BBC News with Steward Macintosh
The United States has voiced great concern about heighten tension in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian demonstrators have seized control of government buildings.During a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart the US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Moscow of consequences if it move to destablize its neighbor.Barbara reports from Washington.
Mr.Kerry told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that the siege of public buildings in three cities of eastern Ukraine did not appear to be spontaneous. He noted Ukrainian claims of a carefully orchestrated campaign with Russian support.And he warned that any more Russian move to destablize Ukraine would incur costs on tough of the sanctions already in place.A State Department spokeswoman said the two discussed convening talks in the next ten days between Ukraine, Russian, the United States and the EU to defuse tensions.
A court in Egypt has jailed four men found guilty of homosexual acts.Egyptian law does not explicitly ban homosexuality so the men were charged under legislation of against debauchery.Orla Guerin reports from Cairo.
The men were accused of attending or arranging so-called deviant sex parties and dressing in women's clothes. A leading Egyptian human rights group said the severe sentences they received were part of an ongoing crackdown on personal freedoms. The verdict was described as ominous by an independent rights activist, who told the BBC it followed a growing series of arrests of gay men.
The South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has made a tearful apology on the first day of giving evidence at his murder trial. He sobbed as he told the court in Pretoria, that hadn't been a moment since he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp that he hadn't thought about her family. He said he was too scared to sleep, suffering from nightmares and never want to go near a gun again. He admits shooting Ms. Steenkamp at his home in February last year, but says he mistook her for an intruder. The court adjourned early after Mr.Pistorius's defence lawyer said his client was too tired to continue.
The Austrian President Heinz Fischer has said a far-right candidate should withdraw from European elections because of his racist comments. Andreas Moelzer is the lead candidate for the freedom party which he is running win over 20% in the polls.Bethany Bell reports.
Andreas Moelzer has been widely criticised for saying that the European Union is a conglomerate of Negroes and for calling the EU a dictatorship that make Hitler's Third Reich look informal and liberal by comparison. He's apologized for the comments, but pressure for him to step down is mounting. In recent months, his Eurosceptic, an anti-Immigrant party has been riding high in the opinion polls, often scoring more than Austria's governing Social Demoncrats and Conservatives.
This is the World News from the BBC.
At least seven people have been killed in fighting between two Palestinian factions in a refugee camp near Lebanon's southern city of Sidon.The leader of one of the factions Ahmet Rasheed was among those killed.The further ten people were injured in the two hour battle.The Mieh camp remains cordoned off by the Lebonese military.
The Afghan authorities said at least 18 suspected Taliban insurgents have been killed in an American drone attack in eastern Afghanistan.They said the dead included the senior Taliban commanders of Kuna province near the border with Pakistan.Officials said the militants had entered Afghanistan to disrupt the presidential election and were returning to Pakistan when they were targeted.
The British television presenter and model Peaches Geldof has died she was 25. Peaches Geldof was the daughter of Paula Yates and the singer and campaigner Bob Geldof. She had two children both under two years old.Rebecca Jones reports.
Kent police have said Peaches Geldof's death has been treated as sudden and unexplained. And the officers were working to establish the circumstances around it. Her parents divorced when she was seven, it was the very worst thing that happened to me, she later said, It really affected the rest of my life. Four years later, Paula Yates was dead from an accidental heroin overdose. And while Peaches Geldof later admitted turning to drink and drugs as a teenager, she said the memory of her mother always stopped her spiralling out of control. In a statement this evening, Bob Geldof said she was a beautiful child and she's family was beyond pain.
A study commissioned by the EU says that far more honeybees are dying in northern Europe than in Mediterranean countries. Last year, the EU introduced a ban on four chemicals which were used in pesticides.They are believed to be linked to the collapse of bee colonies across Europe. Many experts say further studies into the impact of pesticides are needed.