Here is the final part of a boisterous Hong Kong trilogy about the legendary martial arts master Ip Man, who in the 1950s taught the wing chun style of kung fu to Hong Kong and thereby to the world – and numbered among his pupils the young Bruce Lee, here played by Danny Chan. Donnie Yen returns to play the poised and impassive Ip Man, heroically battling for the underdog in local skirmishes and dealing with foreign devils including a corrupt British police captain and a thuggish American boxer, played in cameo by Mike Tyson. (theguardian)…[+]

CUBA – Barack Obama urged Cuba to embrace the free market in a landmark speech in Havana that championed economic liberty rather than political reform as the key to unleashing the potential of its people.

Ignoring calls to echo Ronald Reagan’s famous “tear down this wall” speech in Berlin, Obama drew another leaf from the cold war playbook and focused instead on the role of capitalism in transforming society from within. “Many suggested that I came here to Cuba to tear something down, but I am appealing to the young people to lift something up,” Obama told a handpicked audience of 1,000 in the Havana theatre that hosted the last US president to speak in the country, 88 years ago. Although calling for free elections and an end to the detention of dissidents, Obama’s trip has focused heavily on the growth of small business in Cuba as a sign of internal momentum for change that can circumvent political stalemate.(theguardian)…[+]

BELGIUM –M Two of the suicide bombers who blew themselves up in the twin Brussels attacks that killed at least 31 people on Tuesday have been formally named by prosecutors, as police searched for a suspect captured on CCTV at Zaventem airport. The Belgian federal prosecutor, Frédéric van Leeuw, confirmed media reports that Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 29, detonated one of two devices that exploded at Zaventem airport, killing himself and 11 others and injuring more than 90. His younger brother Khalid, 27, was responsible for a third explosion, just over an hour later in a metro carriage at Maelbeek station on the rue de la Loi, near offices of the European commission, van Leeuw told a news conference. At least 14 people died in that attack, with more than 130 wounded. Van Leeuw said the two airport bombs exploded within seconds of each other at 7.58am, near the check-in desks of rows 11 and two in the main departure hall. Ibrahim el-Bakraoui was identified by his fingerprints.

(theguardian)…[+]