The Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked the U.S. Agency for International Development on Thursday to turn over all its records about the Obama administration's Twitter-like social media program it secretly built in Cuba.

The request included all copies of any messages that the U.S. government or its contractors transmitted to subscribers in Cuba, who never were told about Washington's role in the primitive, text message-based network that was meant to undermine Cuba's communist government.

Congressional hearings this week scrutinized the Obama administration's social media program, known as ZunZuneo when it publicly launched in 2010, and whether USAID should be running such an intelligence-like operation instead of spy outfits like the CIA.

"USAID programs are as of notified designed to promote open accessed information, facilitate communication," said Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator. "Any programs that have further purposes are not implemented by USAID but rather by other parts of the state department or the national endowment for democracy."

Menendez, who made the request without a committee vote, said the review will consider whether USAID's pro-democracy programs in Cuba were consistent with those run in other foreign countries, and whether USAID should operate what it has since acknowledged was a "discreet" program.

Menendez said earlier Thursday that USAID's Cuban program was not "in any way a cockamamie idea." His comments took direct aim at Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who earlier this week criticized the USAID program in similar terms _ marking a rare departure from the Senate's staid tradition of decorum among lawmakers.

"It is dumb, dumb and even dumber to go ahead and suggest that there can be freedom, and we should seek Internet freedom globally, but somehow the people of Cuba don't deserve the same freedom," Menendez said. Leahy last week called the secret program "dumb, dumb, dumb."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 10 April, 2014

1. Wide of hearing hall from far end

POOL

Washington - 10 April, 2014

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Chairman Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey:

"I think it is dumb, dumb, and even dumber to go ahead and suggest that there can be freedom and we should seek freedom of international access and freedom of expression globally but that somehow the people of Cuba don't deserve the same freedom."

3. Wide of people talking in the hall

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida:

"The other argument I've heard is that this is a covert program but in fact this program was reviewed by the general accounting office right."

VOICE UP Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator; "Correct"

"And they made no suggestions for changes. They had no criticisms of how the money was being administered.

SOUNBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator:

"They actually complimented USAID on improvement management oversight of the program.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida:

"There was no intelligence program, there was no spying on the Cuban government used in this program"

VOICE UP Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator; "no"

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 10 April, 2014

5. Close of Shah listening

POOL

Washington - 10 April, 2014

6. SOUNBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID president:

"USAID programs are as of notified designed to promote open accessed information, facilitate communication. Any programs that have further purposes are not implemented by USAID but rather by other parts of the state department or the national endowment for democracy."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 10 April, 2014

7. Close of Senator Jeff Flake

POOL

Washington - 10 April, 2014

8. SOUNBITE (English) Senator Jeff Flake, R-Arizona:

"specifically with this one I do have issues. Not with the fact that we have programs like this going but the fact that they're conducted by USAID."

9. Wide of of people leaving hearing

HEADLINE: Death threats for latin singing star

CAPTION: The business manager of Latin pop singer Juanes said the "Peace Without Borders" concert will go on as planned in Havana despite threatening messages the singer received recently on his Twitter account. (Aug. 21)

[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE]

Latin singing star Juanes (Wahn-Ess) says he fears for his safety as well as his family. [Notes:broll og jauness]

That's according to a police report he filed in Key Biscayne, Florida, where he lives. [Notes:video of police report from winton]

And it's all over a concert he has planned for next month.

It's in Cuba -- and that has led to threatening messages on Juanes' Twitter account.

He says one message read "I hate what you are saying but you will die for defending your right to say it."

Some Cuban-Americans in Miami have criticized the event, saying that it endorses the Communist-led government of Fidel and Raul Castro.

[Notes:SOT Manny Diaz - in spanish - nat pop up in spanish]

This record shop manager says he's opposed to the Havana concert but thinks some Cuban extremists are overreacting.

Police in Key Biscayne, Florida are providing the pop-star with extra security here at the singer's home....

[Notes:Charles Press, chief, Key Biscayne Police Dept]

[Notes:"I reached out to Juanes' manager. Spoke with him briefly about the situation, and from that moment on realized we had something going on here.]

Juanes -- a 17-time Latin Grammy winner, who is from Colombia, is known for his social activism.

Event promoters insist the Havana concert will have no ideological overtones.

Juanes admits he considered canceling the show -- but his spokesman says the show will go on.

Costa Rica's government has asked Washington to explain why it devised a secret 'Cuban Twitter' social media network from inside the Central American nation's borders.

Costa Rica President Laura Chinchilla confirmed on Thursday that she approved a diplomatic note her government sent to the US Embassy in San Jose asking about the social media network.

"The appropriate (diplomatic) note was sent to make our position known and from our point of view there is nothing more to add," Chinchilla told reporters at a government event in San Jose.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) created ZunZuneo to stir political unrest in Cuba, but its users were unaware it was backed by the US government.

In early April, the Associated Press reported that ZunZuneo's development team initially operated out of Central America.

A USAID manager supervised the work of US contractor Creative Associates International from an office in the capital San Jose.

The US government has denied that the program was secret or that it had a political agenda.

Documents obtained by the AP show that contractors working on ZunZuneo went to extensive lengths to hide its ties to the US, using foreign companies and computer servers paid for via a bank account in the Cayman Islands.

They did so after acquiring more than 400,000 mobile phone numbers from Cuba's state-run telecommunications provider.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica President speaking at an event of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration

2. Mid of Chinchilla speaking

3. Wide of event

4. Chinchilla speaking

5. Chinchilla leaving event and stopping to greet someone

6. Chinchilla talking to media, with Costa Rica Communications Minister Carlos Roverssi to her right (with yellow tie)

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica President:

"The appropriate (diplomatic) note was sent (to the US Embassy in Costa Rica) to make our position known and from our point of view there is nothing more to add."

8. Roverssi listening to Chinchilla as she talks to media

9. Close of Roverssi

10. Roverssi listening to Chinchilla as she talks to media

11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Carlos Roverssi, Costa Rica Minister of Communication:

"Look, when we learned through the AP (about social media network ZunZuneo), which was the (news agency) that brought this information to light, we officially requested that the government of the United States clarify the facts, as they have been reported. The government of the republic (Costa Rica) was unaware of the issue (meaning ZunZuneo's existence), the issue came about in 2008 and we are waiting for the response from the government of the United States."

12. Roverssi leaving event

Colombia's government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia say they have agreed on the return of a handful of children living in the group's camps to civilian life.

Negotiators working on a peace deal in Havana said Sunday evening that they had agreed to move children younger than 15 out of the FARC's camps.

The head of the rebels' negotiating team told Colombian media last year that there were 13 children younger than 15 living among FARC fighters.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos praised the agreement on his Twitter account, calling it "historic."

The two sides have been negotiating a peace accord since 2012 that would end their more-than 50 year war.

They missed a deadline for a final deal two months ago and have yet to reach agreement on a cease-fire and the disarming and demobilizing of rebels into temporary protected zones.

Colombia's government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia say they have agreed on the return of a handful of children living in the group's camps to civilian life.

Negotiators working on a peace deal in Havana said Sunday evening that they had agreed to move children younger than 15 out of the FARC's camps.

The head of the rebels' negotiating team told Colombian media last year that there were 13 children younger than 15 living among FARC fighters.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos praised the agreement on his Twitter account, calling it "historic."

The two sides have been negotiating a peace accord since 2012 that would end their more-than 50 year war.

They missed a deadline for a final deal two months ago and have yet to reach agreement on a cease-fire and the disarming and demobilizing of rebels into temporary protected zones.

Havana – 15 May 2016

1. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) lead negotiator Ivan Marquez and Colombian government's lead negotiator Humberto de la Calle shaking hands before news conference

2. United Nations representative Leila Serrougui (left) and other officials

3. Colombian Foreign Minister Paula Gaviria seated before news conference

4. FARC and Colombian government negotiators seated before news conference

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ivan Marquez, top FARC commander and lead negotiator:

"Today, the government and the FARC reached a new agreement which will free underage children from the rigors of the conflict. We hope this decision will become the basis for all Colombians to become aware of the urgency to protect the rights of girls, boys and teenagers in the country."

6. De la Calle during news conference

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Humberto de la Calle, Colombian government's lead negotiator:

"Three important measures have been announced: the exit of children younger than 15 years old from the (FARC) camps, the creation of a plan to allow the progressive disassociation of all minors under 18, and the creation of a comprehensive program to provide the best care to these children who leave the war."

8. Serrougui giving speech

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Leila Serrougui, United Nations Representative:

"I call on all Colombian people to support this agreement, and to see this as a crucial element in constructing a durable peace for your country, and ensuring guarantees for non-repetition"

10. Pan right meeting

COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT JUAN MANUEL SANTOS TWITTER ACCOUNT - AP CLIENTS ONLY

16 May 2016

11. Various screen grabs of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos' Twitter account welcoming the agreement

12. Screen grab of Santos' tweet reading (Spanish) "We reached a historic agreement in Havana to take children away from war"

A Twitter-like Cuban social media network that the U.S. government built to stir unrest was a "cockamamie" idea doomed to discovery and failure, the chairman of a Senate panel that oversees the U.S. Agency for International Development declared Tuesday. He said the agency didn't adequately describe to Congress the program it was secretly operating.

A key question for the hearings is whether the program endangered its users by concealing that the U.S. government was behind it. The network was publicly launched shortly after the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross. He was imprisoned there after traveling repeatedly on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Cuban Internet access using sensitive technology that only governments use.

His voice rising in anger at moments, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said, "while we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, US citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year in capacity, solely because he was carrying out a USAID program which was dumb in its inception." He also said that from its inception, the program had "no possibility of working."

Rajiv Shah, USAID's top official, said the program, disclosed last week by The Associated Press, was part of the administration's efforts to provide new digital methods to increase the flow of information in and out of Cuba. Shah said the effort operated "discreetly" and was described in congressional budget justifications. But Leahy interrupted Shah to say he had read those budget documents.

"If you could figure out it meant this, you're doing a lot better job than most of us," Leahy said.

An Associated Press investigation last week revealed that USAID oversaw the creation of the text message-based service, dubbed ZunZuneo for the sound made by a Cuban hummingbird. USAID and its contractors went to extensive lengths to conceal Washington's ties to the project, according to interviews and documents obtained by the AP.

Shah said the AP's report had a number of critical inaccuracies, but he was not asked to describe them and did not specify his complaints. Though he could not say who came up with the idea for Zunzuneo, he said the agency operates transparently and was "absolutely not" operating a covert program.

POOL

Washington - April 8, 2014

1. Wide of Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) entering the chambers and shaking hands with Sen. Patrick Leahy, the chairman of a Senate panel that oversees the agency

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont:

"While we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, US citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year in capacity, solely because he was carrying out a USAID program which was dumb in its inception."

3. Wide of the Senate panel at the hearing

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"The program was designed in 2007 and 2008, in that time frame. That said the legislation that crafts the purpose of the program -- (Sen. Leahy: No, whose idea was it for this specific program? I read the legislation. The legislation doesn't say anything about setting up a cockamamie idea in Cuba with Twitter accounts and all in something that the Cubans would be so easy to discover. Whose idea was this specific program to go to Cuba? Who? It's a simple question.) Um, sir, the program was in place before I arrived (Sen. Leahy: But do you know whose idea it was? I know it was in place before and I said that before in my opening statement before you arrived but do you know whose idea it was?) I -- well first let me say and I know this is important sir and I greatly respect your point of view but that AP story had a number of critical inaccuracies. (Sen. Leahy: I've read USAID's statement and I'll put that in the record, I'll tell you what, I'll put it in the record, both your response to the AP story and the AP story. Having said that, do you know whose idea it was?) I do not specifically, but I'll say this. Working on creating platforms to improve communication in Cuba and many other parts of the world is a core part of what USAID has done for some time and continues to do. Our administration's policy is to continue to support efforts to allow for open communications. To the extent that the AP story and any other comment creates the impression that this effort or any other goes beyond that for other ulterior purposes. That is simply inaccurate. (Sen. Leahy: Was it a covert program?) Absolutely not. It was conducted (Sen. Leahy: And was anyone at the US interests section of the Department of State or the White House aware of the facts of this program?) This program has been notified publicly in Congressional budget justifications dating back to 2008. (Sen. Leahy: I've read those and when I talk about bureaucrats, if you can figure out it mean this, you're doing a lot better job than most of us."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 8 April 2014

5. Mid of Sen. Coats and Sen. Boozman at the hearing

POOL

Washington - 8 April 2014

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"They don't always work and I'll be the first to admit that, but often they do. (Sen. Leahy: This one from the get go had no possibility of working. That's my problem."

7. Mid of Shah getting up after the hearing

POOL

Washington - April 8, 2014

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont:

"While we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, US citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year in capacity, solely because he was carrying out a USAID program which was dumb in its inception."

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"The program was designed in 2007 and 2008, in that time frame. That said the legislation that crafts the purpose of the program -- (Sen. Leahy: No, whose idea was it for this specific program? I read the legislation. The legislation doesn't say anything about setting up a cockamamie idea in Cuba with Twitter accounts and all in something that the Cubans would be so easy to discover."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 8, 2014

3. Mid of Sen. Coats and Sen. Boozman at the hearing

POOL

Washington - April 8, 2014

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"Working on creating platforms to improve communication in Cuba and many other parts of the world is a core part of what USAID has done for some time and continues to do. Our administration's policy is to continue to support efforts to allow for open communications. To the extent that the AP story and any other comment creates the impression that this effort or any other goes beyond that for other ulterior purposes. That is simply inaccurate. (Sen. Leahy: Was it a covert program?) Absolutely not. It was conducted (Sen. Leahy: And was anyone at the US interests section of the Department of State or the White House aware of the facts of this program?) This program has been notified publicly in Congressional budget justifications dating back to 2008. (Sen. Leahy: I've read those and when I talk about bureaucrats, if you can figure out it mean this, you're doing a lot better job than most of us."

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus008455

A Twitter-like Cuban social media network that the U.S. government built to stir unrest was a "cockamamie" idea doomed to discovery and failure, the chairman of a Senate panel that oversees the U.S. Agency for International Development declared Tuesday. He said the agency didn't adequately describe to Congress the program it was secretly operating.

A key question for the hearings is whether the program endangered its users by concealing that the U.S. government was behind it. The network was publicly launched shortly after the 2009 arrest in Cuba of American contractor Alan Gross. He was imprisoned there after traveling repeatedly on a separate, clandestine USAID mission to expand Cuban Internet access using sensitive technology that only governments use.

His voice rising in anger at moments, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said, "while we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, US citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year in capacity, solely because he was carrying out a USAID program which was dumb in its inception." He also said that from its inception, the program had "no possibility of working."

Rajiv Shah, USAID's top official, said the program, disclosed last week by The Associated Press, was part of the administration's efforts to provide new digital methods to increase the flow of information in and out of Cuba. Shah said the effort operated "discreetly" and was described in congressional budget justifications. But Leahy interrupted Shah to say he had read those budget documents.

"If you could figure out it meant this, you're doing a lot better job than most of us," Leahy said.

An Associated Press investigation last week revealed that USAID oversaw the creation of the text message-based service, dubbed ZunZuneo for the sound made by a Cuban hummingbird. USAID and its contractors went to extensive lengths to conceal Washington's ties to the project, according to interviews and documents obtained by the AP.

Shah said the AP's report had a number of critical inaccuracies, but he was not asked to describe them and did not specify his complaints. Though he could not say who came up with the idea for Zunzuneo, he said the agency operates transparently and was "absolutely not" operating a covert program.

POOL

Washington - April 8, 2014

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont:

"While we debate what USAID is doing in Cuba, US citizen Alan Gross remains in solitary confinement in his fifth year in capacity, solely because he was carrying out a USAID program which was dumb in its inception."

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"The program was designed in 2007 and 2008, in that time frame. That said the legislation that crafts the purpose of the program -- (Sen. Leahy: No, whose idea was it for this specific program? I read the legislation. The legislation doesn't say anything about setting up a cockamamie idea in Cuba with Twitter accounts and all in something that the Cubans would be so easy to discover."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 8, 2014

3. Mid of Sen. Coats and Sen. Boozman at the hearing

POOL

Washington - April 8, 2014

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator:

"Working on creating platforms to improve communication in Cuba and many other parts of the world is a core part of what USAID has done for some time and continues to do. Our administration's policy is to continue to support efforts to allow for open communications. To the extent that the AP story and any other comment creates the impression that this effort or any other goes beyond that for other ulterior purposes. That is simply inaccurate. (Sen. Leahy: Was it a covert program?) Absolutely not. It was conducted (Sen. Leahy: And was anyone at the US interests section of the Department of State or the White House aware of the facts of this program?) This program has been notified publicly in Congressional budget justifications dating back to 2008. (Sen. Leahy: I've read those and when I talk about bureaucrats, if you can figure out it mean this, you're doing a lot better job than most of us."

Cuba's Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez, blamed social media activists in the U.S. for a campaign that led to Sunday's large anti-government march in Havana and smaller ones across the island.

Thousands took to Cuba's capital city streets, clashing with police and several thousand pro-government supporters.

One protester died while trying to overrun a police station on Sunday, the Ministry of Interior informed through a written communique late Tuesday.

During a press conference Tuesday evening, Rodriguez accused an anti-government Twitter campaign called #SOSCUBA for inciting people to riot.

"The so-called trending topics on social media are the result of an inorganic action from North American territory, with the support of trolls, Florida digital media, activists, automated systems," said Rodriguez.

Internet was cut around the island for several hours on Sunday, keeping people from communicating and transmitting live scenes from the protests.

By Monday, internet was restored, but cellphone data and public Wi-Fi hotspots are still blocked, leaving millions of people without access to the internet on the street.

Most Cubans do not have internet at home and depend on data packages they can purchase for their mobile phones.

When questioned by reporters about internet access and why data had not been restored, the minister talked about energy resources and power outages that also affect computer servers.

The island has been experiencing rolling blackouts, some lasting for most of the day, due to a fuel shortage and much-needed repair of their power plants.

But while that might partially explain the occasional lack of mobile phone data, it was not until Sunday afternoon that the cut-off was nationwide and still remains.

Rodriguez emphasised that "Cuba is not going to renounce its right to defend itself against any aggression at whatever level it may occur," leaving little doubt that the cellphone data outage and the inactive Wi-Fi spots in parks and public spaces could be a self-defense move on the part of government authorities.

Havana - 13 July 2021

1. Various of Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez entering the press conference room

2. Rodríguez takes off his facemask

3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Bruno Rodríguez, Foreign Affairs Minister of Cuba:

"The so-called trending topics on social media are the result of an inorganic action from North American territory, with the support of trolls, Florida digital media, activists, automated systems. Used deliberately, with expensive tools precisely to turn a message into a global trend, this is a  gross, rude, big violation of the community policies, of the regulations enforced by the company, the Twitter Platform."

4. Press conference

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Bruno Rodríguez Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba:

"We have had electricity problems. We have communication problems; connectivity problems. And it is true that we are in a complex situation, and it is true that there has been a lack of electricity these days, which also affects the functioning of the networks of the telecommunications server nodes. And I must also say that Cuba is not going to renounce its right to defend itself against any aggression at whatever level it may occur."

6. Press conference

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Bruno Rodríguez Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba:

"Cuban authorities will continue to apply the law with strict compliance to it, with full respect for citizens' rights, with the moderation that comes from the solidity of a revolution."

8. Various of press conference

9. Minister leaving the press conference

An effervescent Havana resident is not letting Cuba's food shortages prevent her from preparing recipes and posting them to Facebook, saying she simply has to make do with what she has.

With more ingenuity than resources, Yuliet Colón is now coping with the shortage exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic by posting her edible creations on Facebook, helping many of her fellow citizens solve culinary problems that arise from ongoing shortages and rising prices.

"It costs a little more, there is a lot of shortage really," said the 39-year-old homemaker, mother of two and a contributor to the "Recipes from the Heart" Facebook page.

A virtual end to tourism because of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a sharpening of United States sanctions ordered by former President Donald Trump and lackluster economic productivity, is the root cause of Cuba's severe food shortage.

Last week, Colón paid a visit to a local farmers market where she bought the few vegetables and created something she calls "Cuban-style pisto manchego" which includes onion, peppers, tomato, eggplant and cucumber.

Although she stood in line for 40 minutes, it pales in comparison to some reports of waiting up to four hours to enter supermarkets to purchase canned goods and meat.

Colón has become a regular contributor to the Facebook page aimed at providing tips, ideas and ingenious substitutions to make do with what is available in any given week on Cuba's ration booklet.

"Recipes from the Heart" began at the end of June of 2020 and Colón published her first contribution in July.   

The portal now has more than 12,000 members, the majority of them women like Colón.

"The reality is, one has had to change a lot in the way we cook," lamented Colón in the small kitchen of her house as she prepared her "pisto manchego", chopping vegetables and photographing the process before uploading the images to the Facebook page.

These days, Cuban household food and personal hygiene staples come and go off market shelves without warning.

When toothpaste appears, deodorant disappears and when it returns, the soap and the toilet paper disappear.

The same is true for rice, beans, milk, cheese, onions, tomato, or garlic. Fruit has not been seen for weeks.

Many compare what is happening now to Cuba's "special period" when the fall of the Soviet Union and the socialist allies caused a 35% decrease in Cuba's Gross Domestic Product between 1990 and 1993.

At that time, the grapefruit steak or what the islanders called the "figure it out" (Ave-Rigua) croquettes became legendary.

One main difference between then and now is that Cubans now have the internet.

Thanks to broadband networks, services to manage food or merchandise delivery to homes has proliferated and it is possible to pay telephone bills from abroad.

Platforms such as WhatsApp or Twitter facilitate finding food and locating of stores where food items are being sold.

Colón uses the internet to communicate with her mother who lives in the United States and who pays for the online service her daughter uses.

Havana - 5 April 2021

1. Various of people lined up at supermarkets to buy food, crowded together or sitting on nearby sidewalks, streets

Havana  - 2 April 2021

2. Yuliet Colón, a local whose hobby is cooking and posting pictures of her food on Facebook, walks by pulling her cart and asks where the end of the line is outside a vegetable market

3. Colón choosing vegetables in the market

4. Board with prices for the produce written in chalk

5. Various of Colón paying for vegetables and leaving the market to go home

6. Colón arriving at her house and entering the front patio

7 . Colón picks aromatic herbs in front of her house for cooking

8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yuliet Colón, Havana resident and social media cook:

"(Food) It costs a little more, there is a lot of shortage really. Now you can get a pound of pork for 100 pesos (US$4), you can get it for 95 (Cuban pesos) depending on the person who sells it to you because it's hard to find. You can buy chicken at the corner store (super market in Cuban pesos) 300 pesos (US$12) for five kilos of chicken or a person can come and sell it to you (at home), which is much more expensive because he stood in line. I don't even know what to tell you."

9. Various shots of Colon washing and arranging vegetables to take pictures of them

10. Various of Colón taking pictures of vegetables for her Facebook page

11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yuliet Colón, Havana resident and social media cook:

"I look for the ingredient or recipe that I am making a story about or I include curious data, the calories they provide and those sort of things. The reality is, one has had to change a lot in the way we cook." (Because of shortage)

12. Various of Colón cooking vegetables in her kitchen, taking pictures

13. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yuliet Colón, Havana resident and social media cook:

"You should work in what you like and if they pay you for that, well, in my case they don't pay me, but I feel good because I meet people (by internet) and I really like to make friends."

14. Colón adds salt and pepper to the vegetables she is cooking

15. Various of Colón taking pictures of her finished dish for her Facebook page

16. Various Colón publishing photos of her recipe on her Facebook page via mobile phone

A fierce debate erupted on social media pitting musicians and activists on both sides of the Florida Strait less than two months before a presidential election in the U.S., where the Cuban-American vote could determine the outcome of the winner in the swing state of Florida.

Musicians and pro and anti-Cuba activists traded gibes and insults on social media platforms like 'What'up" and Facebook, calling on their supporters to boycott and protest Cuban musicians performing in the U.S.

Some of the claims were aimed at Alexander Abreu, singer in the popular band Havana D'Primera, which has a wide following both on the island and in the U.S.

Posts on social media claimed he was anti-Cuban revolution, which he denied on the bands Facebook page, sparking a wide ranging debate on multiple platforms about the political leanings of various Cuban artists.

The accusations are not new.

In the past, many Cuban performers have been denounced for performing concerts in the U.S., especially in heavily Cuban populated communities like Tampa and Miami.

In Havana Friday, some big names amongst Cuban musicians gathered to decry the storm on social media, and call for solidarity and unity in support of the arts.

The harsh debate comes just as presidential campaigning enters its final phase in the state of Florida, where Cuban-American voters have been a determining factor in past elections.

Havana - 18 September 2020

1. Cuban musicians gathered

2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Samuel Formell, Member of Group 'Los Van Van':

"I think this affects the number of those who follow and enjoy our music, which is popular, but it mixes it with politics. They (Cubans in Miami) have tried to hurt us, and many Cuban artists with demonstrations, day by day, year by year, none of this is new, but now it's on social media."

3. Tweet by Carlos Fernandes de Cossío, Head of North American Affairs, Cuban Foreign Ministry  reads (Spanish) "The aim at mediatic lynching of Cuban artists who refuse to denigrate their country forms part of the well articulated and financed McCarthyist campaign to promote hate, intolerance, and fear among Cubans or descendants of Cubans who live in the United States."  

4. Photo of Cossío on his Twitter page on the internet

5. Musicians standing on a stage reacting to social media posts

6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Diego Gutiérrez, Cuban singer and songwriter:

"We have to close ranks like we are doing here with Alexander Abreu, with everybody, it can happen to anyone at any moment."

ARCHIVE: Havana - 9 October 2015

7. Chucho Valdés, Jazz Musician performing in la Plaza de la Catedral Old Havana

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus008223

VOICE-OVER SCRIPT:

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION THURSDAY DEFENDED ITS CREATION OF A CUBAN COMMUNICATIONS SAYING IT WAS NOT A COVERT OPERATION.

SOUNDBITE (English) Marie Harf, State Department Spokesperson

"We believe that the Cuban people need platforms like this to use themselves to decide what their future will look like."

THE PROJECT'S SECRECY THOUGH.. SPARKED CRITICISM FROM SOME MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont

"This was not a very bright move on their part and I don't know many Americans that would think it was."

AN ASSOCIATED PRESS INVESTIGATION FOUND THE ZUNZUNEO NETWORK - FUNDED BY THE U-S AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT - WAS BUILT WITH SHELL COMPANIES AND FINANCED THROUGH A FOREIGN BANK.

THE GOAL-BUILD A CUBAN AUDIENCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE THROUGH TEXT MESSAGES AND PUSH THEM TOWARD DISSENT.

BUT WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS.. U-S AID AND THE STATE DEPARTMENT DENIED THE PROGRAM'S WAS SECRETIVE.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary

"When you have a program like that in a non-permissive environment IE a place like cuba, you're discrete about how you implement it so you protect the practitioners but that does not make it covert."

SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY WHO CHAIRS THE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMMITTEE ON FOREIGN OPERATIONS SAYS.. *HE* WASN'T MADE AWARE OF THE EFFORT UNTIL THIS WEEK.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont

"We have something that now puts these young Cubans who didn't know who they were dealing with at risk because it would be so easy to go back and find out who they communicated with."

BUT SOME LAWMAKERS VOICED SUPPORT FOR THE PROJECT WHICH ABRUPLTLY ENDED IN 2012

SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Joe Garcia, (D) Florida:

"I think what we should be shocked about is that the Cubans have no access to Facebook or Twitter as opposed to the U.S. government trying to promote discourse, which I think is a very good thing."

LAWMAKERS WILL GET THEIR CHANCE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ZUNZUNEO - WHEN THE HEAD OF US-AID TESTIFIES ABOUT HIS AGENCY'S BUDGET NEXT WEEK.

ROBERT BUMSTED, ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Date Unknown

1. Wide file of the White House

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

2. Various of Cubans using cell phones

STATE DEPARTMENT TV

Washington - April 3, 2014

3. SOUNDBITE (english) Marie Harf, State Department Spokesperson (transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Date Unknown

4. Wide file of Capitol dome

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

5. SOUNDBITE (english) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont (transcript below)

6. Screenshot of ZunZuneo website

AP TELEVISION

Tbilisi, Georgia - August 27, 2008

7. USAID Logo

8. Wide of boxes being stacked by USAID workers

AP TELEVISION

Havana - April 3, 2014

9. Man walking with cell phone

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

10. Various of Cubans walking with cell phones

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Recent

11. Medium pan of documents related to the ZunZuneo website investigation

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

12. Wide shot of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary (transcript below)

14. Wide shot of Sen. Patrick Leahy

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

15. Various shots of Cubans with cell phones

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

16. SOUNDBITE (english) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont (transcript below)

17. Wide of Rep. Joe Garcia

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Joe Garcia, (D) Florida (transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Recent

19. Wide of US Capitol Building

20. Medium exterior of US Agency for International Development

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

21. Various shots of Cubans with cell phones

VOICE-OVER SCRIPT:

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION THURSDAY DEFENDED ITS CREATION OF A CUBAN COMMUNICATIONS SAYING IT WAS NOT A COVERT OPERATION.

SOUNDBITE (English) Marie Harf, State Department Spokesperson

"We believe that the Cuban people need platforms like this to use themselves to decide what their future will look like."

THE PROJECT'S SECRECY THOUGH.. SPARKED CRITICISM FROM SOME MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont

"This was not a very bright move on their part and I don't know many Americans that would think it was."

AN ASSOCIATED PRESS INVESTIGATION FOUND THE ZUNZUNEO NETWORK - FUNDED BY THE U-S AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT - WAS BUILT WITH SHELL COMPANIES AND FINANCED THROUGH A FOREIGN BANK.

THE GOAL-BUILD A CUBAN AUDIENCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE THROUGH TEXT MESSAGES AND PUSH THEM TOWARD DISSENT.

BUT WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS.. U-S AID AND THE STATE DEPARTMENT DENIED THE PROGRAM'S WAS SECRETIVE.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary

"When you have a program like that in a non-permissive environment IE a place like cuba, you're discrete about how you implement it so you protect the practitioners but that does not make it covert."

SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY WHO CHAIRS THE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMMITTEE ON FOREIGN OPERATIONS SAYS.. *HE* WASN'T MADE AWARE OF THE EFFORT UNTIL THIS WEEK.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont

"We have something that now puts these young Cubans who didn't know who they were dealing with at risk because it would be so easy to go back and find out who they communicated with."

BUT SOME LAWMAKERS VOICED SUPPORT FOR THE PROJECT WHICH ABRUPLTLY ENDED IN 2012

SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Joe Garcia, (D) Florida:

"I think what we should be shocked about is that the Cubans have no access to Facebook or Twitter as opposed to the U.S. government trying to promote discourse, which I think is a very good thing."

LAWMAKERS WILL GET THEIR CHANCE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ZUNZUNEO - WHEN THE HEAD OF US-AID TESTIFIES ABOUT HIS AGENCY'S BUDGET NEXT WEEK.

ROBERT BUMSTED, ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Date Unknown

1. Wide file of the White House

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

2. Various of Cubans using cell phones

STATE DEPARTMENT TV

Washington - April 3, 2014

3. SOUNDBITE (english) Marie Harf, State Department Spokesperson (transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Date Unknown

4. Wide file of Capitol dome

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

5. SOUNDBITE (english) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont (transcript below)

6. Screenshot of ZunZuneo website

AP TELEVISION

Tbilisi, Georgia - August 27, 2008

7. USAID Logo

8. Wide of boxes being stacked by USAID workers

AP TELEVISION

Havana - April 3, 2014

9. Man walking with cell phone

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

10. Various of Cubans walking with cell phones

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Recent

11. Medium pan of documents related to the ZunZuneo website investigation

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

12. Wide shot of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary (transcript below)

14. Wide shot of Sen. Patrick Leahy

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

15. Various shots of Cubans with cell phones

AP TELEVISION

Washington - April 3, 2014

16. SOUNDBITE (english) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont (transcript below)

17. Wide of Rep. Joe Garcia

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Joe Garcia, (D) Florida (transcript below)

AP TELEVISION

Washington - Recent

19. Wide of US Capitol Building

20. Medium exterior of US Agency for International Development

AP TELEVISION

Havana - Recent

21. Various shots of Cubans with cell phones

ACTRESS ASKS IF OTHERS HAVE BEEN HARASSED

Actress Alyssa Milano is getting thousands of responses on Twitter to her request that people reply to her on the social network with "me too" if they have been sexually harassed or assaulted.

Milano, 44, received "me, too" responses from "Will and Grace" star Debra Messing and Anna Paquin, the Oscar-winning actress from New Zealand.

Milano says on her Twitter account that she got the idea from a friend. Milano says her friend told her such a tweet "might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem."

In another tweet that links to a blog post, Milano, who was one of the stars of the long-running sitcom "Who's the Boss," writes the following about film producer Harvey Weinstein: "While I am sickened and angered over the disturbing accusations of Weinstein's sexual predation and abuse of power, I'm happy - ecstatic even - that it has opened up a dialogue around the continued sexual harassment, objectification and degradation of women. "

FILE - New York, 16 September 2017

1. Tilt up Alyssa Milano

FILE - New York, 11 September 2015

2. Tilt up Alyssa Milano

FILE - Los Angeles, 1 August 2013

3. Tilt up Alyssa Milano

FILE - Cannes, France, 17 May 2015

4. Close-up of Harvey Weinstein posing for photographers at Cannes premiere of "Carol," pull to wide shot

FILE - Cannes, France, 24 May 2015

5. Wide shot Harvey Weinstein and wife Georgina Chapman at closing night of Cannes Film Festival

FILE - Cannes, France, 24 May 2013

6. Wide shot Harvey Weinstein climbs steps at Cannes premiere of "The Immigrant"

FILE - Cannes, France, 18 May 2011

7. Medium shot with zoom in, Harvey Weinstein posing for photographers at Cinema for Peace auction

Tottenham offered its support to Davinson Sanchez after the defender was subjected to racial abuse on social media following the team's 2-2 draw at Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Colombia international endured a difficult match at St. James' Park, including a poor clearance that led to Newcastle's opening goal.

Sanchez posted a picture on his Instagram Stories after the match, showing a series of monkey emojis that he had been sent.

"Nothing changes" he wrote alongside a sleeping emoji.

Tottenham said on Twitter it was "disgusted" by the racist messages received by Sanchez and called on social media platforms to take action.

"We stand with you," the club tweeted to Sanchez, "and all those continuing to suffer abuse online."

Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre, Enfield, England, UK. 2nd October 2018.

1. 00:00 Davinson Sanchez and Harry Kane arriving for training session

2. 00:04 Sanchez during stretching drill

Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre, Enfield, England, UK. 9th March 2020.

3. 00:07 Wide of players stretching

4. 00:11 Sanchez stretching alongside Eric Dier

Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre, Enfield, England, UK. 17th March 2021.

5. 00:21 Sanchez jogging

Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre, Enfield, England, UK. 6th March 2018.

6. 00:27 Sanchez during passing drill

7. 00:35 Wide of players during passing drill

Signal-Iduna-Park, Dortmund, Germany. 4th March 2019.

8. 00:40 Tracker of Sanchez (centre) with team-mates during sprinting drill

LARRY KING, BROADCASTING GIANT FOR HALF-CENTURY, DIES AT 87

Larry King, the suspenders-sporting everyman whose broadcast interviews with world leaders, movie stars and ordinary Joes helped define American conversation for a half-century, died Saturday. He was 87.

King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Ora Media, the studio and network he co-founded, tweeted.  No cause of death was given, but CNN had earlier reported he was hospitalized with COVID-19.

A longtime nationally syndicated radio host, from 1985 through 2010 he was a nightly fixture on CNN, where he won many honors, including two Peabody awards.

With his celebrity interviews, political debates and topical discussions, King wasn’t just an enduring on-air personality. He also set himself apart with the curiosity be brought to every interview, whether questioning the assault victim known as the “Central Park Jogger” or billionaire industrialist Ross Perot, who in 1992 rocked the presidential contest by announcing his candidacy on King’s show.

In its early years, “Larry King Live” was based in Washington, D.C., which gave the show an air of gravitas. Likewise King. He was the plainspoken go-between through whom Beltway bigwigs could reach their public, and they did, earning the show prestige as a place where things happened, where news was made.

King conducted an estimated 50,000 on-air interviews. In 1995 he presided over a Middle East peace summit with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He welcomed everyone from the Dalai Lama to Elizabeth Taylor, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Barack Obama, Bill Gates to Lady Gaga.

Especially after he relocated to Los Angeles, his shows were frequently in the thick of breaking celebrity news, including Paris Hilton talking about her stint in jail in 2007 and Michael Jackson’s friends and family members talking about his death in 2009.

King boasted of never over-preparing for an interview. His nonconfrontational style relaxed his guests and made him readily relatable to his audience.

“I don’t pretend to know it all,” he said in a 1995 Associated Press interview. “Not, `What about Geneva or Cuba?′ I ask, 'Mr. President, what don’t you like about this job?' Or 'What’s the biggest mistake you made?' That’s fascinating.”

At a time when CNN, as the lone player in cable news, was deemed politically neutral, and King was the essence of its middle-of-the-road stance, political figures and people at the center of controversies would seek out his show.

And he was known for getting guests who were notoriously elusive. Frank Sinatra, who rarely gave interviews and often lashed out at reporters, spoke to King in 1988 in what would be the singer’s last major TV appearance. Sinatra was an old friend of King’s and acted accordingly.

“Why are you here?” King asks. Sinatra responds, “Because you asked me to come and I hadn’t seen you in a long time to begin with, I thought we ought to get together and chat, just talk about a lot of things.”

King had never met Marlon Brando, who was even tougher to get and tougher to interview, when the acting giant asked to appear on King’s show in 1994. The two hit it off so famously they ended their 90-minute talk with a song and an on-the-mouth kiss, an image that was all over media in subsequent weeks.

After a gala week marking his 25th anniversary in June 2010, King abruptly announced he was retiring from his show, telling viewers, “It’s time to hang up my nightly suspenders.” Named as his successor in the time slot: British journalist and TV personality Piers Morgan.

By King’s departure that December, suspicion had grown that he had waited a little too long to hang up those suspenders. Once the leader in cable TV news, he ranked third in his time slot with less than half the nightly audience his peak year, 1998, when “Larry King Live” drew 1.64 million viewers.

His wide-eyed, regular-guy approach to interviewing by then felt dated in an era of edgy, pushy or loaded questioning by other hosts.

Meanwhile, occasional flubs had made him seem out of touch, or worse. A prime example from 2007 found King asking Jerry Seinfeld if he had voluntarily left his sitcom or been canceled by his network, NBC.

“I was the No. 1 show in television, Larry,” replied Seinfeld with a flabbergasted look. “Do you know who I am?”

Always a workaholic, King would be back doing specials for CNN within a few months of performing his nightly duties.

He found a new sort of celebrity as a plain-spoken natural on Twitter when the platform emerged, winning over more than 2 million followers who simultaneously mocked and loved him for his esoteric style.

“I’ve never been in a canoe. #Itsmy2cents,” he said in a typical tweet in 2015.

His Twitter account was essentially a revival of a USA Today column he wrote for two decades full of one-off, disjointed thoughts. Norm Macdonald delivered a parody version of the column when he played King on “Saturday Night Live,” with deadpan lines like, “The more I think about it, the more I appreciate the equator.”

King was constantly parodied, often through old-age jokes on late-night talk shows from hosts including David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, often appearing with the latter to get in on the roasting himself.

King came by his voracious but no-frills manner honestly.

He was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in 1933, a son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who ran a bar and grill in Brooklyn. But after his father’s death when Larry was a boy, he faced a troubled, sometimes destitute youth.

A fan of such radio stars as Arthur Godfrey and comedians Bob and Ray, King on reaching adulthood set his sights on a broadcasting career. With word that Miami was a good place to break in, he headed south in 1957 and landed a job sweeping floors at a tiny AM station. When a deejay abruptly quit, King was put on the air - and was handed his new surname by the station manager, who thought Zeiger “too Jewish.”

A year later he moved to a larger station, where his duties were expanded from the usual patter to serving as host of a daily interview show that aired from a local restaurant. He quickly proved equally adept at talking to the waitresses, and the celebrities who began dropping by.

By the early 1960s King had gone to yet a larger Miami station, scored a newspaper column and become a local celebrity himself.

At the same time, he fell victim to living large.

“It was important to me to come across as a ‘big man,”’ he wrote in his autobiography, which meant “I made a lot of money and spread it around lavishly.”

He accumulated debts and his first broken marriages (he was married eight times to seven women). He gambled, borrowed wildly and failed to pay his taxes. He also became involved with a shady financier in a scheme to bankroll an investigation of President Kennedy’s assassination. But when King skimmed some of the cash to pay his overdue taxes, his partner sued him for grand larceny in 1971. The charges were dropped, but King’s reputation appeared ruined.

King lost his radio show and, for several years, struggled to find work. But by 1975 the scandal had largely blown over and a Miami station gave him another chance. Regaining his local popularity, King was signed in 1978 to host radio’s first nationwide call-in show.

Originating from Washington on the Mutual network, “The Larry King Show” was eventually heard on more than 300 stations and made King a national phenomenon.

A few years later, CNN founder Ted Turner offered King a slot on his young network. “Larry King Live” debuted on June 1, 1985, and became CNN’s highest-rated program. King’s beginning salary of $100,000 a year eventually grew to more than $7 million.

A three-packs-a-day cigarette habit led to a heart attack in 1987, but King’s quintuple-bypass surgery didn’t slow him down.

Meanwhile, he continued to prove that, in his words, “I’m not good at marriage, but I’m a great boyfriend.”

He was just 18 when he married high school girlfriend Freda Miller, in 1952. The marriage lasted less than a year. In subsequent decades he would marry Annette Kay, Alene Akins (twice), Mickey Sutfin, Sharon Lepore and Julie Alexander.

In 1997, he wed Shawn Southwick, a country singer and actress 26 years his junior. They would file for divorce in 2010, rescind the filing, then file for divorce again in 2019.

The couple had two sons, King’s fourth and fifth kids, Chance Armstrong, born in 1999, and Cannon Edward, born in 2000. In 2020, King lost his two eldest children, Andy King and Chaia King, who died of unrelated health problems within weeks of each other.

He had many other medical issues in recent decades, including more heart attacks and diagnoses of type 2 diabetes and lung cancer.

Early in 2021, CNN reported that King was hospitalized for more than a week with COVID-19.

Through his setbacks he continued to work into his late 80s, taking on online talk shows and infomercials as his appearances on CNN grew fewer.

“Work,” King once said. “It’s the easiest thing I do.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, 12 November 2018

1. Various shots Larry King and wife Shawn King posing for photographers

ASSOCIATED PRESS

No location provided, 8 January 1989

2. STILL IMAGE: Television talk show host Larry King is shown

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, 12 April 1991

3. STILL IMAGE: Talk show host Larry King, left, actor Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., second from left, broadcaster Walter Cronkite and '60 Minutes' producer Don Hewitt, far right, are shown together

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C., 28 October 1992

4. STILL IMAGE: Larry King interviews U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 16 April 1992

5. STILL IMAGE: Larry King fans himself during a TV commercial break as independent presidental hopeful, Ross Perot, looks on

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 4 October 1995

6. STILL IMAGE: Larry King sits for an interview with defense attorney Johnnie Cochran

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Las Vegas, 16 August 1995

7. STILL IMAGE: Larry King and Mike Tyson pose for a photo inside the ring at the MGM Grand Gardens

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 12 July 1995

8. STILL IMAGE: Larry King interviews Hugh Grant

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C., 25 October 1997

9. STILL IMAGE: Naomi Campbell and Larry King share a moment before they are introduced to the audience at the National Italian American Gala

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 8 May 1997

10. STILL IMAGE: Larry King smiles at unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 20 April 2005

11. STILL IMAGE: Larry King introduces Ryan Seacrest, before he was honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star

POOL

Santa Maria, California, 19 May 2005

++4:3 MATERIAL++

12. Medium shot Larry King walking into court during Michael Jackson case

13. Wide shot Larry King leaving court  

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 8 February 2007

++4:3 MATERIAL++

14. Medium of Larry King walks down steps

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 17 August 2007

++4:3 MATERIAL++

15. Wide shot Larry King at funeral of Merv Griffin

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 8 November 2007

16. STILL IMAGE: Left to right - Rev. Jesse Jackson, Michael Jackson and Larry King pose at a dinner celebrating Jesse Jackson's birthday

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Las Vegas, 26 June 2007

17. STILL IMAGE: Larry King, left, joins Paul McCartney during the first anniversary of the Beatles Love show at the Mirage hotel-casino

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Manchester, New Hampshire, 3 June 2007

18. STILL IMAGE: Larry King shakes hands with Barack Obama

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, 18 April 2007

19. STILL IMAGE: Larry King poses with Joan Rivers

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nashville, 16 December 2010

20. STILL IMAGE: Larry King and George W. Bush joke

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, 9 March 2011

21. STILL IMAGE: Larry King poses with Donald Trump

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, 9 March 2011

22. STILL IMAGE: Larry King appears onstage at the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Irivine, California, 6 July 2015

23. STILL IMAGE: Larry King pumps his fists while introducing the Dalai Lama at a conference

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, 11 March 2016

24. Medium, left to right, Paul Sorvino, Mykalai Kontilai, Larry King holding Jackie Robinson's contracts

25. Close-up contract

26. Medium shot Larry King speaking at press conference

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Beverly Hills, Calif, 10 August 2016

27. Various shots Larry King, left, and wife Shawn King, right, arriving at event

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 1 May 2017

28. Various shots Larry King posing for photographers at event celebrating King's 60 years in broadcasting

29. Medium shot Larry King talking to reporter

30. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry King, journalist:

"I can't believe it's seven decades, 60 years. If I make it to 2020, that would be eight decades. I keep thinking about that because I'm 83. I don't feel 83. No, I feel good, yeah. You need a little luck for longevity. As Sinatra said, there's a lot to be said for longevity. Must be doing something right."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, 20 November 2017

31. Medium shot Larry King poses for photographers at International Emmy Awards

32. Medium shot Larry King talks to reporter

LARRY KING, BROADCASTING GIANT FOR HALF-CENTURY, DIES AT 87

Larry King, the suspenders-sporting everyman whose broadcast interviews with world leaders, movie stars and ordinary Joes helped define American conversation for a half-century, died Saturday. He was 87.

King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Ora Media, the studio and network he co-founded, tweeted.  No cause of death was given, but CNN had earlier reported he was hospitalized with COVID-19.

A longtime nationally syndicated radio host, from 1985 through 2010 he was a nightly fixture on CNN, where he won many honors, including two Peabody awards.

With his celebrity interviews, political debates and topical discussions, King wasn’t just an enduring on-air personality. He also set himself apart with the curiosity be brought to every interview, whether questioning the assault victim known as the “Central Park Jogger” or billionaire industrialist Ross Perot, who in 1992 rocked the presidential contest by announcing his candidacy on King’s show.

In its early years, “Larry King Live” was based in Washington, D.C., which gave the show an air of gravitas. Likewise King. He was the plainspoken go-between through whom Beltway bigwigs could reach their public, and they did, earning the show prestige as a place where things happened, where news was made.

King conducted an estimated 50,000 on-air interviews. In 1995 he presided over a Middle East peace summit with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He welcomed everyone from the Dalai Lama to Elizabeth Taylor, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Barack Obama, Bill Gates to Lady Gaga.

Especially after he relocated to Los Angeles, his shows were frequently in the thick of breaking celebrity news, including Paris Hilton talking about her stint in jail in 2007 and Michael Jackson’s friends and family members talking about his death in 2009.

King boasted of never over-preparing for an interview. His nonconfrontational style relaxed his guests and made him readily relatable to his audience.

“I don’t pretend to know it all,” he said in a 1995 Associated Press interview. “Not, `What about Geneva or Cuba?′ I ask, `Mr. President, what don’t you like about this job?′ Or `What’s the biggest mistake you made?′ That’s fascinating.”

At a time when CNN, as the lone player in cable news, was deemed politically neutral, and King was the essence of its middle-of-the-road stance, political figures and people at the center of controversies would seek out his show.

And he was known for getting guests who were notoriously elusive. Frank Sinatra, who rarely gave interviews and often lashed out at reporters, spoke to King in 1988 in what would be the singer’s last major TV appearance. Sinatra was an old friend of King’s and acted accordingly.

“Why are you here?” King asks. Sinatra responds, “Because you asked me to come and I hadn’t seen you in a long time to begin with, I thought we ought to get together and chat, just talk about a lot of things.”

King had never met Marlon Brando, who was even tougher to get and tougher to interview, when the acting giant asked to appear on King’s show in 1994. The two hit it off so famously they ended their 90-minute talk with a song and an on-the-mouth kiss, an image that was all over media in subsequent weeks.

After a gala week marking his 25th anniversary in June 2010, King abruptly announced he was retiring from his show, telling viewers, “It’s time to hang up my nightly suspenders.” Named as his successor in the time slot: British journalist and TV personality Piers Morgan.

By King’s departure that December, suspicion had grown that he had waited a little too long to hang up those suspenders. Once the leader in cable TV news, he ranked third in his time slot with less than half the nightly audience his peak year, 1998, when “Larry King Live” drew 1.64 million viewers.

His wide-eyed, regular-guy approach to interviewing by then felt dated in an era of edgy, pushy or loaded questioning by other hosts.

Meanwhile, occasional flubs had made him seem out of touch, or worse. A prime example from 2007 found King asking Jerry Seinfeld if he had voluntarily left his sitcom or been canceled by his network, NBC.

“I was the No. 1 show in television, Larry,” replied Seinfeld with a flabbergasted look. “Do you know who I am?”

Always a workaholic, King would be back doing specials for CNN within a few months of performing his nightly duties.

He found a new sort of celebrity as a plain-spoken natural on Twitter when the platform emerged, winning over more than 2 million followers who simultaneously mocked and loved him for his esoteric style.

“I’ve never been in a canoe. #Itsmy2cents,” he said in a typical tweet in 2015.

His Twitter account was essentially a revival of a USA Today column he wrote for two decades full of one-off, disjointed thoughts. Norm Macdonald delivered a parody version of the column when he played King on “Saturday Night Live,” with deadpan lines like, “The more I think about it, the more I appreciate the equator.”

King was constantly parodied, often through old-age jokes on late-night talk shows from hosts including David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, often appearing with the latter to get in on the roasting himself.

King came by his voracious but no-frills manner honestly.

He was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in 1933, a son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who ran a bar and grill in Brooklyn. But after his father’s death when Larry was a boy, he faced a troubled, sometimes destitute youth.

A fan of such radio stars as Arthur Godfrey and comedians Bob and Ray, King on reaching adulthood set his sights on a broadcasting career. With word that Miami was a good place to break in, he headed south in 1957 and landed a job sweeping floors at a tiny AM station. When a deejay abruptly quit, King was put on the air - and was handed his new surname by the station manager, who thought Zeiger “too Jewish.”

A year later he moved to a larger station, where his duties were expanded from the usual patter to serving as host of a daily interview show that aired from a local restaurant. He quickly proved equally adept at talking to the waitresses, and the celebrities who began dropping by.

By the early 1960s King had gone to yet a larger Miami station, scored a newspaper column and become a local celebrity himself.

At the same time, he fell victim to living large.

“It was important to me to come across as a ‘big man,”’ he wrote in his autobiography, which meant “I made a lot of money and spread it around lavishly.”

He accumulated debts and his first broken marriages (he was married eight times to seven women). He gambled, borrowed wildly and failed to pay his taxes. He also became involved with a shady financier in a scheme to bankroll an investigation of President Kennedy’s assassination. But when King skimmed some of the cash to pay his overdue taxes, his partner sued him for grand larceny in 1971. The charges were dropped, but King’s reputation appeared ruined.

King lost his radio show and, for several years, struggled to find work. But by 1975 the scandal had largely blown over and a Miami station gave him another chance. Regaining his local popularity, King was signed in 1978 to host radio’s first nationwide call-in show.

Originating from Washington on the Mutual network, “The Larry King Show” was eventually heard on more than 300 stations and made King a national phenomenon.

A few years later, CNN founder Ted Turner offered King a slot on his young network. “Larry King Live” debuted on June 1, 1985, and became CNN’s highest-rated program. King’s beginning salary of $100,000 a year eventually grew to more than $7 million.

A three-packs-a-day cigarette habit led to a heart attack in 1987, but King’s quintuple-bypass surgery didn’t slow him down.

Meanwhile, he continued to prove that, in his words, “I’m not good at marriage, but I’m a great boyfriend.”

He was just 18 when he married high school girlfriend Freda Miller, in 1952. The marriage lasted less than a year. In subsequent decades he would marry Annette Kay, Alene Akins (twice), Mickey Sutfin, Sharon Lepore and Julie Alexander.

In 1997, he wed Shawn Southwick, a country singer and actress 26 years his junior. They would file for divorce in 2010, rescind the filing, then file for divorce again in 2019.

The couple had two sons, King’s fourth and fifth kids, Chance Armstrong, born in 1999, and Cannon Edward, born in 2000. In 2020, King lost his two eldest children, Andy King and Chaia King, who died of unrelated health problems within weeks of each other.

He had many other medical issues in recent decades, including more heart attacks and diagnoses of type 2 diabetes and lung cancer.

Early in 2021, CNN reported that King was hospitalized for more than a week with COVID-19.

Through his setbacks he continued to work into his late 80s, taking on online talk shows and infomercials as his appearances on CNN grew fewer.

“Work,” King once said. “It’s the easiest thing I do.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, 12 November 2018

1. Various shots Larry King and wife Shawn King posing for photographers

POOL

Santa Maria, California, 19 May 2005

++4:3 MATERIAL++

2. Medium shot Larry King walking into court

3. Wide shot Larry King leaving court

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 8 February 2007

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4. Medium shot Larry King walks down steps

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 17 August 2007

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5. Wide shot Larry King at funeral of Merv Griffin

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, 11 March 2016

6. Medium, left to right, Paul Sorvino, Mykalai Kontilai, Larry King holding Jackie Robinson's contracts

7. Close-up contract

8. Medium shot Larry King speaking at press conference

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Beverly Hills, Calif, 10 August 2016

9. Various shots Larry King, left, and wife Shawn King, right, arriving at event

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 1 May 2017

10. Various shots Larry King posing for photographers at event celebrating King's 60 years in broadcasting

11. Medium shot Larry King talking to reporter

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Larry King, journalist:

"I can't believe it's seven decades, 60 years. If I make it to 2020, that would be eight decades. I keep thinking about that because I'm 83. I don't feel 83. No, I feel good, yeah. You need a little luck for longevity. As Sinatra said, there's a lot to be said for longevity. Must be doing something right."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York, 20 November 2017

13. Medium shot Larry King talks to reporter at International Emmy Awards

14. Medium shot Larry King poses for photographers