:00:00. > :00:15.Hello. Our top stories... Boko Haram releases a video showing some of the
:00:16. > :00:20.girls kidnapped from their school in Borno state in northern Nigeria. EU
:00:21. > :00:24.Foreign Ministers are in Brussels to discuss Eastern Ukraine. Russia says
:00:25. > :00:28.the self-rule referendums there must be respected. It is the last day of
:00:29. > :00:31.voting in the world's biggest democracy. Three key states in India
:00:32. > :00:36.are voting. National exit polls will be released soon ahead of the
:00:37. > :00:40.results, which are due on Friday. We meet the Egyptian barber who used to
:00:41. > :01:02.do much more than trim his customers' hair and beards.
:01:03. > :01:07.In the last hour, the militant Islamic group, Boko Haram, has
:01:08. > :01:09.released a new video claiming to show the missing Nigerian
:01:10. > :01:12.schoolgirls, alleging they had converted to Islam and would not be
:01:13. > :01:24.released until all militant prisoners were freed.
:01:25. > :01:29.In the 17-minute video, the group claims to show what they say are
:01:30. > :01:37.about 130 of the girls, wearing the full-length hijab and praying in an
:01:38. > :01:48.undisclosed rural location. It is not the whole group that was
:01:49. > :01:54.abducted. They are saying the first few lines from the Koran. These are
:01:55. > :01:59.the pictures we have just had in. There are also images of three of
:02:00. > :02:06.the girls speaking. We are not yet showing those clips as yet. There is
:02:07. > :02:12.also some footage of the leader of the Boko Haram group also speaking
:02:13. > :02:17.within the video. These are the first images that have been released
:02:18. > :02:25.of the girls. It is almost four weeks since the girls were abducted.
:02:26. > :02:33.Let's go live to our correspondent. What do we know about the images and
:02:34. > :02:37.can we verify them? We know that Boko Haram has released this video.
:02:38. > :02:45.The video is actually 27 minutes long. The leader of the group spoke
:02:46. > :02:54.for the first ten minutes in Arabic and then the rest of the seven
:02:55. > :03:00.minutes in Hausa. He showed about 130 of the girls. The details we are
:03:01. > :03:07.getting is that some of the girls, over 200 of them, have converted to
:03:08. > :03:12.Islam. Presumably, it was these number of girls who have converted
:03:13. > :03:18.to Islam we are showing. They are shown with citing the first chapter
:03:19. > :03:24.of the Koran. They are raising their hands in prayer. Three of the girls
:03:25. > :03:27.were shown. Two of the girls were Christians and had converted to
:03:28. > :03:35.Islam and the third said she was already a Muslim. These details we
:03:36. > :03:39.have gathered from the video. The leader of Boko Haram said for those
:03:40. > :03:43.who have converted to Islam, they have now become their own sisters.
:03:44. > :03:47.They are sisters of members of the group. For others who have
:03:48. > :03:54.converted, they can only consider releasing them if the Government of
:03:55. > :03:59.Nigeria decides to release some of the members of their group who are
:04:00. > :04:04.held in captivity. These details have been gathered from the video at
:04:05. > :04:09.the moment. Do we have any idea whether that negotiation has been
:04:10. > :04:21.going on all will be possible? We have no idea. The Government of
:04:22. > :04:25.Nigeria previously setup a committee to negotiate with Boko Haram. They
:04:26. > :04:30.submitted a report without getting to the corner leaders of the group.
:04:31. > :04:35.In a recent interview with the president of Nigeria, he has said
:04:36. > :04:39.clearly he is not in negotiation with Boko Haram because it is a
:04:40. > :04:43.faceless group. He has not been able to get in contact with any of their
:04:44. > :04:48.leaders in order to enter into negotiations. On this recent video
:04:49. > :04:52.we have not yet had any reaction from the Government because the
:04:53. > :04:57.video was just released in the last hour. I do not know whether you have
:04:58. > :05:02.managed to see the pictures yourself and whether the families have had a
:05:03. > :05:07.chance to see these pictures. They being shown on television in Nigeria
:05:08. > :05:11.or not? The pictures have not been shown on local television in
:05:12. > :05:14.Nigeria. I think this will be good news to the parents of these girls
:05:15. > :05:18.that at least they are now hopeful some of the girls that are shown are
:05:19. > :05:24.alive. That is a hope for the families who have been waiting for
:05:25. > :05:28.almost four weeks, waiting to hear news of these abducted girls. These
:05:29. > :05:34.girls were abducted from their own school. Over 200 of them, 276, of
:05:35. > :05:41.them. This is the first time we have seen the pictures of those that have
:05:42. > :05:45.appeared in the video. I do not know whether you have seen the material
:05:46. > :05:50.in terms of what the girls seem to be saying when they speak. One is
:05:51. > :05:54.reciting from the Koran. Do we know if there is anything more that is
:05:55. > :06:01.spoken by the girls themselves on the video? In the video, I have not
:06:02. > :06:05.seen the details of this. The girls that have spoken, the three of them
:06:06. > :06:13.have mentioned their names. They have mentioned where they have come
:06:14. > :06:20.from. They are calling on their parents to become Muslims. This is
:06:21. > :06:26.according to what these girls have been speaking in the video. Any
:06:27. > :06:36.political reaction at all get on this? There has not yet been a
:06:37. > :06:41.reaction. This video is just coming into light now. It was released...
:06:42. > :06:45.We heard of the News of the release of the video in the last hour and we
:06:46. > :06:51.have not had a reaction from any government or any opposition in
:06:52. > :06:56.Nigeria. We will find out what the reaction of the Government is to the
:06:57. > :07:02.video that has been released. Does this pattern of releasing of videos,
:07:03. > :07:06.is it something that Boko Haram has done before? Would
:07:07. > :07:11.is it something that Boko Haram has it? The route which has been used,
:07:12. > :07:13.it is that previously used? They have released videos a number of
:07:14. > :07:18.times. This video appears to have released videos a number of
:07:19. > :07:22.come from the same source. We confirm previous videos and it would
:07:23. > :07:29.seem that the content of this video is the same as the kinds of things
:07:30. > :07:32.we have seen in previous years. We can confirm this video came from
:07:33. > :07:38.Boko Haram because the leader has spoken. From the content of the
:07:39. > :07:41.video, it does look like it is the same person that has spoken in
:07:42. > :07:51.previous videos. The video came through the same source that we knew
:07:52. > :08:00.-- that offer her and has been using in previous instances. -- Boko Haram
:08:01. > :08:07.has been using. A little while ago, I spoke to our world affairs
:08:08. > :08:18.correspondent. It seems to be genuine. It follows the pattern of
:08:19. > :08:31.last videos by Boko Haram. The interesting thing about it, I am in
:08:32. > :08:34.the capital of Borno state. It is like the besieged town. Boko Haram
:08:35. > :08:42.have a lot of scope around it and in much of the state. We have not been
:08:43. > :08:47.able to see the video at all yet. We can see it, just to let you know. We
:08:48. > :08:55.are just showing... You are better off than I am. The key thing in it
:08:56. > :09:02.is that what the Boko Haram leader is saying is that these girls,
:09:03. > :09:06.presumably all the girls, will not be released until all the prisoners
:09:07. > :09:13.held by the Government forces have been released. Although that sounds
:09:14. > :09:19.very, very hard and pretty kind of brutal line, you have to take it, I
:09:20. > :09:23.think, that this is the first step in a potential negotiation. They are
:09:24. > :09:27.not refusing, they are not threatening the girls. They are just
:09:28. > :09:35.saying they will not be released. Just a few days ago, they were
:09:36. > :09:40.talking about selling them in to slavery. I suspect this is the
:09:41. > :09:45.response by Boko Haram to the extreme pressure being placed on the
:09:46. > :09:50.Nigerian federal government by the international countries, by
:09:51. > :09:53.international figures. The president in the United States, the Prime
:09:54. > :10:00.Minister of Britain, and so on and so on. They are all demanding that
:10:01. > :10:04.Nigeria should do something about this and how long it would take to
:10:05. > :10:08.get through some sort of negotiation, get to be negotiation,
:10:09. > :10:14.I do not know. These things have happened in the past. Is the girls
:10:15. > :10:18.are who they are purported to be, the families of the girls will be
:10:19. > :10:24.relieved to see them alive, we do not know when this video was filmed,
:10:25. > :10:27.of course. It is also true this is about over 100 girls apparently.
:10:28. > :10:34.Double that were originally taken. Is there any explanation? I am not
:10:35. > :10:39.really the person, I suppose, to ask about that. We would need to talk to
:10:40. > :10:46.Boko Haram. It is about half the girls. We understand there are 130
:10:47. > :10:54.shown in the video. We have been told, of course, by local officials
:10:55. > :10:59.here in Borno state, as well as by government officials, that the girls
:11:00. > :11:04.are likely to have been broken up into small groups and hidden in
:11:05. > :11:15.different places. Bringing them together, or maybe this was early
:11:16. > :11:19.on, we cannot know that. But, it is also an indication perhaps that they
:11:20. > :11:23.have not been sold into slavery as the leader of Boko Haram was
:11:24. > :11:27.threatening recently and perhaps it supports what the people of Borno
:11:28. > :11:31.state said to us yesterday, that he does not think they have been sent
:11:32. > :11:37.across the borders into Chad Cameroon but they are still here in
:11:38. > :11:43.Nigeria. We saw the girls apparently reciting the first few lines from
:11:44. > :11:58.the Koran. They are all dressed in full length he jabs. -- hijabs. It
:11:59. > :12:04.is curious how little detail we have. My understanding is that there
:12:05. > :12:07.are plenty of Muslim girls, as well as Christian girls, who were
:12:08. > :12:13.kidnapped. It is one of the curiosities of this that an entire
:12:14. > :12:17.month later, the Government in Nigeria simply has not been able to
:12:18. > :12:25.establish some of the most basic facts about the thing. I have spoken
:12:26. > :12:31.to the fathers of both Christian and Muslim girls and it is pretty clear
:12:32. > :12:40.that they were a mixed bunch. If they are learning the first chapters
:12:41. > :12:49.of the Koran, I think we can take it that that is part of the tuition
:12:50. > :12:57.process for converts, rather than as seeing pictures of Muslim girls
:12:58. > :13:02.going through their prayers. He is one of the very few journalists in
:13:03. > :13:07.that part of the world. These are the pictures we have had into the
:13:08. > :13:14.newsroom in the past hour or so. We gather there are about 136 to 138
:13:15. > :13:19.faces we can count in the shots we have been sent so far. About three
:13:20. > :13:24.girls speak, apparently one looks very scared. We have not yet
:13:25. > :13:28.broadcast those images. We are working on that we will bring you
:13:29. > :13:32.more coverage as soon as we can. These are the first images in almost
:13:33. > :13:43.four weeks since the girls were taken. We are still working of
:13:44. > :13:49.course to these images. -- to authenticate these images. Let's
:13:50. > :13:53.move onto other news. EU foreign ministers are discussing further
:13:54. > :13:56.sanctions against Russia. Separatists have claimed
:13:57. > :14:06.overwhelming victory. The Kremlin says the results must be respected.
:14:07. > :14:11.Within hours of the polls closing, the scene -- around 90% of voters
:14:12. > :14:15.chose self-rule. A similar vote was held in a neighbouring region. The
:14:16. > :14:20.Russian Foreign Minister says his country does respect the vote and he
:14:21. > :14:22.has called for dialogue between the Government in Kiev and the
:14:23. > :14:35.pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine. We respect the will of the
:14:36. > :14:41.population. We believe the practical implementation for the outcomes will
:14:42. > :14:54.be in a civilised manner without any outbreaks of violence. It means
:14:55. > :14:55.representatives for those regions. The British Foreign Secretary has
:14:56. > :15:11.condemned the referendums. Off They have zero credibility. They are
:15:12. > :15:17.illegal by anybody's standards. They have no transparency, fairness or
:15:18. > :15:22.being properly conducted as a public referendum. And indeed the people
:15:23. > :15:27.organising them did not even pretend to meet any of those standards.
:15:28. > :15:33.William Hague. Steve Rosenberg is in Moscow. He says that while President
:15:34. > :15:38.Putin had called for the vote to be postponed, it will come as little
:15:39. > :15:42.surprise that Russia has decided to respect the results. Moscow takes a
:15:43. > :15:48.very different view from the view of William Hague. We heard from Sergei
:15:49. > :15:53.Lavrov. He was actually quoting from a Kremlin statement issued earlier
:15:54. > :15:58.today. A very short statement issued by the Kremlin. It basically said
:15:59. > :16:03.that the referenda in Donetsk and Luhansk in the eyes of Moscow
:16:04. > :16:06.represent the will of the people. Moscow noted the high turnout in
:16:07. > :16:10.those votes and made it clear that it would respect the results. The
:16:11. > :16:16.Kremlin also condemned what it described as attempts to sabotage
:16:17. > :16:21.the vote, with the use of violence, including the use of heavy weaponry
:16:22. > :16:25.against civilians. Those are the words of the Kremlin. There was also
:16:26. > :16:32.a call for dialogue between Kiev and Donetsk. To try to implement the
:16:33. > :16:37.results of the referendum. The suggestion that perhaps the
:16:38. > :16:44.Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe could be part
:16:45. > :16:49.of such a dialogue. White mass -- Will Moscow be worried about more
:16:50. > :16:55.sanctions? I don't think Moscow will like more sanctions. I don't think
:16:56. > :16:59.it will be worried. So for the Kremlin hasn't shown it is so
:17:00. > :17:03.concerned about the sanctions coming from the EU or the United States.
:17:04. > :17:07.Not concerned enough to make a change course on Ukraine.
:17:08. > :17:11.Steve Rosenberg. India's marathon five-week election - the longest in
:17:12. > :17:14.the country's history - has entered its final day of polling. Many key
:17:15. > :17:19.constituencies vote today in the states of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh
:17:20. > :17:25.and Bihar. The scale of the vote is immense. Here are the numbers. 814
:17:26. > :17:27.million voters were registered to vote in the world's largest
:17:28. > :17:33.democratic elections. That's 100 million more than the last election
:17:34. > :17:40.in 2009. But a party or coalition needs a minimum of 272 seats to form
:17:41. > :17:43.a majority government. Today, focus is on the fortunes of this man, the
:17:44. > :17:51.main opposition BJP leader, Narendra Modi, who is standing in the Hindu
:17:52. > :17:54.holy city of Varanasi. He's the man many believe will become India's
:17:55. > :17:59.next Prime Minister. Voter turnout in Varanasi is expected to be high -
:18:00. > :18:05.and, as you can see here, security is tight at polling stations across
:18:06. > :18:08.the city. We're expecting the final results on Friday, but we should
:18:09. > :18:26.know the outcome of exit polls shortly after voting finishes today
:18:27. > :18:29.at 12:30 GMT. The BBC's Rahul Tandon is in Calcutta - earlier I asked him
:18:30. > :18:37.how local issues are influencing voters. Calcutta is probably the
:18:38. > :18:41.most political city. People stand on street corners and discuss politics.
:18:42. > :18:47.This is a part of India where the two main parties have normally not
:18:48. > :18:55.held sway. It is much more about the regional parties. It is a good place
:18:56. > :18:57.to look at these so-called Narendra Modi wave. People are holding
:18:58. > :19:01.stations we have been to this morning say they want change. They
:19:02. > :19:06.may well vote for one of the national parties. Even here in
:19:07. > :19:17.Calcutta, the ripples of the Narendra Modi effect are being felt.
:19:18. > :19:23.India is a secular country. It has been very keenly aired in the last
:19:24. > :19:27.few weeks and months. How much are people talking about that? Is it
:19:28. > :19:32.really back to the economy and making living standards better? I
:19:33. > :19:38.think development is uppermost in the minds of Indians, whether that
:19:39. > :19:42.is urban India or rural India. I am speaking to you from a polling
:19:43. > :19:46.booths at the Jewish school. There are no more Jewish students left in
:19:47. > :19:49.Calcutta. It is mainly Muslim girls. Lots of Muslim parents have been
:19:50. > :19:57.voting this morning. Many are worried about the BJP, what it means
:19:58. > :20:03.for their status in India if they come to power. When you scratch the
:20:04. > :20:08.surface of India, even though development has been the key issue,
:20:09. > :20:12.religion is never very far away. This is a country that was born by
:20:13. > :20:15.religion to some extent when the partition of India took place
:20:16. > :20:20.between India, Pakistan and what is now Bangladesh. What are the Muslim
:20:21. > :20:30.voters worried about if Narendra Modi is declared Prime Minister? I
:20:31. > :20:35.think what they fear is that India will move away from its secular past
:20:36. > :20:38.and become more of a Hindu nation. To be fair to Narendra Modi and his
:20:39. > :20:44.campaign, there have not been many signs of that. He said that rather
:20:45. > :20:47.than play religious card, you would prefer to lose the election. There
:20:48. > :20:52.are some Muslims who may vote out to vote for him. For many people here
:20:53. > :20:57.in India, with the economy slowing down, jobs are an issue. They worry
:20:58. > :21:01.about their children's future. In rural India, they worry about
:21:02. > :21:08.electricity and water. They want somebody who can deliver a whole
:21:09. > :21:14.series of different things. Do stay with us. Much more to come.
:21:15. > :21:17.We hear from our correspondent in Pretoria where another week of the
:21:18. > :21:29.Oscar Pistorius murder trial has begun.
:21:30. > :21:34.In the UK, there's been an increase of 57% in the number of Afghan
:21:35. > :21:36.veterans seeking help from the mental health charity, Combat
:21:37. > :21:39.Stress. The charity currently treats more than 660 veterans of the
:21:40. > :21:43.campaign in Afghanistan. The number of veterans from the war in Iraq
:21:44. > :21:51.needing help has also increased by nearly 20%. Caroline Wyatt reports.
:21:52. > :21:56.For 13 years, British forces have been deployed to Afghanistan. In
:21:57. > :22:01.that time, tens of thousands have served on the front lines and in
:22:02. > :22:06.supporting roles. The war itself may soon be over but some veterans will
:22:07. > :22:13.face new battles back at home. The veterans, like Stephen Coyle, the
:22:14. > :22:16.fight goes on. The 28-year-old's three tours of Afghanistan have left
:22:17. > :22:24.their mark. He has sought help from a therapist. I became very
:22:25. > :22:31.emotionally numb and distance. -- distance. I was very sad. In a very
:22:32. > :22:35.deep and dark place. I had to get over that. Now I try to get over
:22:36. > :22:42.that myself and it did not work. I left at about 12 months. Is the UK
:22:43. > :22:50.campaign in Helmand winds down, one charity says more than 600 men from
:22:51. > :22:53.the conflict sought its help. The Government says it has invested more
:22:54. > :22:57.than ?7 million to help with mental health services for the Armed
:22:58. > :23:05.Forces, and will continue to make sure that support is there for who
:23:06. > :23:08.needed. -- needed. For Steven and others, the psychological effects of
:23:09. > :23:12.war can be as traumatic as the physical. This younger generation of
:23:13. > :23:18.soldiers are seeking help sooner, according to Combat Stress, after 18
:23:19. > :23:23.months rather than waiting for many years. Reflecting perhaps the
:23:24. > :23:27.knowledge that help is there and having the courage to ask for it.
:23:28. > :23:39.This is BBC World News. The latest headlines: Boko Haram releases a
:23:40. > :23:41.video showing some of the girls kidnapped from their school in Borno
:23:42. > :23:48.state in northern Nigeria. The Oscar Pistorius murder trial has
:23:49. > :23:51.resumed in South Africa. The Olympic athlete denies intentionally killing
:23:52. > :23:54.his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in February last year. Our reporter,
:23:55. > :23:58.Milton Nkosi, is following the trial in Pretoria. He explained that the
:23:59. > :24:08.prosecuting lawyer, Gerrie Nel, is continuing to question a ballistics
:24:09. > :24:12.expert called by the defence. He has been asking him about the
:24:13. > :24:16.sequence of the bullets that pierced through the door, killing Reeva
:24:17. > :24:21.Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013. The point of contention here
:24:22. > :24:24.is whether, after the first bullet hit her hip, when she was
:24:25. > :24:32.collapsing, did she fall on the magazine rack in the toilet cubicle,
:24:33. > :24:38.or not? I think what Gerrie Nel is trying to do is create some space.
:24:39. > :24:46.That Reeva Steenkamp was hit on the right hip, and as she collapsed, and
:24:47. > :24:50.as the expert is saying, she fell on the magazine rack, Gerrie Nel thinks
:24:51. > :24:54.that perhaps would have created enough space for her to scream. He
:24:55. > :25:02.has not said that but that is what he is building up to. The ballistics
:25:03. > :25:05.expert is still on the stand. We expect the defence will still call a
:25:06. > :25:12.few more witnesses. Psychologists and a sound expert to try to defend
:25:13. > :25:15.Oscar Pistorius. He says it was a mistake when he shot and killed his
:25:16. > :25:23.model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, last year.
:25:24. > :25:28.Let me remind you of our breaking story this hour. We have obtained
:25:29. > :25:34.pictures from Boko Haram. They say these are about half of the girls
:25:35. > :25:43.who were abducted four weeks ago. We have counted about 136, possibly 138
:25:44. > :25:49.girls, shown in these images. Over 200 were initially taken. As you can
:25:50. > :25:55.see there, wearing full hijab. They are reciting the first few lines
:25:56. > :25:58.from the Koran. Also in this video, which we are not showing at the
:25:59. > :26:03.moment, three of the girls have spoken. One of them at least
:26:04. > :26:08.reciting the Koran. We do not want to identify those girls in close-up
:26:09. > :26:14.at the moment. But we are working to bring you more of this video as soon
:26:15. > :26:21.as we can. The leader of Boko Haram has also spoken in the tape. It has
:26:22. > :26:25.been released through the AFP news agency in the region. It is 17
:26:26. > :26:31.minutes long. The leader of Boko Haram says the girls will not be
:26:32. > :26:37.released until all of the militant prisoners are freed from jail in
:26:38. > :26:41.Nigeria. It is alleged the girls have converted to Islam. One of the
:26:42. > :26:46.girls who speaks apparently says she has converted and she wants her
:26:47. > :26:49.family to convert. They will not be released until prisoners, militant
:26:50. > :26:53.prisoners, members of Boko Haram, our freed from jail. We will
:26:54. > :26:57.prisoners, members of Boko Haram, on BBC News. This is BBC World News.
:26:58. > :27:01.Thank you for watching.