• Crowds surround government office in Beirut as funeral protest turns violent

    Protesters rushed the prime minister's office Sunday in Lebanon, ripping up barbed wire and hurling rocks. The situation, which started as a peaceful protest, has become a standoff between protesters and the military. It has also triggered concern that Syria's civil war is spreading. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    Violence erupted in downtown Beirut on Sunday as protesters tried to storm the offices of Prime Minister Najib Mikati after the funeral of an assassinated intelligence chief whose death they blame on Syria.

    Security forces shot into the air and police fired tear gas to repulse the hundreds of protesters who overturned barriers and threw stones and steel rods, witnesses said.

    Stephanie Gosk, NBC News correspondent in Beirut, reported that the protest had been peaceful but took a turn towards violence, with tear gas visible near Mikati’s offices.

    The clashes fed into a growing political crisis in Lebanon linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria.

    An angry crowd had marched on the prime minister's office after politicians at the funeral of Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan, who was killed by a car bomb on Friday, called on Mikati to resign over the killing.

    The opposition and its supporters believe Mikati is too close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese ally Hezbollah, which is part of Mikati's government.

    Many of the protesters waved flags from the anti-Syrian opposition Future Movement - a mainly Sunni Muslim party - and Christian Lebanese Forces as well as black Islamist flags.

    They scattered after the security forces' action and there were no immediate reports of any casualties other than two people fainting.

    PhotoBlog: Violence erupts in Beirut after slain official's funeral

    Opposition leader Saad al-Hariri urged supporters to refrain from any more violence.

    "We want peace, the government should fall but we want that in a peaceful way. I call on all those who are in the streets to pull back," Hariri told supporters after the attack, speaking on Future Television channel.

    Hassan, 47, was a Sunni Muslim and senior intelligence official who had helped uncover a bomb plot that led to the arrest and indictment in August of a pro-Damascus former Lebanese minister.

    He also led an investigation that implicated Syria and the Shi'ite Hezbollah in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005.

    Thousands of people had filled central Martyrs' Square for his funeral ceremony, accusing Syria of involvement in the killing and calling for Mikati to quit.

    One banner read "Go, go Najib" echoing the slogans of the Arab Spring.

    The violence broke out after Fouad al-Siniora, a former prime minister, said in a speech that the opposition rejected any dialogue to overcome the political crisis caused by the assassination unless the government first resigned.

    "No talks before the government leaves, no dialogue over the blood of our martyrs," Siniora said to roars of approval from the crowd.

    Journalist Antoun Issa, posting on Twitter, said army members were also caught by the tear gas.

    At the start of the funeral, senior politicians and the military and security top brass turned out at the Internal Security Force headquarters for a ceremony held with full military honors and broadcast live on national television.

    Hassan's wife and two sons, the youngest weeping, listened as he was eulogized by the head of police, Ashraf Rifi, and President Michel Suleiman.

    Suleiman said the government and people must work "shoulder to shoulder" to overcome the challenges posed by the killing.

    "I tell the judiciary do not hesitate, the people are with you, and I tell the security be firm, the people are with you, with you. And I tell the politicians and the government do not provide cover to the perpetrator."

    In keeping with custom for state funerals, church bells pealed as police officers carried the flag-draped coffins of Hassan and his bodyguard to the mosque on Martyr's Square through chanting crowds. Moslem prayers were broadcast by loudspeaker from the mosque.

    In the build-up the funeral, people at the square had said they saw Syria's hand in the bombing.

    “We blame Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria," said Assmaa Diab, 14, from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, Hassan's home town. She was in the square with her sister and father.

    "He is responsible for everything - in the past, now, and if we don't stand up to him, the future," she said.

    The prime minister was also a focus of their anger.

    "We are here to tell Mikati we don't need him anymore and to tell Hezbollah we don't want any more of their games," said Hamza Akhrass, a 22-year-old student who from south Lebanon.

    "Mikati takes too much pressure for Syria."

    One banner read: "People want the overthrow of Najib".

    Mikati said on Saturday he had offered to resign to make way for a government of national unity but he had accepted a request by President Michel Suleiman to stay in office to allow time for talks on a way out of the political crisis.

    Sunday's events highlighted how the 19-month-old uprising against Assad in Syria has exacerbated deep-seated sectarian tensions in Lebanon, which is still scarred from its 1975-90 civil war.

    Sunni-led rebels are fighting to overthrow Assad, who is from the Alawite minority, which has its roots in Shi'ite Islam. Lebanon's religious communities are divided between those that support Assad and those that back the rebels.

    Mikati sought in vain to insulate the country from turmoil in its larger neighbor, which has long played a role in Lebanese politics. He himself said he suspected Hassan's assassination was linked to his role in uncovering Syrian involvement in the August bomb plot. 

    Reuters contributed to this report.

    NBC's Paul Nassar describes the scene after a bomb killed 8 people in Lebanon Friday.

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  • Uh-oh Heathrow! Long lines, waits hit travelers months ahead of Olympics

    At London's Heathrow Airport, the corporate slogan is "Making Every Journey Better". An experienced Border Agency immigration worker says waits of up to three hours have left staff facing public order problems. Channel 4 Europe's Andy Davies reports.

    By Stephanie Gosk, NBC News

    There is a very big problem at London's Heathrow Airport. Planes land but it sometimes takes hours of waiting in line before travelers are let in. 


    On April 22, I arrived from New York City to complete chaos. It was a Sunday morning at around 6:30 a.m. and I was tired after a seven-hour flight.

    A crush of humanity greeted me in the immigration hall. Lines didn't just wind around, they stretched back outside the waiting area down into unknown, never-before-seen corridors. Travelers wore looks of shock, horror and fury depending on how much time they had already logged waiting. 

     

    There were people who had traveled long distances, already exhausting their patience during the journey, and others who had traveled just a short distance — Heathrow is less than a three-hour flight from Madrid, Paris, Frankfurt and other major European cities. Most of the latter group would end up spending more time in line as they did on a plane.

    Long immigration lines are often a part of international travel, but rarely, if ever, like this. In the last several months, the system at Heathrow, with alarming regularity, has come undone. 

    The problem is so grave that London’s mayor, the outspoken Boris Johnson, on Sunday wrote a letter to Theresa May, the secretary of the Home Office, the UK’s equivalent to the Department of Homeland Security.

    Slideshow: Venues for 2012 London Olympic Games

    Oda / Getty Images

    From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

    Launch slideshow

    He did not mince his words. “It is quite clear that because of problems at the UK Border, London and the UK’s reputation as a welcoming city in which to do business or travel are at stake," Johnson said, according to the copy of the letter given to NBC News. 

    Hanging over the debate is the London 2012 Olympics. If Heathrow is having a hard time coping with run-of-the-mill travel numbers — more than 69 million people moved through the airport in 2011 — what will officials do when a large portion of the estimated millions of people expected to descend on the city try to cram themselves through ahead of the Games?

    UK border patrol says British citizens as well those from the European Union have a target waiting time of 25 minutes and foreign nationals will wait 45 minutes. But over the last few months there have been numerous delays well over those targets.

    Over the weekend the head of UK's Border Force, Brian Moore, responded to complaints and seemed to dismiss the severity of the problem.

    Slideshow: London calling

    Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

    From Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square, the venerable old town oozes history and Dickens.

    Launch slideshow

    "Despite what you are hearing for the moment we are doing a really, really good job at achieving [target waiting times]. We don’t always get it right and occasionally there are disruptions to passengers for lots of reasons,” he said on British television. 

    For example, Moore said unpredictable “flight bunching” sometimes causes a deluge of passengers. At other times people “aren’t presented to the right immigration desk.”

    However, in Monday's Daily Telegraph, there were reports that the Home Office was actively trying to cover up the problem.  Marc Owen, director of the UK Border Agency, contacted BAA, the company that operates Heathrow, and instructed them not to hand out leaflets directing complaints to the Border Agency, the Telegraph reported.

    “The leaflet is not all right with us.  It is both inflammatory and likely to increase tensions in our arrival halls,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. 

    BAA's press office declined to comment on the leaflets, but they did say this in a statement: “Immigration is a matter for the home office. Immigration waiting times during peak periods at Heathrow recently have been unacceptable.” The press agent then offered to give me the Home Office’s number — just in case I needed it.

    In three months the world descends upon this city for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The Border Agency insists that staffing will be increased to handle the millions of people visiting the UK during that time.  Hopefully, it works. 

    London’s image is on the line. It would be a real shame if it was tarnished before anyone even got through the door.

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  • Murdoch: Hacking scandal cost 'hundreds of millions'

    Rupert Mudoch told British lawmakers he "failed" and repeatedly apologized about the phone hacking scandal at his tabloid newspaper The News of the World. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    By Stephanie Gosk, NBC News, and F. Brinley Bruton, msnbc.com

    Updated at 8:05 a.m. ET: Rupert Murdoch on Thursday said he had spent "hundreds of millions of dollars" to clean-up the legal and ethical mess caused by phone-hacking at the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid.

    "I pledged I would clean it up and I did. I have spent hundreds of millions of dollars … We had electronically examined 300 million emails … and anything that was faintly suspicious was passed to the police," he told a public inquiry into media ethics in Britain.

    The News of the World was the top-selling Sunday tabloid that rocked the British establishment after evidence emerged of police corruption and too-cozy links between the press and politicians.

    Murdoch admitted that he had failed to properly oversee the News of the World but deflected charges that he was aware that journalists there were involved with illegal and unethical activities.

    "I also have to say that I failed," he said. "I'm guilty of not having paid enough attention to the News of the World probably throughout all the time that we've owned it."

    Rupert Murdoch returned to the Leveson Inquiry to give evidence for a second day. ITV's Paul Davis reports.

    Murdoch shuttered the 168-year-old tabloid as the scandal spread last year and News International has been hit with over 100 lawsuits over phone hacking and dozens of reporters and media executives have been arrested.

    However, the 81-year-old media mogul said he was "misinformed and shielded" from illegal and unethical activity at the News of the World, and that others were to blame for hiding the extent of the scandal from top editors and executives.

    "I think from within the News of the World, there were one or two very strong characters there who I think had been there many, many, many years and were friends of the journalists, or the person I'm thinking of was a friend of the journalists and a drinking pal and a clever lawyer, and forbade them ... this person forbade people to go and report to (Rebekah) Brooks or to James (Murdoch)."

    Ben Stansall / AFP - Getty Images

    Rupert Murdoch, his wife Wendi Deng and son Lachlan (left) leave their London home on Wednesday.

    Brooks was chief executive of News International, the newspaper's publisher, editor of News of the World and a Murdoch favorite. Rupert Murdoch's son James, who stepped down this month as chairman of broadcaster BSkyB, appeared before the inquiry on Tuesday.

    Rupert Murdoch grilled at UK phone-hack inquiry

    During an exchange with a lawyer acting on behalf of the inquiry, Robert Jay, Murdoch admitted that he "panicked" when the Milly Dowler scandal broke. Revelations that News of the World journalists hacked into the missing 13-year-old's cellphone -- she was later found murdered -- provoked an enormous public outcry.

    The media baron also said the scandals involving the newspaper had hurt his legacy.

    "I think historically this whole business is a serious blot on my reputation," he said.

    Not a puppet master?
    On Wednesday, Murdoch denied charges that his media empire played puppet master to a succession of British prime ministers.

    "I have never asked a prime minister for anything," he said during the hearings into media ethics in London on Wednesday.

    The appearance before a judge by the world's most powerful media mogul has been a defining moment in a scandal that has laid bare collusion between ministers, police and Murdoch's News Corp., reigniting long-held concerns over the close ties between big money, the media and power in Britain. 

     U.S.-based News Corp.'s feet are being held to the fire at the hearings but it isn't the only challenge the company faces. There are three ongoing police investigations, dozens of people have been arrested.  Eleven of those arrested could soon be facing criminal charges.

    News Corp. is worth an estimated $60 billion and owns influential media companies including Fox Television and the Wall Street Journal.

    Meanwhile, the British minister accused of giving Murdoch special access during the media tycoon's bid to increase his hold on Britain's television industry on Wednesday labeled accusations against him as "laughable."

    Jeremy Hunt, the culture minister who was last year tasked with reviewing Murdoch's $12-billion plan to boost his stake in British pay TV operator BSkyB, is under immense pressure to resign after allegations emerged of his close contacts with News Corp.

    While testifying before the Leveson inquiry on media ethics, the media mogul responded to allegations that he had abused his power to influence the British government. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    On Tuesday, Murdoch's media executive son James said Hunt had given News Corp special treatment during talks surrounding the government's decision on whether to allow the TV deal to go ahead.

    "The idea I was backing this bid is laughable," a visibly flustered Hunt told parliament to roars of approval from his own Conservative Party and jeers of derision from the opposition Labour party, which has led calls for him to be sacked.

    The furor is the latest blow to Prime Minister David Cameron's government after a torrid month in which he has lurched from crisis to crisis, garnering an embarrassing slew of negative headlines and raising questions over his leadership.

    Chiara Francavilla, NBC News in London, and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • NBC correspondent in Israel answers your questions about Iran tensions

    Amid Israeli accusations that Iran is striking out at Jewish targets around the world, Iran’s claims that that it has made major strides towards mastering the production of nuclear fuel and threats to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, tensions between the two countries are at an all-time high. 

    NBC News’ Stephanie Gosk is on assignment in Tel Aviv, Israel. Earlier today she answered a wide variety of reader questions about the rising tension and what people in Israel think about the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

    Click on the link below to replay the informative chat.

     

     

    See Stephanie Gosk's most recent report from Israel on NBC's Nightly News Wednesday evening.

    Israelis fear an attack from Iran, but there is a heated debate over what should be done about it. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.