BBC news with Jonathan Izard.
After a decade of negotiations,Russia has clinched a huge deal to supply China with natural gas.The agreement is thought to be worth 400 billion dollars over 30 years.Russia's energy giant Gazprom would only say it was signed on mutually beneficial terms.The first gas will be piped in 2018 from new facilities separate from those supplying Europe.President Putin said it was a major deal for Russia.
This is the biggest contract in the history of the gas industry in the former USSR and the Russian federation in terms of volume.I want to know that this was indeed a difficult job at the level of export.Our Chinese friends are difficult and tough negotiators.
The internet auction site eBay is asking users to change their passwords after hackers attacked a database,compromising its security.The American company says it has no evidence that credit card details were accessed,but the database contains personal information including days of birth,email and postal address.Rory Cellan-Jones reports.
EBay says the attackers got access to a database containing encrypted passwords,but no financial data by obtaining the log-ins of some employees.The attack took place between late February and early March,but ebay says it was only detected two weeks ago.The firm hasn't detected any increase in fraudulent activities on the site,but says changing password is the best practice,and will help enhance security.
The United States has deployed military personnel to Chad to try to help find more than 200 school girls kidnapped in northern Nigeria.The girls were abducted more than five weeks ago by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.Several countries including Britain and Israel are assisting the Nigerian military with intelligence expertise.Jane O'Brien reports.
Using his war powers,president Obama ordered the troop deployment as part of US efforts to locate and return the girls to their families.In a letter to Congress,the White House said the 18 military personnel would support intelligence, surveillance and reconnoissance aircraft missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area.The force will be based in Chad,and will remain there until no longer needed.Chad shares a border with Nigeria,where the 276 girls were seized last month by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
Rebels holding the key town of Kidal in northern Mali have managed to repel an offensive by government forces to try to retake the town.A BBC correspondent in Mali says government troops sought refuge in the United Nations' base.The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate ceasefire.A Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali in 2012 threw the country into turmoil,triggering a military coup.French forces intervened last year to try to drive out the insurgents but they've remained active in some parts since then.
BBC news.
A federal judge in the United States has ordered the Justice Department to hand over videos showing the treatment of a Syrian prisoner at Guantanamo bay detention center who was on hunger strike.The videos show the detainee Abu Wa'el Dhiab being forcibly fed through a tube in his nose.Last week,in the first ruling of its kind,the judge imposed a ban on force-feeding the prisoner.Mr Dhiab has been held without charge since August, 2002.
The Israeli police say restraining orders have been placed on several Jewish right-wing activists over concerns that they might try to disrupt Pope Francis's visit to the holy land later this week.A police spokeswoman said the restraining orders were based on intelligence received by the security service Shin Bet and will be in effect for four days.
Five young Iranians arrested after they posted a video of themselves dancing to the Pharrell William's hit "Happy" / have been released.But the director of the video is still in custody.Police in Tehran said the online clip hurt public chastity.James Renauld has this report.
The homemade video shows six young Iranians,three men and three women without headscarves,dancing with abandon on a secluded rooftop and in an apartment.Their efforts were too much for Iran's authorities.The performers were soon arrested and filmed on state TV.They were apparently made to confess that they were tricked into filming their video.Pharrell Williams says that it is beyond sad that the six were arrested for trying to spread happiness.
The American secretary of state John Kerry says impatience with the Venezuelan government is growing in the region over the failure of recent talks with the opposition.Mr Kerry called on president Nicolas Maduro to show good faith in the negotiations to end the worst political crisis in Venezuela in a decade.At least 42 people from both sides of the political divide have been killed in street protests this year.