHOTS©
Musical ‘maturity’
Early
30s
average, people lose interest in keeping up with popular music. Source Spotify 2014 listener data, U.S. users ages 14-48
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NEW VIEW FROM ABOVE
One World Observatory at One World Trade Center in Manhattan will open to the public May 29. Visitors will enter a room called Voices, where 48 people who helped build the tower tell their stories in videos. “I was there when it came down,” says Jorge Fernandez, referring to the original World Trade Center, which was destroyed by terrorists on 9/11.
From bin Laden’s bookshelf: Love letters, a study in vanity Spy agency releases seized papers
WASHINGTON The contents of Osama bin Laden’s “bookshelf” — the readings seized by SEAL Team 6 when it raided his compound and killed him in 2011 — were released Wednesday, including a love letter to his “beloved wife.” Bin Laden had multiple wives, including two who were captured during Tom Vanden Brook the mission. His mash @tvandenbrook note from 2008 praises USA TODAY one wife who filled his heart “with love, beautiful memories.” He gushed, “As for you, you are the apple of my eye, and the most precious thing that I have in this world.” Elsewhere on the shelf, his reading list ranges from the expected (the Quran) to the eclectic (a Time article on America Online’s stock).
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the titles of a trove of documents online under the heading “Bin Laden’s Bookshelf.” The office, which oversees U.S. intelligence agencies, unveiled the contents of bin Laden’s library from his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in an effort to increase “transparency.” The release comes four years after the mission killed bin Laden and allowed commandos to seize letters, books and other intelligence on the al-Qaeda terrorism network he founded. An interagency review determined that release of the documents and titles to others would not compromise efforts to combat the organization. The documents were re-
EPA
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a raid in 2011.
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ANNE R. CAREY AND KARL GELLES, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON Iraqi forces regrouped outside Ramadi, as the Pentagon expressed confidence Wednesday that those troops can take the city back from Islamic State militants with U.S. help. “It’s a setback but it’s one that we’re confident the Iraqis will recover from in the near term,” said Air Force Col. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. He did not provide a timeframe. The Pentagon had been slow to concede the fall of Ramadi, a major Sunni city captured by the militants last weekend. And critics remain unconvinced about its continued confidence in Iraq’s forces, saying the loss of Ramadi shows the U.S. strategy for combating the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is failing. “Ramadi’s fall is a significant defeat and one that should lead our nation’s leaders to reconsider an indecisive policy and a total lack of strategy,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz. McCain said the U.S. government has tried to diminish the importance of Ramadi’s loss to “save face.” Across the Iraqi border in Syria, the Islamic State also was making headway. On Wednesday, militants had pushed back Syrian government forces and seized large parts of Palmyra, an ancient city with well-preserved Romanera ruins. The militants have destroyed ancient artifacts elsewhere in the region. The Pentagon said it is standing by its strategy in Iraq, which involves training and advising Iraq’s forces and attacking the militants with airstrikes. The advisers are barred from accompanying Iraq’s combat units in the field. So far, the U.S. advisers have trained about 7,000 Iraqi troops, but none were in Ramadi, where the Iraqi forces abandoned their positions and U.S. equipment. The United States has 3,000 troops in Iraq, including about 650 trainers and advisers. “We’re confident we have the right strategy at this time to degrade and defeat ISIL,” Ryder said, using an acronym for the militants. Military analysts say rebuilding Iraq’s military is a major challenge because many soldiers have no confidence in their government or commanders.
David Letterman gets fitting sendoff Millions watch end of an era of late night TV Gary Levin USA TODAY
It was a warm welcome for David Letterman’s farewell Wednesday night, although four of five living presidents, seen on video as the show opened, expressed relief that “our long national nightmare is over.” His retirement, after 33 years in late-night and 6,028 broadcasts, was a momentous event in
TV that only a few hundred witnessed in person but millions more will watch as the end of an era. “It’s beginning to look like I’m not going to get the Tonight Show,” he joked as began his opening monologue after sustained applause. He addressed questions about his future plans: “When people ask, ‘What are you going to do when you retire,’ he said, ‘My God, I’m going to be the new face of Scientology.” And he promised bandleader Paul Shaffer and he “will be debuting our Las Vegas act with white tigers.”
Letterman was somewhat emotional, but not teary, in his last show. He screened a tribute from The Simpsons, with Maggie playing with blocks that spelled “Worldwide Pants,” the name of his production company. And he showed a joke clip from Wheel of Fortune, in which the puzzle solution was, “Good riddance to David Letterman.” He played a fan-favorite remote segment from 1996, when he worked the drive-through at a Taco Bell, and a montage that showed him interacting with kids. And there was a clip of a day in the life of Letterman, echoing a
After 33 years in late night television, David Letterman hosts his final broadcast of the Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday. JOHN PAUL FILO, CBS
similar Johnny Carson finale bit, that began with his early-morning arrival at the Ed Sullivan Theater. The tuxedo-clad Foo Fighters, a favorite band, played Everlong, the song he also requested when he returned from heart-bypass
surgery in 2000. Otherwise, the guest list was limited to his signature Top Ten segment. The No. 1 on the “Top Ten things I’ve always wanted to say to Dave” was delivered by Bill Murray: “Dave, I’ll never have the money I owe you.”