18/04/2014 BBC News at Ten

The Captain of the ferry which sank in South Korea with hundreds of

children on board is arrested. Prosecutors say Lee Joon-Seok

abandoned ship with his passengers trapped below deck. Rescue teams

retrieve more bodies from the ferry, as hopes fade of finding any more

survivors. A leading republican dissident is

shot dead on a street in Belfast. Pro-Russian militias in Ukraine

refuse to disband - placing the international deal to end the crisis

in doubt. And, the Duchess of Cambridge

extends her thanks for a warm welcome as she meets children at a

hospice on the Royal tour of Australia.

Good evening. Hopes are fading of finding any more survivors on the

passenger ferry which sank off south Korea with hundreds of children on

board. Today, the captain was arrested. Prosecutors say he's

accused of leaving the bridge and abandoning ship while most of the

passengers were still trapped below deck. Rescue teams have been

recovering more bodies from the ferry but found no signs of life.

Our correspondent Lucy Williamson has been following developments from

the island of Jindo. Her report does contain some distressing images.

Boats here bring news. They build hope and they can end it. For

anxious families it's an agonising wait. This time, it was three

bodies. One a boy who boarded the ferry on Tuesday for a school trip.

Today, he came ashore again still wearing the sweatpants and branded

watch he left home in. Almost 300 others are still waiting to be

found. Two buoys mark where the ship went down. Everything else is sunk.

But weather conditions are improving and divers have now managed to get

inside. It's risky work even for the Navy. But there's no shortage of

civilian volunteers. TRANSLATION: This rescue is based on the

assumption that people are still alive. All of us believe there must

be survivors, that's why we came here. Hope is a powerful belief

here. In the gymnasium officials are preparing families for the worst.

DNA tests are nothing being offered to anyone who wants one but not

everyone's ready. And now news of another death, the

students' school vice-principal, Kang Min-Kyu, found dead on a

mountain nearby along with a suicide note according to a local news

agency. Like everyone here, the

vice-principal knew these children, not just one or two, but all of

them. They were his pupils and on this trip he was in charge.

Mr Kim's nephew was one of his pupils. He is still missing.

TRANSLATION: He must have felt really guilty for losing his

students like that but how can we compare him to the captain who

abandoned his ship leaving the children? For three days, families

have waited to find out what The captain was rescued early. He

was shown with passengers while the ferry sank. He's now been arrested.

Did he cause this? Early reports say the ship may have been steered by a

junior crewman, that it might have taken an unofficial route and

perhaps made a dangerously sharp turn as it navigated the area's tiny

Islands. No proof yet, but the bebeginnings of a case. Families

meanwhile wait to find out what happened to their loved ones. Some

of them now have an answer. But many more are still clinging to the hope

that their relative will be found alive.

A leading dissident republican has been shot dead in West Belfast.

Tommy Crossan had been leader of the Continuity IRA, a group which split

from the Provisional IRA, because it opposed the Northern Ireland peace

process. From Belfast, Chris Buckler reports.

This was a murder with all the hallmarks of an execution. Tommy

crossen was approaching his car at a fuel depot when he was attacked and

led away to be killed. Witnesses say they heard several shots fired.

He was well-known in West Belfast, and shortly after the shooting

friends and relatives made their way visibly upset to the police cordon.

Crossen was at one time a senior leader within the Continuity IRA, a

dissident republican grip, but a few years ago he fell out with other

members of the organisation. Threats had been made against his life and

detectives are examining the possibility that dissidents were

involved in the murder. A car was found burnt out a short

distance away and the misbelieve it may have been used by the -- the

police believe it may have been used by the gunmen. This will be seen as

criminal rather than political in Belfast. However, it once again

shows the threat posed by republican groups violently opposed to the

peace process. This was a planned killing carried out in broad

daylight close to a busy road. It's one of a series of murders carried

out in recent years by dissident republicans of dissident

republicans. A priest prayed over Tommy crossen's

body at the scene of the shooting. Years after an agreement that bore

the name of Good Friday the day has again become linked to violence that

many hoped was confined to the past. A seven-year-old boy from Aberdeen

is being treated for burns after being found on fire in the street.

Police say petrol was involved in the incident but haven't released

more details. The boy was taken to hospital where his injuries are

described as serious. Ukraine's government has appealed

for national unity, following an international deal to ease the

crisis there. It's promised to meet some of the demands of pro-Russian

protesters in the east of the country. However, the armed militias

have refused to withdraw from buildings they've occupied in at

least nine cities. Daniel Sandford reports from Donetsk.

Armed pro-Russian fighters this morning in the centre of the

protesters' military stronghold, Sloviansk. Under yesterday's

agreements, their fortress town should be returning to normal but

there was no sign of that today. Despite yesterday's deal in Geneva

these barricades have an air of permanency about them and the men

guarding them say they won't be leaving these buildings or giving up

their weapons until the far-right protesters in Kiev do the same. Only

ten miles away Government troops still loyal to Kiev were training at

their airfield but in an attempt to reduce the tension over the Easter

weekend they're not leaving their base.

But, ominously at the headquarters of the anti-Government uprising in

Donetsk, the chairman of the self-declared Republic told me he

didn't intend to give up his buildings until the Kiev Government

leave parliament. TRANSLATION: The agreement says that all illegally

occupied buildings should be vacated by all sides in the conflict. One of

the sides in the conflict is the Kiev protesters and those people

that they brought to power. If they free that building, we will do it

too. In the embattled parliament the

Prime Minister was making concessions, promising

constitutional change, the right to use the Russian language, and an

amnesty. TRANSLATION: If those who have

illegally stolen weapons and seized buildings lay down their arms and

leave the buildings we think they should be given amnesty.

But the big problem is that these protesters who detest the new Kiev

government and favour closer ties with Moscow didn't really have a

representative at the Geneva talks so it's easy for them to come up

with their own interpretation of the agreement and it's not clear that

Russia is prepared to intervene. There is no real obligation for them

to stick to the terms and it's not clear that Russia is prepared to

intervene. Daniel joins us now. It's not

looking promising for this deal, is it? No, the deal's not completely

dead but it's in very poor condition a day after its birth. It is

possible for it probably to recover but only if Russia uses what

influence it has with the protest leaders here and America believes

that Russia does have considerable influence. At the same time, America

is getting ready for the worst, the state department saying tonight that

it is preparing sanctions to hit very significant sectors of the

Russian economy. Is that scaring Russia? It doesn't appear to be.

President Putin's spokesman saying tonight, admitting tonight for the

first time, that some of the large numbers of troops stationed not far

from here on the border are here precisely because of the Ukrainian

crisis, something which is going to unnerve countries right across the

region. An 18-year-old from Brighton has

been killed fighting alongside anti-government rebels in Syria.

Abdullah Deghayes died earlier this month fighting for the Al-Nusra

Front, which has links to al-Qaeda. Our security correspondent Frank

Gardner has more. Amidst the rubble of the Syrian

conflict another victim amongst the thousands already killed there. A

teenager from Brighton, Abdullah Deghayes, just 18, the nephew of a

former Guantanamo prisoner killed weeks after arriving in the country.

In January, he ran away from home. The family thought he had gone to

Libya. But he had secretly gone to Syria to join his two brothers

fighting the Assad regime. His father says he was with this

rebel militia. One of the most defective rebel groups fighting the

Assad Government. Today his father says he is a martyr and that he was

inspired by watching social media. A lot of people have convictions when

they see what's happening to babies and children who are being bombed by

chemical weapons and their conviction is to help the oppressed.

Online videos like this are proving irresistible for hundreds of young

British men who spend many hours on the internet. They see videos of

friends already in Syria and decide it's their duty to join them. But

it's dangerous, at least 20 Britons are known to have died there. Today,

the Foreign Secretary told me this latest death underlines why the

Government doesn't want anyone to go to Syria. Do not travel to Syria.

For whatever motive, for whatever you think you might be going to

asheef, however strongly you -- achieve, however frongly you feel

about -- strongly you feel about it. It is dangerous in the extreme. For

many the British Government's messages lacks the charismatic

appeal of online videos like this. The Government is probably not

winning the war of minds, but a leading researcher says the reality

on the ground is often very different. For a young man who gets

up and goes from Birmingham or Manchester, the idea that you are

going there in order to defend the people against the brutality of the

regime doesn't play out in reality. You are fighting other rebels.

Today, the Syrian conflict raged on. A huge car bomb in the city of Homs

killing at least 14 people. This war has no end in sight, and the appeal

to young Britons to join it is likely to only grow stronger.

Finally, the Duchess of Cambridge has thanked Australia for the warm

welcome she's received during the Royal tour of the country. Visiting

a children's hospice in Sydney, she praised the care being provided for

children who have life-changing conditions. Our Royal correspondent

Nicholas Witchell reports. The beach is where Australians tend

to head on public holidays and it was on Manly Beach that Katherine

was to be found this afternoon with William watching young people

training to be lifeguards. Wedges aren't ideal as beach shoes but it

seems going bare foot isn't an option if you are a Duchess. Not

that the shoes seemed to handicap her too much. The mood was at its

most relaxed, though anyone hoping that after their sailing in Auckland

and cricket in Christchurch that this sporty couple would join in

were to be disappointed. The beach, the sea, lifeguards, the couple have

had an unmistakably Australian Good Friday.

However, there was serious work to do too. The couple visited one of

only two hospices for children in Australia. Away from the cameras

they're said to have been deeply moved by the stories they heard.

From Katherine, a speech expressing gratitude for their reception in

Australia. If I may, I would also like to take this opportunity to

thank everyone who has welcomed me and George so incredibly warmly on

our first visit. To be here as a family has been very special and we

will always remember it with fond and happy memories.

There will be memories for them from this visit that can't be doubted.

And some unforgettable moments for the many they're meeting.

That's it. Stay with us, it's