Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.

[Q]: Iran talks: Moving beyond 'worn out' policies. The stakes are high in the latest round of nuclear talks starting today in Geneva between Iran and the P5+1 at the deputy foreign minister level . Over the past week, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Jawed Zarif have held long conversations in Geneva and Paris, lasting over seven hours . Both realise that more flexibility is required to avoid the break up of the talks . British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke on the subject with US President Barack Obama and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the EU foreign policy chief all held talks separately with Zarif . Yet if both sides continue to stick to their strict red lines it is questionable whether this round of talks will be any better than the last . It may be time for more flexible red lines if failure is to be avoided . "Chances are less than 50/50," admits Obama, in a joint press conference with the British Prime Minister David Cameron when both leaders spent well over half of their press conferences spelling out what was at stake if a deal with Iran was not finalised by the June deadline . Obama explained how"the most successful, the most effective sanctions regime" had eventually led Iran to the negotiating table . He said:"If we can get a verifiable deal with the necessary assurances then that would be the best deal." Yet Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said sanctions are a "worn out policy" and asked the White House to adopt a "logical approach" . Iran would not accept a deal that constrains its enrichment programme without the West reducing sanctions . "Now we have come to a stage in the talks that requires the other side to take its decision to enable us to move forward," said Zarif when arriving in Geneva . "There needs to be some new and comprehensive proposals." The latest directive from Iran's leader, Ali Khamenei is that officials "should take away the weapon of sanctions from the enemy" . "Even one step in retreat will lead to enemy's advance," he said . He is angered that "Americans say flagrantly that even if Iran withdraws in the nuclear issue, the sanctions will not be lifted all together and at once" . Khamenei is referring to the main point of contention; the issue of the period of curbing Iran's enrichment programme in exchange for the lifting of four sets of sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN, EU and the US . The US wants the curbing of sanctions to be in a period covering well over 10 years, closer to 20 or in "double digits" as US administration officials put it . This is to ensure Iran's breakout time is prolonged . Iran sees this as an attempt for forcing it to forego what it calls its peaceful enrichment programme . It does not accept this long period of curbing its enrichment programme without the reciprocal reduction in sanctions . It is believed that the Iranian leader could be persuaded with anything below 10 years or a timeframe in a "single digit" . "Iran is deeply suspicious of the US and the West," said Obama . Mutual distrust is at the core of the failure of the unwillingness on both side to be flexible . Khamenei still refers to the US as"enemy" and the US continues to refuse to lift sanctions fearing Iran's return to enrichment . It is not clear if western trust has taken another blow from reports that Syria is still trying to make nuclear weapons and has been getting help from Iran and North Korea . The two sides would not be able to reach an agreement especially when the US Congress is pushing daily for imposing further sanctions in support of the Israeli lobby . Republican Senator Mark Kirk and Democratic Senator Robert Menendez are finalising a bill for tougher sanctions . Senator Bob Corker is also working on a bill to ensure the congress must approve any final deal with Iran . Iran hardliners answer sanctions with the threat of enrichment . "Further sanctions will result in a vote in the Iranian parliament for continuing enrichment," said Ali Larijani, the head of Judiciary . "The enemies wanted to deprive Iran from its right to the nuclear technology and even resorted to military threats to this end." Hardline members of parliament are proposing a bill to increase the uranium enrichment programme to 60 percent . "I am not, repeat, not suggesting that we are in immediate war footing, should negotiations with Iran fail," said Obama . At the same time he made it clear he would veto any congressional attempts at new sanctions against Iran . "Hold your fire," he told the congress . "We must not jeopardise the chance" to get a verifiable deal with Iran . Although Republicans now hold a 54-46 seat majority in the Senate , it is not clear whether there would manage to get the 67 votes required in the Senate to override an Obama veto of any Iran legislation . In intensive meetings with his European counterpart, Zarif has no doubt conveyed to them that if there is no easing of the sanctions there would be little he could do back home . He has asked for "serious and brave decisions" in order to move forward . The world has heard expressions of commitments and hope from Iran and the countries P5+1 for over a year now . Yet those brave words must be coupled either with more flexibility as recommended by experts or coupled alternatively with new ideas, new methods and possibly new redlines . There is still time and several avenues are still open . For example there could be more direct involvement by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in the form of a representative, a high calibre UN negotiator , who could add momentum to the talks and create synergy . Otherwise it is difficult to see how the negotiators can come up with a solution if they have not managed it in the past 14 months .
[A]: The stakes are high in the latest round of nuclear talks starting today in Geneva between Iran and the P5+1 at the deputy foreign minister level


[Q]: Sexting may make porn stars of us all, but you don't have to be an Adonis. Sexting . Belfies . Cock shots . Instagrammed abs . WhatsApp filth chats . Cam-to- cam sessions with strangers in Rio (or Hull) Xtube videos of faceless, face- sitting civil servants . Can I take your number, asks modern Britain , I'll send you a six-minute film of me masturbating . We're all porn stars now . Technology hasn't merely flung off religion's centuries-long chastity belt but also provided live footage of people in suburban bedrooms flinging off chastity belts, metaphorically and literally . Google it . You'll be horrified by their choice of curtains . The pornification of contemporary life is so vast and so sudden we have had no time to quantify it, or even behold it . But there is deepening concern that the reduction and commodification of human beings to mere body parts - walking, talking sex toys- is having a greater effect on gay men . Russell T Davies, a screenwriter of remarkable gifts who does not so much hold a mirror up to societal sensibilities as kick them into our retinas, thinks so . He straddles the subject in his latest, much heralded gay dramas: Cucumber, Banana and Tofu . In an interview with the Radio Times he worries that texting penis pictures "is the most normal thing in the world" among gay men, with bleak consequences . "That's the grammar! That's flirting! That's extraordinary, isn't it? That's got to create body pressures, hasn't it?" he added . It certainly will not help, nestled in an increasingly narcissistic wider culture that glistens puddle-deep as we regard our reflections . But how much we should worry, and how grave the impact is on gay people - already suffering worse mental health - depends on how closely we frame Davies' perspective . If gay people existed only online or on phones  - deriving their sense of self wholly from reactions to their online sex ads- then yes, this could be catastrophic . But they do not . And if we pan out and rewind to the gay scene of the early 90s, before Davies' Queer as Folk awoke middle England to the wonders of rimming , gay life was no less harsh . I was 16 and skinny when I first stepped into a gay bar in 1993 . Before websites and phone apps, pubs and clubs were much more sexualised than today . No amount of online objectification compares to, say, the Brief Encounter, a long narrow bar in central London, in which one could consider it an achievement to order a pint without a stranger's finger inserting itself somewhere . The other great difference was the message blaring out across gay culture : you are only desirable if you are an Adonis - a "Muscle Mary": no pecs, no sex . Many felt unwelcome, inadequate . It was, say some, a reaction to the extreme wasting suffered by thousands during the Aids crisis . I remember the dire contrast - a crowd of pumped-up tits and, in the corner, a wheelchair cradling a still-breathing skeleton . People turned away in terror . And then ran to the gym . Now , thanks to mobiles and the internet, there is a new message : different body shapes are desirable . Plump, hairy bear? There is a market for you . Older? Click here . Skinny? Hipsters are waiting for you . Yes , if you spend mere moments on Grindr or Scruff you will find a QC, a builder or a nurse reduced to a thumbnail fuck-me photo (it's all terribly dignified) , but there is at least some appreciation of diversity . Progress bumbles , faltering before forging ahead . This happened with gay rights , and it will happen with gay culture . Many might sext but will also consider what it means and how it feels . The wellbeing and mental health of LGBT people has never been so prominent in conversation - just as relevant services are cut . We are, at last, contemplating the internal damage from homophobic hostility . It is no wonder we crave distraction . We just need to put our phones down long enough to ask for support, for such services to be reinstated, and to ask those who bully, degrade and derail equality: why do you hate us? They are often easy to find . They're the married ones lurking in gay chat rooms with their faces concealed .
[A]: Technology hasn't merely flung off religion's centuries-long chastity belt but also provided live footage of people in suburban bedrooms flinging off chastity belts, metaphorically and literally


[Q]: Islamic civilisation is in Europe's DNA. The brutal and tragic murders of 12 people at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris - 10 staff members and two police officers - by masked gunmen has triggered an outpouring of shock and grief, not only in France but around the world . Large, spontaneous vigils filled the streets of many French cities , while social media was awash with solidarity and condemnation, including the hashtags #JeSuisCharlie and #NotInMyName, which was used by Muslims condemning the attacks . Police in France have identified and released the photographs of two brothers suspected to be involved in the attack while early speculation focused on the premise that Muslim extremists were behind the dreadful act, especially given the magazine's long history of satirising Islam and other religions . The two brothers have been identified as 32-year-old Said Kouachi and 34-year-old Cherif Kouachi . This theory has been reinforced by eyewitness accounts of the men shouting "Allahu Akbar" . The designer who was forced to let the assailants in says they told her they were with al-Qaeda , while , according to AFP, the police claim that one of the killers remarked:"We have avenged the prophet." Why Prophet Muhammad would need anyone to "avenge" him is beyond me . The prophet endured far more mockery, humiliation, insult and rejection during his lifetime without needing or ordering hitmen to defend his honour than that meted out by a group of equal-opportunity French cartoonists who despise and satirise all forms of organised religion . Even if ,  like with Anders Breivik in Norway, the perpetrators turn out not to be linked to Islamist groups , the collateral damage to French and European Muslims has already been done, despite one of the fallen police officers being a Muslim . With the strength of the Front National in France, UKIP in Britain and other anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant currents across Europe, a popular or populist backlash is almost inevitable . In neighbouring Germany, the thousands of Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) who have turned out to rallies, though still small enough to be labelled a "flop", has set alarm bells ringing to the extent that strong counter protests have taken place . Like Muslims who fantasise about an ahistorical caliphate, conservative Europeans who dream of a bygone utopia of a Europe uncontaminated by Islam or immigration, miss the reality that the "Islamisation of the West" occurred centuries ago . Islamic civilisation is so hard-wired into Europe's cultural, social and intellectual DNA that it would be impossible to expunge its influence . The same applies in the other direction, in light of Christendom's and the West's powerful influence on Arab and Islamic society . In addition to the philosophy, science, literature and art of the Muslim world which profoundly shaped the European Renaissance, Islamic culture had some far more unexpected and surprising influences on western civilisation . One man in particular, for whom no statues or memorials stand anywhere in Europe and very few westerners have heard of, is possibly the most unsung cultural, style and musical icon in European history . In the ninth century, Ziryab, Cordoba's most sought-after hipster, brought into vogue the idea of seasonal fashions, steering history's catwalk towards the fashion slavery of the 21st century . This Sultan of Style also added a fifth pair of strings to the Arab "oud", paving the way to the European lute , which would become the modern guitar . He also introduced Europe to the idea of dining etiquette, from table cloths and crystal decanters to the three-course meal . Fashion, fine food and rhythm are not what Europeans tend to associate with Muslims or Islam today . Instead ,  they are haunted by images of fundamentalists, not fun-loving eccentrics, and fanatics, not fans of refined culture . As someone who is well aware of the destructive influence of violent Islamism in the Middle East , I can, at a certain level, sympathise with fears in the West over radicalisation . But Islamic extremism is mostly a threat to Muslim societies, not to Europe , as a minority has never, in history, imposed its will on a majority, except in the form of a military conqueror . This exaggerated sense of threat can be seen in the enormous hysteria in segments of the media and among some politicians regarding the small trickle of European jihadists who have gone to fight in Syria . Although one gets the impression that Europe has sent forth a veritable Islamic army to the Levant , the real number is around 3,000 from across the continent, including the dead and returned, according to an estimate by Gilles de Kerchove, the EU's anti- terrorism chief . While it is important to be vigilant and to find effective ways to deal with the threat posed by returning fighters , society must steer clear of stigmatising Europe's already marginalised and distrusted Muslim communities . This is because it is unfair to blame an entire group for the behaviour of a tiny minority and it is also counterproductive , as marginalisation is a significant, but not the only, factor in radicalisation . In addition ,  the demonisation of minorities is what nurtures the truly threatening radicals in Europe's midst; the far-right and neo-Nazis . Since the end of World War II, Western Europe has worked consciously to build and celebrate diversity . Despite its weaknesses and failings, Europe needs to cherish, build and strengthen its multicultural experiment .
[A]:
Islamic civilisation is so hard-wired into Europe's cultural, social and intellectual DNA that it would be impossible to expunge its influence