:00:17. > :00:18.absorbed into Russia. President Putin signs a declaration
:00:19. > :00:32.formally making Crimea Russian, a move condemned by Europe. A sham and
:00:33. > :00:37.a leap - Crowe illegal referendum has taken place at the barrel of
:00:38. > :00:39.Kalashnikov. This is a flagrant breach of international law and
:00:40. > :00:43.something we will not recognise. We'll be looking at what lies ahead
:00:44. > :00:45.for those in Crimea who who wanted to stay in Ukraine and now fear for
:00:46. > :00:47.their future. Also tonight: The first ever
:00:48. > :00:50.prosecution in connection with female genital mutilation, of a
:00:51. > :01:00.London hospital doctor. Campaigners welcome the move. Today
:01:01. > :01:05.is one of the best days of my life in campaigning, and I feel like
:01:06. > :01:06.standing on top of the roof and shouting. That's how I feel about
:01:07. > :01:09.it. The mother of ten from Belfast who
:01:10. > :01:13.was abducted in front of her children, never to be seen again -
:01:14. > :01:15.40 years on a man is charged. A vaccine to protect children
:01:16. > :01:19.against a dangerous strain of meningitis is likely to be made
:01:20. > :01:23.available on the NHS. And tributes to Arsene Wenger, as he
:01:24. > :01:27.clocks up 1000 games in charge at Arsenal.
:01:28. > :01:33.In Sportsday, Robin Van Persie is ruled out for up to six weeks with a
:01:34. > :01:57.sprained knee - he'll miss the Champions League quarterfinal.
:01:58. > :02:01.Good evening. Ukraine looked both east and west
:02:02. > :02:05.today, as the diplomatic standoff between Europe and Russia became
:02:06. > :02:07.further entrenched. Today in Moscow, the Russian president, Vladmir
:02:08. > :02:13.Putin, completed the incorporation of Crimea into Russia, describing it
:02:14. > :02:16.as a "remarkable event''. In Brussels, at almost exactly the same
:02:17. > :02:21.time, the European Union was signing a deal with Ukraine on closer
:02:22. > :02:25.political and economic ties. The EU also released the names of Russians
:02:26. > :02:35.who will face sanctions. Our Europe Correspondent, Gavin Hewitt,
:02:36. > :02:41.reports. A day of signing. Two worlds, East
:02:42. > :02:45.versus West, different leaders with different patterns. In Moscow,
:02:46. > :02:54.President Putin sealed the absorption of Crimea into Russia by
:02:55. > :03:01.signing the legal documents. The Russian anthem played. The president
:03:02. > :03:11.saluted what he called a serious, momentous event. 1400 miles away in
:03:12. > :03:15.Brussels, a very different signing. The EU took the symbolic first step
:03:16. > :03:18.of signing a political agreement with Ukraine, bringing the nation of
:03:19. > :03:26.46 million people closer to the heart of Europe. No anthem here,
:03:27. > :03:31.just a ripple of applause. At a summit in Brussels, Europe's leaders
:03:32. > :03:36.adopted new sanctions against 12 Russian officials, including the
:03:37. > :03:39.Russian Deputy Prime Minister, after the referendum in Crimea which led
:03:40. > :03:45.to the region breaking away. Since we last met, a sham and illegal
:03:46. > :03:50.referendum has taken place at the barrel of a Kalashnikov. This is a
:03:51. > :03:59.flagrant breach of international law and something we will not recognise.
:04:00. > :04:04.Among the new people targeted today is the head of the Russia today news
:04:05. > :04:10.agency and a cheerleader for President Putin. A man who recently
:04:11. > :04:17.said that Russia was the one country that could turn America into a
:04:18. > :04:23.nuclear ash. So after this summit here, 33 Crimean 's and Russians now
:04:24. > :04:25.face travel restrictions and a freeze on their assets. Most
:04:26. > :04:31.significantly, the summit agreed that if the crisis escalates, they
:04:32. > :04:34.are prepared to move to some form of economic sanctions, and the
:04:35. > :04:39.commission has been tasked with exploring potential targets. But how
:04:40. > :04:44.much impact would any of this have on Russia? Well, the stock market is
:04:45. > :04:50.down 20% since the stock market began. Two ratings agencies have
:04:51. > :04:52.downgraded Russia, and its finance minister has warned that economic
:04:53. > :04:58.sanctions would raise rush-hour's borrowing costs. Back in the
:04:59. > :05:03.corridors in Brussels, the atmosphere was spiced with warnings
:05:04. > :05:09.about Russian intentions. This was the Ukrainian Prime Minister. What
:05:10. > :05:14.is happening in the world today? Russia decided to actually impose a
:05:15. > :05:20.new post-Cold War order and revise the results of the Second World
:05:21. > :05:23.War. This is the truth. For the moment, President Putin is
:05:24. > :05:27.undeterred, but the economy is vulnerable and Europe's leaders are
:05:28. > :05:30.determined to reduce their dependency on Russian energy.
:05:31. > :05:33.In Crimea, Russian troops have continued their takeover of
:05:34. > :05:35.Ukrainian military bases. Many Ukrainian troops in Crimea have been
:05:36. > :05:39.packing up, after becoming foreign forces in what had been their own
:05:40. > :05:49.territory. Our correspondent Ian Pannell sent this report from the
:05:50. > :05:55.Crimean city of Sevastopol. The final fragments of Ukrainian
:05:56. > :05:58.rule in Crimea are being destroyed. Its troops burned military papers
:05:59. > :06:05.today to keep them from Russian hands. Some of them bowed to the
:06:06. > :06:09.inevitable and abandoned their posts. Moscow's forces already
:06:10. > :06:14.occupy most of this air base, and this morning they told the
:06:15. > :06:21.Ukrainians to leave. This has been a largely bloodless affair. But it has
:06:22. > :06:28.divided friends, families and neighbours. One of the military
:06:29. > :06:35.wives accused this family of being traitors, of deserting their posts.
:06:36. > :06:39.Soldiers must now choose who their allegiance belongs to. For many, it
:06:40. > :06:45.is a deeply personal and difficult time, as families must decide
:06:46. > :06:55.whether to stay or to leave Crimea. My wife's dream now is just that
:06:56. > :07:04.time should turn back. Just one month ago, everything was fine,
:07:05. > :07:10.everything. But now we are under huge pressure. There is an eerie
:07:11. > :07:13.calm about this place. As many as half of the troops stationed here
:07:14. > :07:19.are thought to have left already. Others, like you can see here, are
:07:20. > :07:24.sitting around waiting for orders, and crucially waiting to decide
:07:25. > :07:28.whose side they are on. Russia has now taken over more than 70 bases
:07:29. > :07:33.here, and the hardware that used to belong to Ukraine. Leaving the
:07:34. > :07:37.troops with just a handful of memories of the generations of
:07:38. > :07:45.service to Crimea. It is very hard for me. Because we are alone here.
:07:46. > :07:56.You feel you have been abandoned? Yes. By your government, by the
:07:57. > :08:02.West, by whom? By all the world. We are alone here.
:08:03. > :08:08.But most are celebrating the events of the last week. Tonight, hundreds
:08:09. > :08:12.gathered for a firework display courtesy of their new president,
:08:13. > :08:20.Vladimir Putin. Today, he ratified the takeover of this peninsular. And
:08:21. > :08:27.whatever the outside world says or does, the future of Crimea now
:08:28. > :08:31.belongs to Moscow. A doctor and another man have become
:08:32. > :08:32.the first people in Britain to be charged in connection with
:08:33. > :08:37.performing female genital mutilation. It's alleged the offence
:08:38. > :08:41.took place on a woman at the Whittington Hospital in north
:08:42. > :08:46.London. FGM has been banned since 1985 but it's taken until now to
:08:47. > :08:50.bring the first prosecution. It's thought over 60,000 women in the UK
:08:51. > :09:01.have been mutilated and more than 20,000 girls are at risk. Reeta
:09:02. > :09:05.Chakrabarti reports. Tonight, at the Whittington Hospital
:09:06. > :09:09.in north London, staff are absorbing the fact that one of its doctors is
:09:10. > :09:14.part of the first prosecution to be brought in this country for female
:09:15. > :09:17.genital mutilation. Dr Dhanoun Dharmasena is alleged to have
:09:18. > :09:24.restored a mutilation on a patient who gave birth here in 2012. Another
:09:25. > :09:29.man, Hasan Mohamed, faces charges of encouraging and abetting him. Female
:09:30. > :09:32.genital mutilation has been outlawed for three decades but prosecutors
:09:33. > :09:36.have found it difficult to bring cases to court, partly because the
:09:37. > :09:39.victims are usually very young girls. It is only in recent years
:09:40. > :09:45.that it has gained mainstream attention, thanks to the persistence
:09:46. > :09:48.of campaigners, who hailed today's news as a breakthrough. Today is one
:09:49. > :09:53.of the best days of my life in campaigning, and I feel like
:09:54. > :10:00.standing on top of the roof and shouting. That's how I feel about
:10:01. > :10:04.it. FGM is, to most people, and unimaginable practice, involving
:10:05. > :10:08.cutting off a girl's external sex organs. In the UK, it is carried out
:10:09. > :10:12.by communities originally from Africa, Asia and the Middle East,
:10:13. > :10:16.with girls taken home during the holidays to have it done. This
:10:17. > :10:21.family, who I interviewed last month, are victims and campaigners.
:10:22. > :10:32.Fatima and her daughter have had if GM. Her granddaughter has not. --
:10:33. > :10:35.FGM. To tamper with our natural given body is completely wrong, and
:10:36. > :10:41.you are doing it to your children who actually have no idea. At the
:10:42. > :10:44.last count, an estimated 66,000 women and girls in the UK were
:10:45. > :10:50.victims, although experts think the true figure is higher. Figures
:10:51. > :10:57.obtained by the BBC is just almost 4000 FGM patients have been treated
:10:58. > :11:01.since 2009. -- they suggest. The Metropolitan Police say they have
:11:02. > :11:07.had 161 referrals since 2010, but how to get more cases to court?
:11:08. > :11:10.There are other things we can look at, for example anonymity for
:11:11. > :11:14.victims. It is abuse of a woman's body in a place where women might
:11:15. > :11:19.not want to openly discuss what has happened. If they come forward and
:11:20. > :11:25.we take charges, their identity at the moment is not a non-eyes. The UK
:11:26. > :11:28.record on prosecutions is in contrast to France, where at least
:11:29. > :11:35.35 cases have reached the higher courts. The two men charged today
:11:36. > :11:38.would appear in court next month. The second day of searching a remote
:11:39. > :11:41.part of the southern Indian Ocean for debris that may be linked to the
:11:42. > :11:45.missing Malaysian airliner has concluded without any sightings.
:11:46. > :11:49.Flight MH370 vanished shortly after take-off from Kuala Lumpur two weeks
:11:50. > :11:53.ago with 239 people on board. Our correspondent John Donnison is in
:11:54. > :11:56.Perth in Western Australia. A fortnight on, and tonight we've seen
:11:57. > :12:01.the transcript of the last 50 minutes of communication aboard the
:12:02. > :12:11.flight before the plane disappeared. What light does it shed?
:12:12. > :12:14.It is an interesting development. This is the Daily Telegraph
:12:15. > :12:18.newspaper that says it has got hold of the transcript of the last 54
:12:19. > :12:24.minutes of the conversation between the co-pilot, the pilot and Malaysia
:12:25. > :12:30.on air traffic control. Basically, aviation experts say that it looks
:12:31. > :12:38.pretty regular. Nothing out of the ordinary about their communication
:12:39. > :12:48.back to their traffic control. The transcript suggests against the idea
:12:49. > :12:52.of the involvement... For the aircrew is leading this
:12:53. > :12:58.operation, it is a daunting mission. Just getting to the search area and
:12:59. > :13:01.back is an 11 hour round trip across the vastness of the Southern Indian
:13:02. > :13:06.Ocean. The planes are fitted with high-tech radar equipment, but
:13:07. > :13:11.sometimes it just comes down to looking out the window. It is
:13:12. > :13:14.monotonous and exhausting work. It is about the most inaccessible spot
:13:15. > :13:20.you can imagine on the face of the earth. But if there is anything down
:13:21. > :13:26.there, we will find it. We owe it to the families of those people to do
:13:27. > :13:30.no less. This is what they are looking for, two objects amid the
:13:31. > :13:34.waves, one thought to be 24 metres long, the other five. But the
:13:35. > :13:40.satellite pictures that intensified the search this week are now five
:13:41. > :13:43.days old. What may or may not turn out to be debris from the missing
:13:44. > :13:52.Malaysia and plane could have drifted hundreds of miles by now.
:13:53. > :13:57.The search planes are dropping data boys to try and seek clues as to
:13:58. > :14:01.where they should be looking. Meanwhile, in Malaysia, officials
:14:02. > :14:19.acknowledge that the long wait for the families of the missing could be
:14:20. > :14:26.far from over. The focus is to reduce the area of search and
:14:27. > :14:30.possible rescue. As the planes return to base, the world's media
:14:31. > :14:32.lined up for any news of a breakthrough. Despite better weather
:14:33. > :14:38.conditions, it did not come. Compared to what we saw yesterday,
:14:39. > :14:42.visibility was great. There was no rain in the area. We have a lot of
:14:43. > :14:47.hope and if conditions remain as they are hopefully we will find
:14:48. > :14:51.something soon. The Sun is far from setting on this operation. Over the
:14:52. > :14:52.weekend, more planes and ships from around the world are expected to
:14:53. > :15:04.join the search. It remains one of the most notorious
:15:05. > :15:08.unsolved crimes of Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. Jean
:15:09. > :15:12.McConville, a mother of ten, was dragged by the IRA from her home in
:15:13. > :15:15.Belfast in front of her children and never seen alive again. Now, over 40
:15:16. > :15:18.years on, a man has been charged with aiding and abetting her murder.
:15:19. > :15:22.Let's talk to our Ireland correspondent, Chris Buckler. What
:15:23. > :15:27.more can you tell us? Jean McConville was one of the people
:15:28. > :15:34.known as the disappeared. They were killed and buried in secret by
:15:35. > :15:38.Republican pal Eric trees. She was taken by an IRA gang. --
:15:39. > :15:44.paramilitary 's. Her children did not know what had happened to her
:15:45. > :15:49.for many years. It was claimed she was a British army informant. It was
:15:50. > :15:54.years before the IRA even acknowledge it had been involved in
:15:55. > :15:59.her death. It is ten years since her remains were discovered on a beach.
:16:00. > :16:06.For decades after she disappeared, a man is to be charged in connection
:16:07. > :16:13.with her killing. Either Bell is a veteran Republican. He was involved
:16:14. > :16:18.in talks in the 1970s. That was alongside Martin McGuinness and the
:16:19. > :16:25.Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams. Tomorrow, he will appear in court in
:16:26. > :16:31.Belfast, charged with aiding and abetting in the murder of Jean
:16:32. > :16:32.McConville. A killing from 1972 of a single mother which still haunts
:16:33. > :16:44.Republicans today will stop Jean -- today. Some of the day's other
:16:45. > :16:46.other news stories... Official estimates of the cost of unpaid
:16:47. > :16:49.student loans suggest they could cancel out most of the money made
:16:50. > :16:52.from the tripling of university tuition fees. The Government now
:16:53. > :16:56.believes that 45% of graduates won't earn enough to repay the money. That
:16:57. > :16:59.is close to the threshold at which experts calculate more money will be
:17:00. > :17:01.lost by the Government than is gained from the increased fees. Mary
:17:02. > :17:05.Konye, a 22-year-old student from East London, has been jailed for 12
:17:06. > :17:08.years after an acid attack on her friend. It left Naomi Oni scarred
:17:09. > :17:11.for life. The judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court described the attack as
:17:12. > :17:14.a premeditated and callous plan to disfigure the victim. Children's
:17:15. > :17:17.services at a council which was criticised for failings over the
:17:18. > :17:21.death of four-year-old Daniel Pelka are still inadequate. Daniel was
:17:22. > :17:25.starved and beaten to death by his mother and stepfather two years ago.
:17:26. > :17:32.But an Ofsted report has warned that too many children in Coventry remain
:17:33. > :17:35.at risk of harm. A new vaccine to protect infants against meningitis B
:17:36. > :17:38.is likely to be made available on the NHS across the UK. The
:17:39. > :17:44.announcement reverses a decision last year rejecting the jab as too
:17:45. > :17:50.expensive. About 1,760 people contract meningitis B each year,
:17:51. > :17:55.with babies under one most at risk. It leads to death in a tenth of
:17:56. > :17:58.cases. Of those who survive, one in three is left with disabilities such
:17:59. > :18:01.as brain damage, losing a limb or deafness. Our health correspondent,
:18:02. > :18:11.Dominic Hughes, went to County Durham, to meet one young survivor.
:18:12. > :18:13.I put my arm in there. Tilly is learning to use her new prosthetic
:18:14. > :18:16.hand. Meningitis B robbed the eight-year-old of both hands, some
:18:17. > :18:21.toes and nearly her life when she was just a baby. Now she is glad
:18:22. > :18:27.that, in the future, other children should be safe from the infection
:18:28. > :18:34.that nearly killed her. I do not want people losing their hands and
:18:35. > :18:37.feet and dying. Tilly's mother, Sarah, believes the introduction of
:18:38. > :18:42.a vaccine for meningitis B is long overdue. It will have a massive
:18:43. > :18:47.impact. So many children will be saved. Thank you for finally saying
:18:48. > :18:50.yes. Meningitis B is one of the most feared childhood infections in
:18:51. > :18:55.Britain. Developing a vaccine has taken 20 years. Now the expert panel
:18:56. > :19:04.has changed its mind as to whether introducing a vaccine would be cost
:19:05. > :19:06.effective. We have redone the analysis on cost effectiveness and
:19:07. > :19:11.found the vaccine could be cost effective, as long as it is a fairly
:19:12. > :19:14.low price. Tilly and her friends have already benefited from one of
:19:15. > :19:18.the world's most comprehensive childhood immunisation programmes.
:19:19. > :19:23.The UK is now the first country to add meningitis B to that list. The
:19:24. > :19:25.great benefit of this vaccine is it has the potential to offer
:19:26. > :19:33.protection, not just to individuals but to children across the United
:19:34. > :19:36.Kingdom. It offers a defence against an infection that can have a
:19:37. > :19:41.devastating effect on the lives of children and their families. Around
:19:42. > :19:46.700,000 children a year will be eligible for the vaccination. At the
:19:47. > :19:51.moment, it costs ?75 a shot and the full treatment involves three
:19:52. > :19:57.injections. The NHS will demand a big discount. There is negotiation
:19:58. > :20:00.between the Department of Health and the manufacturer to ensure we can
:20:01. > :20:05.obtain the vaccine at a cost effective price. Today, the experts
:20:06. > :20:09.charged with the tough job of striking the balance between the
:20:10. > :20:10.cost of a vaccine and the value of a child's life recognise they do not
:20:11. > :20:19.always get it right first time. Hundreds of thousands of Twitter
:20:20. > :20:22.users in Turkey have defied a ban on the social media website today. The
:20:23. > :20:25.Prime Minister, Rechep Tayyip Erdowan, had vowed to wipe out
:20:26. > :20:29.Twitter after it was used to circulate allegations of government
:20:30. > :20:32.corruption. Mr Erdogan denies that audio recordings being shared by
:20:33. > :20:37.activists prove he is guilty of any wrongdoing. But the country's own
:20:38. > :20:39.president joined those flouting the ban today, calling the Prime
:20:40. > :20:40.Minister's actions unacceptable, as James Reynolds reports from
:20:41. > :20:55.Istanbul. So much for a complete Twitter
:20:56. > :21:00.blackout. Students here at this University have found their way
:21:01. > :21:06.straight back onto the website and even to their prime minister 's own
:21:07. > :21:11.Twitter page. It is almost like everyone became hackers. People
:21:12. > :21:15.started immediately through other social media sites, telling everyone
:21:16. > :21:23.out how to access Twitter when it is banned. These students are part of
:21:24. > :21:28.the 10 million strong twitter class. The Prime Minister may have
:21:29. > :21:34.underestimated their technical skills. If you tinker with computer
:21:35. > :21:42.settings for ten, 15 seconds, you can find an easy back door into
:21:43. > :21:47.twitter. Even the president has managed to evade the ban. He has
:21:48. > :21:52.posted messages from his own account, criticising the block. The
:21:53. > :21:57.Prime Minister, campaigning yesterday, it sees known need to
:21:58. > :22:02.this than to any of his critics, at home or abroad. He believes that the
:22:03. > :22:15.working class is still with him and they outnumbered the twitter class.
:22:16. > :22:20.TRANSLATION: We have a court order and we will
:22:21. > :22:29.wipe out all the sites. The international community can say this
:22:30. > :22:34.and that. I do not care at all. He tells his supporters, a vision of
:22:35. > :22:39.Turkey and attack. The faceless enemy tries to come down on the
:22:40. > :22:52.nation 's flag. The country rises to defend it. The opposition
:22:53. > :22:58.demonstrated last week, after the death of a teenage protester, has
:22:59. > :23:03.its numbers. It has formed no lasting movement. Demonstrators may
:23:04. > :23:08.know plenty about twitter but their opponent, the Prime Minister, still
:23:09. > :23:11.knows more about winning elections. Now he's 999 not out and tomorrow
:23:12. > :23:15.Arsene Wenger will take charge of his 1,000th game in charge of
:23:16. > :23:18.Arsenal. When he arrived, at what was then Highbury back in 1996, he
:23:19. > :23:21.was relatively unknown. And while he's still waiting for his first
:23:22. > :23:24.trophy since the Gunners moved stadium to the Emirates, his sheer
:23:25. > :23:25.staying power puts him among the greats of the game, as Joe Wilson
:23:26. > :23:37.reports. Hardly a surprise party for a man
:23:38. > :23:40.who has been there 999 games. Still, Arsenal provided their own token of
:23:41. > :23:46.appreciation for Arsene Wenger today, a trophy, just like the old
:23:47. > :23:53.days. They have won three titles, four FA Cups. Since 2005, nothing.
:23:54. > :23:58.The manager has been balancing the books. Do you feel satisfied with
:23:59. > :24:04.what you have achieved in 1,000 games? Is satisfaction something you
:24:05. > :24:10.find difficult? Satisfaction is not one of my greatest qualities. This
:24:11. > :24:14.club has given me a chance. As well, at an important period of life span
:24:15. > :24:17.of this club, I have shown loyalty and turned many things down and
:24:18. > :24:24.accepted to work with restricted potential.
:24:25. > :24:34.Viera! The captain during Wenger's golden Arsenal era remains fiercely
:24:35. > :24:39.loyal to his former manager. What he achieved at Arsenal was fantastic.
:24:40. > :24:43.When you look at Arsenal where it was 15, 20 years ago and where it is
:24:44. > :24:47.now, he has contributed to the football club massively. When Arsene
:24:48. > :24:52.Wenger walks out to the touchline at Arsenal he can see the legacy. This
:24:53. > :24:57.new stadium was built on financial prudence. That is rare enough in
:24:58. > :25:05.football. The relationship between Arsenal and Arsene is almost unique.
:25:06. > :25:10.He is in his 18th year with Arsenal. Alan Pardew is the next longest
:25:11. > :25:14.serving manager with three years. Sam Allardyce, at West Ham, the only
:25:15. > :25:17.other man with two years at a club. As for the Chelsea manager, Jose
:25:18. > :25:23.Mourinho marvels at the patience of Arsenal. It is not possible to have
:25:24. > :25:26.1,000 matches unless the club is also a fantastic club, in the way
:25:27. > :25:29.they support the manager, especially in the bad moments and especially
:25:30. > :25:43.when the bad moments are quite a lot. Yes. Doubtless inspired by such
:25:44. > :25:45.a compliment, Arsenal play Chelsea tomorrow lunchtime. Prepare for a
:25:46. > :25:54.1,000 game stare. That's all from us. Don't forget a
:25:55. > :25:56.first look at the papers over on the BBC News