BBC News with Jerry Smit
An apparently bugged conversation between two top US diplomats discussing Ukraine has been published online. In the recording, the Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyat talked about two opposition leaders, Klits, the former boxer, Vitaly Klitschko, and Yats, thought to be Arseniy Yatseniuk.
What do you think?
Ah,I think we're in play. The Klitschko piece is obviously the complicated electron here, especially the announcement of him as deputy prime minister, and you’ve seen some of my notes on the troubles in the marriage right now, so we’re trying to get a really very fast on where he is with this stuff. But I think your argument to him, which you’ll need to make, having best next phone call you want to set up. It’s exactly the one you made to Yats. And I’m glad you sort of put him on the spot in where he fits in in this scenario, and I’m very glad he said what he said in respond.
Good, so, I don’t think Klits should go into the government. I don't think it’s necessary. I don't think it’s a good idea.
A spokesman for the State Department did not challenge its authenticity. A White House spokesman said the tape was posted on Twitter by a Russian official. It comes on the day a senior advisor to Putin accused the United States of meddling in Ukraine’s politics and training the Ukrainian opposition. Sergei Glazyev said US’s interference gave Russia the right to intervene.
The United Nations says it's ready to deliver aid to the besieged Syrian city of Homs as soon as the safe passages agree between the government and rebel forces. A spokeswoman said the UN had agreed with the Syrian government that there will be a humanitarian pause in the embattled zone of the old city, allowing civilians to leave. There is not yet been any statement from the rebels.
A court in Egypt has ordered a retrial of 21 people sentenced to death in connection with an infamous football riot in Port Said in 2012. Clashes broke out after a match between the Cairo-based team Al Ahly and Al Masry of Port Said in the worst outbreak of violence in Egypt’s footballing history. Our comment Macher reports.
More than 70 people were killed, most of visiting fans from Al Ahly who soon accused the Interior Ministry of plotting the attack and shutting the exit. They said they have been down in retaliation for the part of Al Ahly had played in the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak. In the intervening two years, the political climate has changed and now a retrial has been ordered.
The World Bank is to launch $1bn project to map Africa’s natural resources. It said the project known as the Billion Dollars Map will unlock the continent’s unexploited mineral wealth, using satellite imagery and geological service. A mining specialist working for the World Bank said there was an enormous amount of mineral wealth left to be discovered.
World News from the BBC
Mexican police have found a mass grave for at least 20 bodies in the troubled western state of Michoacan where vigilante groups began an offensive a month ago against the notorious Knight Templar drug cartel. A spokesman for the vigilante groups said the killings were probably a revenge attack by the drug cartel.
Hundreds of people have gathering in the Malian capital Bamako to mark an international day of campaigning against female genital mutilation. Community leaders from 14 different ethnic groups in Mali vowed to abandon the practice. It’s estimated more than 125m women and girls have been subjected to the practice in Africa and the Middle East.
Scientists in the United States say they believed they’ve found out how Pacific salmon performed one of nature’s greatest migrations. Rebecca Morelle reports.
Born inland in rivers and streams, Pacific salmons swim for thousands of kilometers to reach the open ocean, only to return years later to the same fresh waterside where they spawn and then die. Now scientists have found the evident that the Earth magnitude field is helping the fish to make this epic migration. A team from the US found that exposing the fish to different magnitude fields made them changed the direction they were swimming in. The researchers say this is because the Earth’s magnitude field differs in density and angle depending on your position on the planet. And the salmon is using this information to establish where they are and where they need to go.
Police in the US city Milwaukee say they Stradivarius violin stolen there last week has been found in good condition. Police said the 300-year-old instrument was located in an attic after an anonymous owner offered a $100,000 reward for information to safely retrieve it. Worth millions of dollars, it was on loan to a concert violinist who was attacked by a robber with a stun gun as he left the concert hall.