:00:17. > :00:21.to Ukraine as tensions remain high over Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
:00:22. > :00:24.Approval is given by Ukraine for a series of joint military exercises
:00:25. > :00:27.with NATO that would put western forces in direct proximity to
:00:28. > :00:29.Russian troops. Malaysia's authorities release the
:00:30. > :00:32.transcript of the final voice transmission from the cockpit of
:00:33. > :00:38.missing flight 370, saying they reveal nothing abnormal.
:00:39. > :00:49.The new Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls. Who is he and what can
:00:50. > :00:53.he do to help the President? Plus a special day of freedom here
:00:54. > :01:12.on the BBC, exploring how your idea of freedom compares with reality.
:01:13. > :01:22.Hello. Less than one month after Russia's annexation of Crimea, a
:01:23. > :01:27.series of military exercises with NATO have been approved. This could
:01:28. > :01:34.see tensions rising further. Ukraine is not a member of NATO. Reports
:01:35. > :01:40.from Kiev suggest that the Ukrainian Parliament has approved two sets of
:01:41. > :01:44.exercises with United States, which has caused friction with Russia in
:01:45. > :01:48.the past. David is in Kiev and he told me it remains to be seen how
:01:49. > :01:54.the Russians will react. We will see about whether it is inflammatory or
:01:55. > :01:58.not. The Parliament has approved a series of military exercises with
:01:59. > :02:05.NATO countries, including the United States. There are two exercises with
:02:06. > :02:09.the US. One in particular, C Breeze, has been conducted in the past and
:02:10. > :02:13.the Russians have objected to it. This took place on the Crimean
:02:14. > :02:17.peninsula. Obviously this time around that will not be happening
:02:18. > :02:22.but it will be taking place near Crimea in Odessa, is also on the
:02:23. > :02:27.Black Sea, and apparently taking place in the Black Sea. It remains
:02:28. > :02:30.to be seen how Russia will react this time but obviously this is
:02:31. > :02:36.something that they very likely will not luck on positively. Of course
:02:37. > :02:41.President Putin said last week that the last thing they wanted to see
:02:42. > :02:47.was NATO anywhere near Sevastopol, the home of the Russian Black Sea
:02:48. > :02:54.fleet. We have seen the tension in the last few weeks, the idea of
:02:55. > :02:58.having a lot of troops from opposing sides in close proximity. There is a
:02:59. > :03:04.danger in that, isn't there? Yes, that is. Exactly. NATO membership,
:03:05. > :03:11.NATO proximity, is very much an issue for Russia. One of the things
:03:12. > :03:16.they are calling for, now whether they will push for this, is that
:03:17. > :03:19.Ukraine becomes a neutral country. That they get assurances that
:03:20. > :03:26.Ukraine will never become a part of NATO. Ukraine is not a member of
:03:27. > :03:34.NATO, but NATO troops in Ukraine conducting exercises, whether this
:03:35. > :03:37.is within Ukraine's writes or not, Russia will probably see this as
:03:38. > :03:43.something they would rather not see, and might even take some sort of
:03:44. > :03:48.political or diplomatic action. In the last few minutes we have been
:03:49. > :03:52.hearing from the NATO Secretary-General, who said today's
:03:53. > :03:57.meeting of foreign ministers will make it clear that Russia's actions
:03:58. > :04:01.over Ukraine are not acceptable. They said NATO cannot carry on doing
:04:02. > :04:03.business as usual and they cannot confirm that Russia has pulled some
:04:04. > :04:08.troops back from the border with Ukraine.
:04:09. > :04:14.Inside Ukraine itself, the price paid for Russian gas will go up. The
:04:15. > :04:22.energy supplier Gazprom is putting up its prices by almost one third,
:04:23. > :04:25.$2 billion. Until now, the gas has come at a very heavily discounted
:04:26. > :04:31.rate. This will be another headache for politicians, because up until
:04:32. > :04:35.now consumers have paid just a quarter of what the gas actually
:04:36. > :04:39.costs. Much more on all of that on the website.
:04:40. > :04:43.The man coordinating Australia's part in the search for the missing
:04:44. > :04:47.Malaysia Airlines passenger jet has warned it could take weeks to
:04:48. > :04:51.produce results. It is now 24 days since the aeroplane disappeared
:04:52. > :04:55.shortly after take-off from Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, the final
:04:56. > :05:00.communication between the cockpit and air traffic controllers was not
:05:01. > :05:04.all right, good night, but good night Malaysia 370. Theo Leggett
:05:05. > :05:06.says this adds to the impression that everything was normal just
:05:07. > :05:13.before the aeroplane disappeared from radar. From the moment the crew
:05:14. > :05:17.and the cockpit have their first communication with the Kuala Lumpur
:05:18. > :05:21.control tower until they signed off out of Malaysian airspace at 19
:05:22. > :05:25.minutes past one, there was nothing suspicious. In fact the previously
:05:26. > :05:30.recorded conversation all right, good night, may have seemed overly
:05:31. > :05:35.casual, but good night Malaysia 370 is exactly what you would expect.
:05:36. > :05:38.The fact remains that within minutes of this conversation taking place,
:05:39. > :05:42.and before the aircraft had made contact with Vietnamese air-traffic
:05:43. > :05:53.control, where it was supposed to be going, it had disappeared from radar
:05:54. > :05:55.screens. The transponder had been turned off. The beacon which sends
:05:56. > :05:58.information about the aeroplane to ground stations had also been turned
:05:59. > :06:00.off. We have this strange picture of an apparently normal flight to which
:06:01. > :06:06.something very dramatic happened shortly afterwards. A relatively
:06:07. > :06:12.small detail that you think would be easy to check has been changed and
:06:13. > :06:15.after this length of time it really knocks confidence in the whole
:06:16. > :06:22.investigation. Whether we have been told the truth, and conspiracy
:06:23. > :06:34.theorists are given more weight, are they? You are right. The cockpit
:06:35. > :06:38.conversations are verifiable information. So if the authorities
:06:39. > :06:43.cannot get that right, what else is being distorted or not coming out?
:06:44. > :06:47.The Malaysians have come under pressure over the last few weeks, it
:06:48. > :06:50.is fair to say. There have been concerns from critics that they were
:06:51. > :06:53.slow to respond to information from satellites which suggested that the
:06:54. > :06:57.aircraft had been flying for several hours longer than thought, and the
:06:58. > :07:04.surge in the South China Seas may not have been necessary because it
:07:05. > :07:11.is thought the aeroplane had gone beyond there. -- the search. The
:07:12. > :07:15.transcript looks normal but a planned switch off would have been
:07:16. > :07:18.deliberate. There is something key in what the Malaysians have said
:07:19. > :07:22.today. They remain of the opinion that up until the point when it left
:07:23. > :07:27.primary military radar coverage, which was far into the flight,
:07:28. > :07:31.MH370's movements were consistent with deliberate action by somebody
:07:32. > :07:34.on the aeroplane. They are sticking to the idea that somebody did
:07:35. > :07:37.something on the aeroplane after it disappeared, air-traffic control's
:07:38. > :07:43.screens. Thank you. To the USA, because
:07:44. > :07:48.millions of people have scrambled to sign up to President Obama's
:07:49. > :07:53.flagship health care programme ahead of the deadline. It is thought that
:07:54. > :07:57.7 million Americans have now signed up for medical insurance. That was
:07:58. > :08:04.the initial target set by the White House. A last-minute surge in
:08:05. > :08:07.applications saw 2 million people visiting the website, and a
:08:08. > :08:11.temporary glitch on the site added to the numbers having to go to
:08:12. > :08:20.enrolment centres. I think it will be a rocky start. A lot of people
:08:21. > :08:24.get kind of scared. The idea of everybody having something to fall
:08:25. > :08:29.back on if something happens, obviously that is good. I want to
:08:30. > :08:34.sign up because I do a lot of sport and I can get injured. If I don't
:08:35. > :08:40.have the right coverage, then I could get a lot of bills. If I get
:08:41. > :08:44.covered now, I am good. The Affordable Care Act, also known as
:08:45. > :08:49.Obamacare, was intended to extend health insurance to the roughly 48
:08:50. > :08:52.million Americans who don't get any, either through employers or the
:08:53. > :08:57.Government or through privately purchased plans. The law offers
:08:58. > :09:02.subsidies to make it more affordable for people to sign up. It bans
:09:03. > :09:07.insurance companies from denying health coverage to people who might
:09:08. > :09:12.have pre-existing health conditions. Those who don't sign up will face a
:09:13. > :09:16.tax penalty. Of course this is all deeply political. The Republican
:09:17. > :09:20.party has vigorously fought its introduction and it is set to become
:09:21. > :09:23.a major campaign issue in the mid-term elections later this year.
:09:24. > :09:28.The launch in October last year was marred by technical problems on the
:09:29. > :09:32.website of course, which made signing up online difficult for some
:09:33. > :09:38.people originally, which proved an embarrassment for President Obama.
:09:39. > :09:43.No excuse for it. I take full responsibility for making sure it
:09:44. > :09:46.gets fixed ASAP. We are working overtime to improve it everyday.
:09:47. > :09:52.Well, President Obama speaking in October. The surge this week in
:09:53. > :09:59.enrolments saw a more upbeat tone from the White House. While there
:10:00. > :10:03.has been focused on glitches, what is important is that there has been
:10:04. > :10:07.a remarkable story since the dark days of October and November, which
:10:08. > :10:13.has resulted in a situation where here on the last day of enrolment,
:10:14. > :10:16.we are looking at a number substantially larger than 6 million.
:10:17. > :10:20.Jay Carney on Obamacare. To France next because he has been
:10:21. > :10:24.described as their answer to Tony Blair and he has just been named as
:10:25. > :10:29.the new French Prime Minister, following a crushing defeat for the
:10:30. > :10:34.Socialist Party during the weekend's elections. Manuel Valls's
:10:35. > :10:38.first job will be to name his cabinet, but he faces an uphill
:10:39. > :10:43.battle including this trust within his own party. Christian Fraser told
:10:44. > :10:47.me why. He is a divisive figure within the Socialist Party. I have a
:10:48. > :10:53.selection of newspapers for you. There he is, Manuel Valls, and he is
:10:54. > :10:57.seen in the guise of Tony Blair. Many of the mantras and the things
:10:58. > :11:01.he has said in the past are quite new Labour. That becomes quite
:11:02. > :11:10.divisive on the left of the party. This is a smart headline. Jean-Marc
:11:11. > :11:14.Ayrault was the former Prime Minister and that is the word for
:11:15. > :11:19.waltz, meaning to correct somebody off the dance floor. This rivalry
:11:20. > :11:25.has ended with Valls coming out on top. They are talking about the
:11:26. > :11:28.problems at the left of the party. And this one, bets on Manuel Valls.
:11:29. > :11:33.They pull out three important things. This will be a convert if
:11:34. > :11:46.Government in the words of Francois Hollande, given the problems France
:11:47. > :11:53.is facing. --, combat heavy Government. They missed the deficit
:11:54. > :11:58.target of 4.3% which they had pledged to Brussels, which means
:11:59. > :12:00.more cuts and spending issues. How will that be sold to the electorate
:12:01. > :12:07.after a poor defeat in the opinion polls? And this one, Francois
:12:08. > :12:13.Hollande throws it in with Manuel Valls. And Valls in the background
:12:14. > :12:19.does have presidential ambitions of his own. It is a gamble for Francois
:12:20. > :12:24.Hollande, if Valls pulled it off in the future as a challenger. And they
:12:25. > :12:29.ask you, is it a mission impossible? This is an old quote
:12:30. > :12:35.from President mitt to a former Prime Minister under Pompidou. When
:12:36. > :12:40.I look at you, I don't doubt your sincerity but when I look at your
:12:41. > :12:44.majority, I doubt your success. Pointing to the difficult balancing
:12:45. > :12:46.act that Valls must to do the next few months and he has to get to
:12:47. > :12:50.grips with it quickly because the European elections will be upon us
:12:51. > :12:54.at the end of May. The French President has been written up here
:12:55. > :12:59.and in many parts of Europe as waging a war on the wealthy. Huge
:13:00. > :13:04.taxes that he talked about, and we have seen the flight of many big
:13:05. > :13:09.names from France. But to does he have to win over? The people in the
:13:10. > :13:15.middle? The poorer end of society? Were here is he struggling now? Both
:13:16. > :13:23.sides, I think is the answer. -- where is he struggling? The staunch
:13:24. > :13:27.socialist voters are not coming out to vote for them. He have to keep
:13:28. > :13:33.them onside but he also host to speak to the business community. We
:13:34. > :13:38.talk about businesses walking away, and foreign direct investment fell
:13:39. > :13:45.in 2013 by 70 7%. If you have unemployment continuing to rise and
:13:46. > :13:49.31,000 new job-seekers, one of the biggest jumps, you have to get money
:13:50. > :13:55.and employers in, so you have to speak to both sides of the
:13:56. > :13:59.community. Stay with us on BBC World News.
:14:00. > :14:07.705, new research suggests we should be eating more fruit and veg to keep
:14:08. > :14:13.healthy. -- seven and not five. It is the second day of joint US and
:14:14. > :14:23.South Korean military exercises. Rupert sent us this rare
:14:24. > :14:31.behind-the-scenes report. I'm on board an osprey aircraft, we are
:14:32. > :14:39.over the Sea of Japan and are about to land. On board this ship there
:14:40. > :14:53.are several thousand US Marines that are about to invade career.
:14:54. > :14:59.Of course, it's not a real invasion I'm talking about, it's a mock
:15:00. > :15:02.invasion. It's one of the biggest joint exercises that has been
:15:03. > :15:08.carried out in this part of the world for more than 20 years. From
:15:09. > :15:14.here, about 7500 US Marines are being taken ashore on these aircraft
:15:15. > :15:27.and also a board landing craft, 30 miles inland.
:15:28. > :15:32.This ship doesn't just fly aeroplanes off the top of it. We are
:15:33. > :15:36.down in the basement of it, the parking garage. You can see there
:15:37. > :15:41.are a lot of trucks parked, more than 60 trucks. How do they get
:15:42. > :15:46.these from here to shore? They can't do it by aeroplane. What they do is
:15:47. > :15:50.down here, this is called the well deck. They completely flood this
:15:51. > :15:54.with water. That big door at the back of the ship will be lowered and
:15:55. > :15:57.then landing craft can come inside here, they drive these trucks on and
:15:58. > :16:21.off they go. This is BBC World News. The Russian
:16:22. > :16:26.energy company Gazprom has increased the price it charges Ukraine for gas
:16:27. > :16:28.by more than a third, as tensions remain high over Moscow's annexation
:16:29. > :16:30.of Crimea. Ukraine's parliament has approved holding a series of joint
:16:31. > :16:33.military exercises with NATO countries that would put them in
:16:34. > :16:42.direct proximity to Russian forces in the Black Sea. Five a day is what
:16:43. > :16:45.we've always needed apparently, but a new study says we need more. We
:16:46. > :16:49.are now being told that seven portions of fruit and vegetables is
:16:50. > :16:50.the magic number to keep you healthy. The BBC's health
:16:51. > :16:59.correspondent Dominic Hughes reports. Do you want some in a bad?
:17:00. > :17:02.A good diet with lots of fruit and veg can have a significant impact on
:17:03. > :17:06.our health. Now research suggests the more you eat, the greater the
:17:07. > :17:10.benefit. Up to seven portions a day seemed to reduce the risk of cancer
:17:11. > :17:15.and heart disease. But could we managed to eat that much? It is
:17:16. > :17:21.doable, it's just getting into the habit of doing it. I like fruit and
:17:22. > :17:26.I like vegetables but I don't eat them every day. This study seems to
:17:27. > :17:29.tell us something we already know, that eating five portions of fruit
:17:30. > :17:33.and veg each day is good for you. And it seems that there's greater
:17:34. > :17:36.benefit to eating vegetables compared to fruit. The only problem
:17:37. > :17:42.is not that many others are currently hitting five-a-day target.
:17:43. > :17:46.The World Health Organisation recommends we eat at least 400
:17:47. > :17:50.grams, roughly five portions, of fruit and veg each day. On average
:17:51. > :17:55.we managed just two portions of fruit and one and a half portions of
:17:56. > :17:58.vegetables. Every additional portions of fruit and vegetables
:17:59. > :18:03.gives an added health benefit. The people eating one to three portions
:18:04. > :18:07.did significantly better than people eating up to one portion. Then the
:18:08. > :18:12.most health benefit were those eating seven plus portions of fruit
:18:13. > :18:15.and vegetables every day. The research also questions whether
:18:16. > :18:19.sugar rich fruit juice should count as part of the five-a-day target,
:18:20. > :18:27.but many experts say five-a-day at least feels achievable. Asking
:18:28. > :18:33.people to do more maybe too much. A pretty tall order. Some other news.
:18:34. > :18:36.Masked protesters clashed with police in Venezuela's capital on
:18:37. > :18:40.Monday night following a resumption of anti-government protests.
:18:41. > :18:44.Protesters cheered as they set fire to a police motorcycle and launched
:18:45. > :18:47.rocks and bottles at officers in the neighbourhood of Chacao. Venezuela
:18:48. > :18:49.has been shaken by a month and a half of demonstrations protesting
:18:50. > :18:56.against high inflation, shortages and crime. An official with Medecins
:18:57. > :18:59.Sans Frontieres has said the Ebola outbreak in Guinea that has killed
:19:00. > :19:02.78 people is "unprecedented". Cases have been reported in areas that are
:19:03. > :19:09.hundreds of kilometres apart which is making it difficult to control.
:19:10. > :19:12.Construction work has been suspended at a Brazilian World Cup stadium
:19:13. > :19:15.where a builder was accidentally killed on Saturday. The death was
:19:16. > :19:26.the third at the Itaquerao ground in Sao Paulo, which is due to host the
:19:27. > :19:30.first match of the cup in June. The chief executive of one of the US'
:19:31. > :19:33.biggest car firms has been called before Congress, to explain why it
:19:34. > :19:36.took so long to recall more than 2.5 million cars with faulty ignition
:19:37. > :19:39.switches. General Motors has also recalled more than one million cars
:19:40. > :19:42.to fix power steering issues. And, as Michelle Fleury reports from
:19:43. > :19:51.Washington, it's not just lawmakers who want answers. So do the families
:19:52. > :19:58.who've lost loved ones. Amber Marie was 1620 died in a crash in 2005 in
:19:59. > :20:04.AGM cobalt. Sarah was 19 when she passed away in 2009. For their
:20:05. > :20:10.families, their young age makes the loss even harder to bear. In fact,
:20:11. > :20:15.many of the victims of General Motors' delayed recall were
:20:16. > :20:19.first-time buyers. I never got to say goodbye, I never got to touch a
:20:20. > :20:27.warm hand, I never got to give her a hug that she loved. This just
:20:28. > :20:33.reconfirms everything. To the pains I have been going through. For
:20:34. > :20:37.them, GM's recall of 2.6 million cars isn't enough. They want these
:20:38. > :20:44.vehicles off the road so that nobody else is at risk. It's got to stop
:20:45. > :20:50.now. Not until we have so many more deaths and fatalities. These are our
:20:51. > :20:54.young people, our future. They wanted a great life, a great
:20:55. > :21:00.future. Now they've lost that. What do you want to hear from Mary Barra
:21:01. > :21:04.when she testifies before Congress? We want answers. We want to know
:21:05. > :21:08.exactly what happened and, going forward, I want to know
:21:09. > :21:12.specifically, how are they going to prevent this from happening again?
:21:13. > :21:17.In a statement, the company said Mary Barra has expressed GM's regret
:21:18. > :21:21.and deep sympathy for all those affected by the recall. We are
:21:22. > :21:24.determined to earn our customers' trust and to take action is
:21:25. > :21:30.necessary to make our safety processes world-class. This is for
:21:31. > :21:36.her, this is for all of our children. We are here for them. Not
:21:37. > :21:41.for us, but we are representing them because they can't represent
:21:42. > :21:45.themselves. When GM's boss, Mary Barra, testified before Congress,
:21:46. > :21:50.she will apologise to the families who've lost loved ones in crashes
:21:51. > :21:54.linked to faulty ignition switches. But for them, GM's promised to do
:21:55. > :22:03.the right thing is too little too late. We will breed bringing you
:22:04. > :22:13.coverage of Mary Barra's appearance in Congress for you on BBC News
:22:14. > :22:17.later in the day. For the past few months here on BBC World News, we've
:22:18. > :22:21.been asking - what does freedom mean to you? Now, to mark the end of our
:22:22. > :22:24.special season we're reporting on how free you actually feel. The
:22:25. > :22:27.results of our poll from 17 countries around the world may
:22:28. > :22:29.surprise you. The survey was conducted by the polling
:22:30. > :22:32.organisation Globescan between December 2013 and February 2014. It
:22:33. > :22:35.asked, do people's perceptions of freedom correspond to how free they
:22:36. > :22:42.really are? The BBC's Nick Higham takes a look at its findings.
:22:43. > :22:47.Freedom has never been a simple notion, but what does it mean in our
:22:48. > :22:50.modern, digital age? The internet and social media mean we can
:22:51. > :22:55.communicate more freely than ever, but we are also under more
:22:56. > :22:58.surveillance than ever before from government and commercial
:22:59. > :23:02.organisations. Our BBC World Service poll began by asking people about
:23:03. > :23:04.freedom and the internet. More than two thirds of those we questioned
:23:05. > :23:09.told us they thought the internet means they have greater freedom. Of
:23:10. > :23:18.more than half also told us they thought it was an unsafe place in
:23:19. > :23:19.which to say what they think. Edward Snowden's revelations about
:23:20. > :23:22.widespread surveillance by the US Government have really had an impact
:23:23. > :23:27.on the public consciousness in terms of their understanding of the fact
:23:28. > :23:32.that anything they do online can potentially be monitored. These
:23:33. > :23:36.days, the prying eyes of the state seem to be everywhere. Governments
:23:37. > :23:40.say they need surveillance to fight terrorism and crime. But what do the
:23:41. > :23:44.public think? In our survey we asked people whether they felt free from
:23:45. > :23:48.monitoring by their own governments. The results were
:23:49. > :23:51.surprising. In countries like the United States and Germany, which
:23:52. > :23:56.like to think of themselves as bastions of freedom and democracy,
:23:57. > :24:06.fewer than half those surveyed said they felt free from government
:24:07. > :24:08.surveillance. In China and Russia the picture was very different. A
:24:09. > :24:11.sizeable majority said they didn't think they were subject to online
:24:12. > :24:15.surveillance. We have about 80% of American and German households who
:24:16. > :24:18.do have access to internet in their homes. But less than half this
:24:19. > :24:22.proportion does in Russia and China. It seems as the people in countries
:24:23. > :24:27.with high internet connectivity, they naturally feel more exposed to
:24:28. > :24:32.the Edward Snowden era of online surveillance. But that seems to be
:24:33. > :24:35.much less the case for people in countries with lower internet
:24:36. > :24:41.connected homes. Finally, we asked about freedom and the media. Here at
:24:42. > :24:45.the BBC we like to boast about our freedom from government and other
:24:46. > :24:50.outside influences. There are other global organisations that do the
:24:51. > :24:54.same. But, according to our survey, only 40% of people around the world
:24:55. > :25:06.believe their own media are free to report the news accurately,
:25:07. > :25:09.truthfully and without undue bias. Here in the UK, that figure is 45%.
:25:10. > :25:11.But in the United States, with its first Amendment commitment to free
:25:12. > :25:16.speech, it is just 42%. How free you feel, it seems, is not necessarily a
:25:17. > :25:27.reflection of how free the society in which you live is supposed to be.
:25:28. > :25:31.As part of our Freedom 2014 season we asked you to send in pictures to
:25:32. > :25:34.show us what freedom looks like to you. We're going to end the
:25:35. > :25:41.programme with some of the most striking photos we've received. What
:25:42. > :25:45.does freedom look like to me? Freedom is living your life acting,
:25:46. > :25:50.speaking and thinking with no limits. Being able to do the
:25:51. > :26:13.impossible. Being able to step anywhere bare feet, like animals do.
:26:14. > :26:19.Freedom to me is risk-taking. I just wanted to show everyone that that
:26:20. > :26:27.was my freedom. I made it to the other side of the world in a
:26:28. > :26:28.wheelchair. You have to set your mind free. The world around you
:26:29. > :26:49.suddenly stops. Kids just don't need that much to be
:26:50. > :26:53.happy.