:00:22. > :00:27.Good afternoon. The crisis in the Crimea region of Ukraine intensified
:00:28. > :00:31.today. Russia says it's extremely concerned about the recent
:00:32. > :00:33.developments there. The new pro-Russian Prime Minister of Crimea
:00:34. > :00:37.has appealed to President Putin to help, as he put it, restore calm
:00:38. > :00:42.there following the overthrow of the Ukrainian President. President Obama
:00:43. > :00:45.has warned there would be costs if Russia intervened militarily. Our
:00:46. > :00:55.world affairs correspondent Christian Fraser sent this report
:00:56. > :00:59.from Sevastopol. The airports, the Borders - every
:01:00. > :01:03.strategic pressure point in this peninsula now lies in the grip of
:01:04. > :01:08.the armed forces. The Essbase remains closed. It barely matters
:01:09. > :01:11.who these soldiers belong to. Their allegiance lies with Russia, and
:01:12. > :01:15.their orders come from the new Crimean Prime Minister, installed
:01:16. > :01:21.yesterday in a parliament occupied by a paramilitary unit. TRANSLATION:
:01:22. > :01:27.With full understanding of my responsibility for the lives of our
:01:28. > :01:30.citizens, I call on the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir
:01:31. > :01:38.Putin, to provide assistance in securing peace on the territory of
:01:39. > :01:42.the autonomous republic of Crimea. The interim government in Kiev is
:01:43. > :01:48.powerless to stop them, and Washington shares the frustration.
:01:49. > :01:50.We arguably concerned by reports of military movements taken by the
:01:51. > :01:55.Russian Federation inside of Ukraine. The United States will
:01:56. > :01:59.stand with the international community in affirming that there
:02:00. > :02:02.will be costs for military intervention in Ukraine. These are
:02:03. > :02:06.seismic events unfolding on the Crimean peninsula, not that you get
:02:07. > :02:10.any sense of that crisis in Sevastopol. The ethnic Russian
:02:11. > :02:14.majority had felt great uncertainty within the new Ukraine. Today they
:02:15. > :02:19.are relaxed and Holly at ease with what they are hearing from the new
:02:20. > :02:23.administration. -- Holly. Moscow will use the prevailing mood to its
:02:24. > :02:28.advantage. It has been a speedy, effective takeover endorsed by the
:02:29. > :02:32.majority and seemingly irreversible without a dangerous and divisive
:02:33. > :02:35.response. Christian Fraser reporting. We can
:02:36. > :02:39.speak now to Christian in Sevastopol, a lot of developments in
:02:40. > :02:45.the last couple of days, all amounting to a deepening of
:02:46. > :02:51.tensions. You would not see it here in Sevastopol. It feels more like a
:02:52. > :02:54.city that has been liberated. The new government in simper report has
:02:55. > :03:00.called a referendum for the end of the month, and I imagine the
:03:01. > :03:07.majority of the Russians here... -- Simferopol. With that, they are wary
:03:08. > :03:12.of tensions spreading, and we are starting to see dangerous signs that
:03:13. > :03:16.it is spreading to cities like Donetsk, Kharkiv. In Donetsk today,
:03:17. > :03:20.there was a failed attempt to storm a public building. What you see very
:03:21. > :03:24.quickly is that this fledgling government in Kiev, which is deeply
:03:25. > :03:28.indebted, is going to have a very difficult challenge keeping the
:03:29. > :03:32.country united. Christian, thank you very much. Apologies for the
:03:33. > :03:34.problems with the sound in hearing Christian there.
:03:35. > :03:37.The former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg, who was released
:03:38. > :03:41.without charge nine years ago, has now been remanded in custody charged
:03:42. > :03:47.with Syria-related terror offences. 45-year-old Begg, who's from
:03:48. > :03:49.Birmingham, denies the allegations. He is accused of providing terrorist
:03:50. > :03:53.training and funding terrorism overseas.
:03:54. > :03:55.The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has opened a special party conference to
:03:56. > :04:01.approve plans to reform historic links between the party and trade
:04:02. > :04:03.unions. Party members will vote on ending the automatic affiliation of
:04:04. > :04:07.trade union members and introducing one member, one vote in leadership
:04:08. > :04:13.elections. Our political correspondent Iain Watson is at the
:04:14. > :04:18.conference in east London. Well, Martine, in the next 20
:04:19. > :04:22.minutes delegates here are going to be voting on what Ed Miliband calls
:04:23. > :04:25.historic reforms. The outcome is not really in doubt, so that means over
:04:26. > :04:29.the next five years individual trade unionists will have to give explicit
:04:30. > :04:33.consent if they want to hand over money to the Labour Party. Some of
:04:34. > :04:38.them, inevitably, won't do that, it will cost the party some cash, but
:04:39. > :04:41.Ed Miliband believes it is a price worth paying.
:04:42. > :04:45.Ed Miliband since he wants to mend not end Labour links with the trade
:04:46. > :04:48.unions. Even before he arrived at the trade conference, he had the
:04:49. > :04:53.necessary votes in the bag. The unions had delivered him the
:04:54. > :04:56.leadership, but now his successor will be elected not just by
:04:57. > :04:59.rank-and-file trade unionists but anyone who registers their support
:05:00. > :05:04.for the party. By voting for these reforms, though, you are not just
:05:05. > :05:09.voting to open our doors and reach new people. You are voting for the
:05:10. > :05:15.biggest transfer of power to our members and supporters in the
:05:16. > :05:19.history of the Labour Party. Ed Miliband says this is an historic
:05:20. > :05:23.day for Labour, a new type of politics, but his critics inside as
:05:24. > :05:26.well as outside the party argued that his reforms are not any thing
:05:27. > :05:32.like as radical as he would have you believe. The Conservatives point out
:05:33. > :05:36.that the unions will still control 50% of vote Labour conferences and
:05:37. > :05:39.that the party will still depend and union donations for a significant
:05:40. > :05:43.part of its funding, and the big union leaders say they will not
:05:44. > :05:47.contemplate any further changes. This is the end of the road, and if
:05:48. > :05:52.any body start of that argument again, I think the party as we know
:05:53. > :05:55.it, its current structure will dissolve. But Ed Miliband insists
:05:56. > :06:00.that today's changes are significant. Well, the unions will
:06:01. > :06:05.go along with these changes, but some going along very grumpily. The
:06:06. > :06:08.leader of Unison has accused Ed Miliband of watching the party's
:06:09. > :06:12.dirty linen in public. Nonetheless, the party leader will be relieved
:06:13. > :06:15.that his big reforms won't be rejected.
:06:16. > :06:17.The New York City coroner says the Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour
:06:18. > :06:22.Hoffman died from a combination of heroin, cocaine and other drugs. Mr
:06:23. > :06:25.Hoffman was found in his apartment last month. The coroner ruled his
:06:26. > :06:31.death was accidental. Tests found heroin in samples from at least 50
:06:32. > :06:34.packets at his Manhattan home. Councils in England are warning that
:06:35. > :06:37.the elderly and disabled could lose vital bus services because of cuts
:06:38. > :06:39.in Government funding. The Local Government Association says support
:06:40. > :06:44.for the free off-peak bus service entitlement has been reduced by over
:06:45. > :06:47.a third since 2010. But the Department for Transport says it
:06:48. > :06:53.provides extra funding to bus operators to help meet the cost.
:06:54. > :06:57.You can see more on all of today's stories on the BBC News Channel.
:06:58. > :06:58.That's all from me, stay with us on BBC