BBC News with Jonathan Izard.
The Turkish military says it warned a Syrian warplane four times as it was approaching Turkey's air space before shooting it down earlier today. The Turkish General Staff said in a statement that the second Syrian plane heeded the warnings and turned back. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier said Ankara would react forcefully to what he called any further incursions.James Reynolds reports.
“Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a rally in Istanbul that Turkish F-16s hit a Syrian warplane after it violated Turkish airspace. If you violate our airspace, our slap after this will be hard, Mr. Erdogan told his supporters. One report from Damascus says that Syria condemns Turkish action as a flagrant act of aggression. The governments of Turkey and Syria have been on opposite sides of Syria's war since October 2011. Over the last year and a half, there have been a number of incidents along their 900km long border.”
Exit polls in France showed the Socialists of President Francios Hollande are behind the centre-right opposition UMP in the first round of municipal elections. The anti-immigration National Front makes significant gains as Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.
“It is in rather well that we need keeping things in proportion. It's certainly may begins, and in a number towns, I’m secured places like Frejus, Perpignan, Avignon, it's made the spectacular success of actually coming out first in this first round of voting. The reason for that was no secret that there is a growing aspiration in France with the two main parties, the UMP and the ruling Socialist. We do need to keep some sense of proportion knowing all this. The chances of winning many towns, control many towns are very, very small. This is a two-round election that we get.”
The NATO Supreme Military Commander has warned that the Russian military presence along the eastern Ukrainian border poses a threat to both sides of the country. Speaking in Brussels, General Philip Breedlove said the Russian buildup was big enough to threaten not just eastern Ukrainian but also a Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria.
“The force that is at Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very sizable and very, very ready. We need to think about the positioning of our forces such that we can defend against it if required, especially in the Baltics.”
In a BBC's interview, Ukraine's acting Deputy Defence Minister said that Ukraine hoped the West support would extend to joint military exercises and safeguarding Ukraine’s nuclear power stations. He said such international efforts would help preclude a fully-fledged war with Russia.
Afghan officials say a recent attack on a Kabul luxury hotel that left nine civilians dead was planned by foreign intelligence services. Correspondents say the statement is seen as a veiled reference to Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI. Four teenage gunmen fired indiscriminately on dinners at the hotel's restaurant.
World News from the BBC
Three people have been killed in a landslide in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in the US state of Washington, 30 homes were destroyed. Seven people have been injured and around 18 are missing. Rescuers are trying to find survivors in the thick mud that covers an area of more than 2.5 square kilometres.
Police in Nigeria have discovered what local media are calling a house of horrors in the southwestern city of Ibadan with decomposing corpses, human skulls and other body parts, several extremely malnourished people were found nearby, and local media reported that about 15 people were discovered in chains. Tomi Oladipo reports from Lagos.
“Local media have referred to the building where the bodies were found as a house of horror. A group of commercial motorcyclists in the southwestern city of Ibadan had called for a police investigation after several of their colleagues went missing. A search party, then found an abandoned building, and in it, skeletons, decomposing bodies and body parts on the bloodstained floors. A police spokesperson says several people have been arrested in connection with the case as the investigations continue.”
Venezuela's Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz says the authorities are investigating 60 cases over alleged human rights abuses during recent street protests. Mr. Ortega said six security agencies were among the 31 people killed in the violence, more than 450 people have been injured. The street protests started in mid February with angry students that quickly became a near daily feature in opposition strongholds around Caracas and in other parts of Venezuela.
Adolfo Suarez, Spain's first democratically elected Prime Minister of the post-Franco era, has died at the age of 81. A democrat and consensus builder, Adolfo Suarez was handpicked in 1976 by King Juan Carlos after the death of General Franco to steer the country towards the parliamentary democracy. A year later, he won Spain's first free elections for more than 40 years. King Juan Carlos's today paid tribute to an exceptional colleague.