25/11/2013 BBC World News

. Hello, I am Geeta Guru-Murthy with BBC World News. Our top stories.

More clashes in Kiev after Ukraine's government drops plans for

closer ties with the EU. Iranian diplomats are welcomed home as

heroes after securing a nuclear deal with world powers. Nine killed,

around 50 injured in heavy fighting between Islamist militants and

Libyan soldiers. And as batsman Jonathan Trott leaves the Ashes to

Australia because of stress, we will have the latest from the England

camp. Hello and welcome. There have been

more clashes between riot police and protesters in Ukraine today

following a government decision to suspend moves towards closer

relations with the European Union. Around 1000 protesters are still

outside the primers to's office following the largest demonstrations

since the Orange Revolution in 2004. -- the Prime Minister's office. They

are angry because the government has attended a major deal for closer

links with the European Union which should have been signed this week.

Daniel Sandford has just sent this report from Moscow.

Once again, the anger in the Ukrainian capital spilled over into

scuffles and minor violence. The protesters here feel they are

fighting for the future of the country, a European future, not a

Russian one. They have been shocked into action by their government's

decision to postpone an agreement to build closer ties with the European

Union. TRANSLATION: We came here to show them we are not afraid and if

they do not sign it, it will be a catastrophe for this government. It

will not be a catastrophe for Ukraine, because eventually it will

get signed anyway by this president or the next. We will get what we

want. The country is divided on whether Ukraine's future should be

with the European Union or Russia, with those who favour Europe, like

heavyweight boxing champion turned politician Vitali Klitschko,

certainly the most vocal. Yesterday's much bigger rally also

ended in clashes between protesters and the police. At one point, the

crowd swelled to 100,000, and in scenes reminiscent of the Orange

Revolution nine years ago, the demonstrators started setting up

permanent encampment in the city centre. It was an attempt to secure

a foothold for much bigger protests in the days paired. But no-one knows

whether the people of the Ukraine have the desire or the energy to

rise up again. Our correspondent David Stern is in

Kiev, David, what is the picture now on the streets of Kiev? Well, as

Daniel pointed out, it is much smaller, a much smaller crowds today

than yesterday. A few thousand are gathered on two main squares and

outside of the Prime Minister's building in central Kiev. That is a

lot fewer than the 100,000 that perhaps we sought yesterday, but

there is still high emotions, tensions are consistent between the

protesters and police, and as we saw, we had some clashes with tear

gas earlier this morning. And can you just explain why ordinary people

are appealing compelled to go onto the streets? Obviously we know this

is a decision about being caught between the EU and Russia and which

direction the country goes towards, why are people feeling so strongly

about it? Well, this is a hot button issue for Ukrainians, on both sides

of the argument, but for those who wanted to join the EU, they see this

as a question of their future. They have told me that they are dead set

on Ukraine becoming a part of Europe, they want European values.

For some, that means political, for others economic, but they are very

passionate about it, and they are also very passionate about not

drawing closer to Russia. They say they fear Russia. One woman told me

yesterday that she feared becoming a minor part of the Russian empire

again. David Stone in Kiev, many thanks indeed.

Some breaking news on the proposed talks on Syria. We have had talks

about trying to establish a date, and we have heard that January the

22nd next year is the date that the Syrian conference will begin. It

will be held on January the 22nd. There has been a lot of difficulty

trying to organise a conference, but that Geneva meeting seems to have

been successful. Ban Ki-moon has announced it, apparently reported by

the AFP news agency, saying it will be a mission of hope. The AFP news

agency as saying that the Syrian government and opposition

negotiators will meet for the first time. I cannot actually confirm

whether both parties will be no, but we will find out just as soon as we

can. The French foreign minister says

sanctions on Iran will probably beat from next month following the

international agreement on its nuclear programme, lots of talks

going on at the moment. The deal, which ease sanctions and returns for

curbs on their nuclear enrichment activities, has been greeted with

Jubal Isaac -- jubilation in Tehran, but Israel has warned that it is an

historic mistake. We have had these talks going on in Geneva, what are

people saying in Tehran about this? Well, I could compare it with the

sense of the day after New Year. Really, that good? Yes, people

congratulating each other, thanking the Iranian officials on social

media. The mood is really cheerful and jubilant. Why is this? What

people expecting to see? This is interesting, because after 24 hours

they actually know some of the details of the deal, and they know

that the deal outweighs the concessions that Iran gives, they

outweigh what it gains in terms of what is in the deal, but the

jubilation, this happiness, this revival of hope is more about the

prospects of what this deal brings for Iranians rather than the deal

itself. Now, the sanctions relief we have talked about since yesterday

may have some impact on the Iranian economy, but not that much. But the

prospect it brings more Sanchon relief in the future, of improved

ties with the West, and basically the danger of a major conflict

being, for the moment, temporarily put aside for Iranians is huge. At

the same time, people are still questioning, why now? We have lost

time, this could have happened one year ago, two years ago, four years

ago, and we could have avoided this tension. But Hassan Rouhani has been

very successful in bringing this about, but is it anything to do with

the fact that we were brought to the brink of American intervention in

Syria? That seemed to force a lot of immediate and urgent action with

Russia as well. That is very true, when there was the option of a

strike, a military attack on Syria, when that was put aside, we started

to realise that Obama is more of a person who wants to strike

diplomatic deals rather than striking military attacks. Is Israel

right to say this is a terrible deal for the West, if the Iranians are so

happy? It may not be a good deal for Israel, watching Iran getting closer

to the West in this region. It is more a lot of analysts believe it is

a lot more about the regional rivalry between Israel and Saudi and

Iran. I can tell you that what I have read about this deal, it brings

the Iranian nuclear programme to a halt. It is reversible, but

producing the same amount of 20% enriched uranium will take months,

so even if this deal breaks, that is what the danger Israel feels, in

that if the deal breaks, Iran can go on the same path, yes, it can, it

will take time. It is not that overnight Iran can go back into

producing nuclear weapons by enriching uranium. Fascinating,

isn't it EU we will be pursuing this throughout the day, but for now

thank you. Now, the last of the six Britons

arrested by Russian authorities during a Greenpeace protest in the

Arctic has been freed from detention. Philip Ball was granted

bail last week but remained in detention before being released by a

court in St Petersburg today. He was one of 30 people arrested. An

Australian, Colin Russell, remains in detention. Arctic Sunrise were

seized by the Russians two months ago. 28 activists and two

journalists were arrested. Reports from Libya say calm has

returned to the streets of Benghazi after hours of heavy fighting

between special forces and hardline Islamist fighters. At least nine

people have been killed in the clashes, which the military said

lasted for several hours. Security forces say it started when civilians

attacked a checkpoint manned by a Salafist group. We can speak to Rana

Jawad, who is in Tripoli. Why did this fighting corrupt, and why now?

-- erupt. As you mentioned earlier, the report we got was that a

civilian was allegedly beaten up at a checkpoint manned by the Salafist

group in Benghazi when he was stopped overnight at around 2am

local time here. We have not been able to confirm that story, or that

version of events, with several sources, but that is what we have

been hearing. That aside, I think the events overnight seem to have or

are being seen as a significant turning point if you will, because

this is the first time we have seen the army base this group head on and

actually name them. -- face. There have been skirmishes in the past

between them, and often it is described as unknown gunmen, clashes

with unknown gunmen, but this is the first time that they have been

named. How tense has it been in recent weeks in Benghazi? It has

been tense in Benghazi for over a year now. I mean, the city that has

seen the bulk of the bombings and assassinations targeting military

personnel, as well as judges at times, and other cities in the East,

a base for many Salafist groups who are controlling things. But we have

seen in the last couple of weeks, both in the capital and in the

eastern part of the country a growing movement from people calling

on all armed militias to disband and leave. We saw killings here in the

capital, we have seen protests that are ongoing, not just here but also

in the eastern city, where Salafist militias have been encouraged to

move out. It would appear that at this stage the army is feeling like

it has some kind of public backing and it is perhaps wishful thinking

on their part, but they say, at least our sources have told us in

the military, that this is perhaps the beginning of the end of these

groups. We have heard from the Ministry of the Interior, who says

that the army is acting within its legal capacities. OK. We will have

to leave at there, Rana Jawad intra- bully, thanks very much indeed. They

witness on BBC World News, plenty more to come. -- stay with us.

Protesters forced their way in to the ministry in Bangkok on a second

day of demonstrations. And FUNcube, we find out what is coming from

outer space to a school knew you. Now, the date they had pencilled in

has passed, but after six months of trying it looks like it has been

set. Organising what is known as Geneva two has been the work of top

diplomats, and they will go ahead with talks to start on the 22nd of

January, but it is not clear who will be taking part. The HP news

agency is saying that the Syrian government and opposition will both

be represented. A short time ago I spoke to Middle East correspondent

Jim Muir and asked them whether progress on Iran will help in Syria.

-- asked him. Well, obviously, the success, the provisional success of

the Iranian nuclear talks do, in a sense, given a certain momentum to

the process to try to get Geneva II, as it has been codenamed, off

the ground, but whether that will actually result in it happening, we

will have to wait and see. But certainly, the fact that the

Russians and Americans are working so closely together, the fact that

the Americans are now in direct touch with the Iranians, whose

attendance at those talks, the Geneva II talks is controversial,

but now probably quite hard for the Americans to kind of exclude. All of

this kind of points in that direction, but it is, in a sense,

bad news for the Syrian opposition, because they have seen, in the last

couple of months, Syria's official regime's position has been quite

enhanced by what has been going on, signing up to the temple weapons

agreement, getting international, if not a claim for that, at least a

measure of respect for having committed to that and carrying it

through. That makes Syria look quite respectable. Now we see both of

their main strategic allies, Iran and Russia, deeply involved in this

diplomatic process, and that in a way is bad news for the Syrian

opposition, which is already feeling quite squeezed about being strong

and -- strong and into going into talks which may bring about further

respect ability for the Syrian regime. The position for many of

them is that they wouldn't sit down with anyone unless President Assad

was not going to be any part of any future transition process. Has that

been a sticking point? Yes, as far as the opposition is concerned. They

want assurances that Bashar al-Assad will stand down, but he said he

feels in a stronger position. -- he obviously feels.

This is BBC World News. The latest headlines. Clashes in Ukraine's

capital Kiev on another day of protests, after the government

dropped plans for closer ties with the EU.

It rainy and diplomats are welcomed home as heroes after securing a

nuclear deal with world powers. -- Iranians diplomats.

More than 100,000 protesters have taken to the streets of Bangkok to

demand the Prime Minister's resignation. Dozens of demonstrators

have stormed parts of the Finance Ministry and have surrounded

government buildings. Thailand's prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra,

is the sister of the ousted by Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. There

has been a failed attempt to introduce an amnesty which could

pave the way for her brother to return to power. An MP of the

Democrat party in Thailand, Dr Buranaj Samutharak, says the protest

might go on for a while. White now, Thailand is on the brink of the mass

protest which has taken place over the past 25 days. It has been

peaceful so far. The only people who have been members of Parliament 's

from our party have resigned their posts to attend the rally. The root

cause of the events has been clear. The Thai people have come out in

unprecedented numbers, because the government is trying to force

through legislation which would affect corruption crimes and return

assets that have been seized. We are looking at pictures of people out in

the streets, and the anti-riot troops that are out on the streets.

Are you clear that things are going to stay calm today? You must bear in

mind that the protest is quite different to other protests that

have ended in riots and several people being killed. Those riots

were supported by the then local party. This protest has been

involving various groups, students, workers, civil servants, people from

different sectors, and it has been peaceful over the past few days. We

very much hope it will stay on this course. We talked about a new date

for talks on Syria, and after nearly three years of civil war, life for

ordinary people there has become very tough indeed. For women in the

final stages of pregnancy, the idea of giving birth with little or no

medical help can be daunting, but now, a number of Syrians are

undertaking a difficult and dangerous journey for treatment to a

very surprising destination. Many are sent over the border for

treatment in a northern Israeli city.

It looks like business as usual in the maternity ward of this

hospital, but it isn't quite. One of the overnight rivals is a little

Syrian boy. His mother, already in Labour, made the desperate and

dangerous journey across the board into Israel in search of life-saving

hospital care. TRANSLATION: We cannot show their

faces. They have to go home to Syria soon. The mother tells as she is

grateful for the kindness she has found here. This one Israeli

hospital alone has now treated 177 Syrian patients in the last nine

months. Beautiful relationships start between staff of the hospital

and the people that we treat. Of course I don't expect them to become

lovers of Israel and ambassadors of what we do. I expect that they will

reflect on what was their experience here, and they will think

differently to what the regime is telling them. Cross-border journey

that ends in this emergency room is difficult and dangerous. It involves

intermediaries on the Syrian side, the UN, and the Israeli army. It is

so well trodden now that some Syrian patients have even turned up with

letters of referral for Israeli surgeons. The Israeli army

paramedics patrolling the boundary fence play a crucial role in this

you manage Terry in chain, spotting patients left for them by guides on

the Syrian side. -- in this humanitarian chain. As soon as they

come to the border, we just do what we are going to do. Medics and

paramedics and doctors, we do what we need to do to save lives. The

Syrian patients who go home across this dangerous frontier can't tell

to openly the stories of the medical treatment they got in Israel. Simply

admitting to having been here could put them in danger. But somehow,

word is spreading, and as long as the civil war continues, the tide of

people taking risks to seek help for carry on rising.

Now for cricket. The England batsmen, Jonathan Trott, has left

the Ashes tour of Australia because of what has been described as a

long-standing stress condition. Trott has been struggling for form

in recent matches, and was described as week by Australia's opening

batsmen, David Warner. How much of a shock is it to hear that Jonathan

Trott is going because of stress? It is a shock. No one knew that he was

suffering from it. And the flowers, the England coach, said that this

was known within the team. -- Andrew flowers. He has left the Tour. There

has been instances of this before. Marcus Truscott Vic is a notable

example of this. What hasn't been performing well. That was put down

to technique rather than mental problems. The weight Trott batted

came under intense scrutiny, and there was a lot of talk that he had

to get it right in his head. We didn't know that he was suffering

from stress himself. David Warner described him as being weak. That

seems uncivil, or is that standard practice, that one team will

criticise another team publicly? The Australians are past masters of what

they call sledging. What they try to do is unknown of the batsmen. In

cricket, the batsmen faced just one ball. And that is all that is

required to get the batsmen out. If they can just unknown of him for a

minute, that is a very old tactic. Is anyone except from being fledged?

Only very few. Everyone gets fledged, and the Australians will

see this as a great victory. Also, of course, the difficult pressure

for the England team now - and they won the Ashes in the summer - but is

this rivalry becoming a unpleasant? There is a bit of that. Stuart Broad

has been barracked by the Australian cloud. -- Australian crowd. That is

pretty standard. But this has been taken to a certain other length. The

Australian coach made some comment about Stuart Broad that he should be

sent home crying or something. Does it matter, at the end of the day? It

does, to a certain extent. Australia have been losing. They have had a

really poor run. So one way of getting back into winning methods is

to make yourself believe you are better than the opposition. If you

can somehow make the opposition uneasy, it matters. If you get

somebody out and you defeat them not through sporting technique on the

field of play but through mind games, that reduces the appeal of

sport, and particularly cricket, which is considered the game of

gentlemen. What is the future now for Jonathan Trott? He will get a

lot of sympathy, went he? He will. He will have to come back and make

his mark in the summer. Probably Joe Root is going to come in to replace

him. But he will face the same pressure. It is a very stressful

life, being a front-line sportsman. Thank you. A leading Chinese

dissident who has been in exile for more than two decades has failed in

his latest attempt to come home. He was deported from Hong Kong after

flying in with his lawyer from Taiwan. A former leader of the Tien

and Square protest, he said he wanted to return to China to see his

elderly parents. He fled China 24 years ago, and his parents have been

denied permission to see him. How do you inspire our

schoolchildren to become the scientists and engineers of the

future? A team of amateur radio enthusiasts think they might have

found the answer. They have launched a satellite to send and receive

messages from all around the world. Soon, the FUNcube will beam data to

classrooms all around the world. All schools will need to take part in an

aerial and special receiver to participate.

Indonesia has raised the alert status for one of the country's most

active volcanoes to the highest level. Mount Sinabung in North Samaj

has been sending plumes of hot cloud and gas into the skies. About 15,000

people have already been evacuated from 17 villages near that crater.

It has been erupting every now and then says the autumn, even though it

has been dormant for three years. Those are all the top stories from

around the world. Thanks for watching.

But you're saying the scale of theft is huge.