:00:00. > :00:10.Hello. This is BBC World News. Our top stories:
:00:11. > :00:14.After big election gains by anti-integration parties,
:00:15. > :00:17.the leader of the French far right demands an end to some of the EU's
:00:18. > :00:25.most high-profile policies. Our objective is to block all ideas
:00:26. > :00:36.and projects against our objectives. most high-profile policies.
:00:37. > :00:40.Ukraine's government says it's recaptured Donetsk airport, killing
:00:41. > :00:43.many of the pro-Russian separatists who had seized the base.
:00:44. > :00:46.Nigeria's highest ranking army officer says he knows the location
:00:47. > :00:52.of 200 kidnapped schoolgirls, but won't run the risk of intervening.
:00:53. > :01:07.We know where they are but we cannot tell you. Just leave us alone.
:01:08. > :01:10.won't run the risk of intervening. India's new Prime Minister, Narendra
:01:11. > :01:11.Modi, holds talks with his Pakistani counterpart - we ask whether
:01:12. > :01:27.a thawing of relations is under way. Hello, thanks very much for
:01:28. > :01:35.watching. Remote, incomprehensible and
:01:36. > :01:39.in need of urgent reform. Calls are growing
:01:40. > :01:43.for a fundamental re-think of the European Union, following
:01:44. > :01:46.sweeping gains for anti integration parties in the weekend's elections
:01:47. > :01:49.for the European parliament. France and Italy have already called
:01:50. > :01:58.for change of emphasis on the economy to boost growth and jobs.
:01:59. > :02:02.And within the past hour, one of the big winners in the weekend's polls,
:02:03. > :02:09.the leader of the French National Front, has called for an end to two
:02:10. > :02:14.of the EU's policies - freedom of movement and a common currency.
:02:15. > :02:25.Here she was a short while ago. It expressed solidarity of our
:02:26. > :02:32.conviction. It was a patriotic project, every day we expose the
:02:33. > :02:38.French people to the question of Europe, which is a genuine national
:02:39. > :02:48.project for the French, and that will be the basis for the next
:02:49. > :02:52.elections. A short while ago I spoke to our correspondent and put it to
:02:53. > :02:58.him that Marine Le Pen is flexing her muscles and has a mandate and an
:02:59. > :03:01.agenda. Absolutely, and it is important to listen to what she is
:03:02. > :03:06.saying because she represents a sizeable chunk of the electorate,
:03:07. > :03:11.and France's one of the key countries in the European Union. She
:03:12. > :03:15.talked in her press conference of blocking EU legislation when it is
:03:16. > :03:22.passing through the parliament. Bear in mind that she has some 25 MEPs in
:03:23. > :03:26.that parliament, and it is a parliament of 751, she will not be
:03:27. > :03:32.able to do it on her own and the bulk of the MEPs in that parliament
:03:33. > :03:41.are pro-European. There isn't going to be a sudden and massive
:03:42. > :03:47.Eurosceptic surge which will stop EU legislation dead in its tracks.
:03:48. > :03:51.Where her influence will be felt is in French domestic politics. We are
:03:52. > :03:54.seeing signs the French president is starting to talk about the need
:03:55. > :03:59.possibly to address some of the concerns that the voters have
:04:00. > :04:04.expressed in this election with regards to Brussels' relationship
:04:05. > :04:09.with Paris. Because France is such an important country in the EU, you
:04:10. > :04:13.would assume therefore that when you have people like the French coming
:04:14. > :04:19.into Brussels in two important summits, and indeed the British,
:04:20. > :04:24.David Cameron under pressure from the anti-EE you UKIP party, when you
:04:25. > :04:28.have two leaders of two such important countries in the EU
:04:29. > :04:32.expressing some concerns about the power of Brussels, it is bound to
:04:33. > :04:52.have an impact on the agenda. We will have more on the aftermath of
:04:53. > :05:01.the European elections later in this programme.
:05:02. > :05:04.of movement and a common currency. Reports from Ukraine say government
:05:05. > :05:07.forces have retaken control of Donestk airport,
:05:08. > :05:09.following 24 hours of fighting. We've had no independent
:05:10. > :05:11.confirmation of that. Pro-Russian separatists say
:05:12. > :05:14.at least 30 rebels were killed on Monday in fighting
:05:15. > :05:15.in the eastern city of Donestk. The Ukrainian government deployed
:05:16. > :05:17.helicopter gunships and fighter jets in an operation to
:05:18. > :05:24.retake the city's airport. Our correspondent visited the place
:05:25. > :05:26.which has come under attack. You can see the aftermath of that intense
:05:27. > :05:32.firefight around the airport yesterday. This truck completely
:05:33. > :05:37.burnt out, the windows full of bullet holes, and around the base of
:05:38. > :05:43.the truck there is too much we cannot show you because it is too
:05:44. > :05:48.graphic. There are body parts and a lot of debris from the fighting that
:05:49. > :05:55.took place yesterday. We have been here this morning, where there have
:05:56. > :06:00.been some gunshots that have run out from the airport, but not the same
:06:01. > :06:06.intensity as yesterday. There was sporadic gunfire coming from the
:06:07. > :06:09.airport compound. We understand the Ukrainian troops are largely in
:06:10. > :06:14.control of the airport base but it seems there was some kind of clear
:06:15. > :06:20.out operation to try to flush out the last elements of rebel control
:06:21. > :06:25.from the airport, clearly Kiev determined that the airport does not
:06:26. > :06:29.fall to the insurgents, or the terrorists as they put it, because
:06:30. > :06:35.it would really give the separatist groups here a real advantage in
:06:36. > :06:43.trying to access this region. There is the Crimea factor as well, but
:06:44. > :06:48.back in February there was the annexation of Moscow. When they took
:06:49. > :06:52.the airport, that was the first key installation that they took control
:06:53. > :06:58.of so the Ukrainian government is determined to clamp down on that.
:06:59. > :07:07.Petro Poroshenko, newly elected, gave a speech yesterday saying that
:07:08. > :07:14.he would not negotiate with terrorists, as he put it.
:07:15. > :07:23.retake the city's airport. Nigeria's military has said for the
:07:24. > :07:26.first time that it knows where more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by
:07:27. > :07:29.Boko Haram are being held. It's now nearly six weeks since the teenagers
:07:30. > :07:33.were driven away at gunpoint from their boarding school in the remote
:07:34. > :07:36.town of Chibok. They've been the focus of a campaign around the world
:07:37. > :07:38.with the slogan "bring back our girls". Will Ross reports from the
:07:39. > :07:44.Nigerian capital, Abuja. We know where they are, is the
:07:45. > :07:48.message from the military. It is welcome news for the desperate
:07:49. > :07:54.parents of the more than 200 missing girls. Locating them is one thing,
:07:55. > :07:58.getting them out safely will be even harder. The Chief of defence staff
:07:59. > :08:03.warned, we cannot kill our girls in the name of getting them back. We
:08:04. > :08:12.know where they are but we cannot tell you. Just leave us alone, we
:08:13. > :08:21.are working. We will get them back. Recently a negotiated deal was
:08:22. > :08:29.almost accepted to release some girls but at the 11th hour the
:08:30. > :08:33.Nigerian government pulled out. All along there have been people who
:08:34. > :08:38.felt that rather than use military force to rescue the girls, it would
:08:39. > :08:45.be preferable to try to negotiate their release and there have been
:08:46. > :08:50.calls for religious leaders to play a more active role. These girls are
:08:51. > :08:59.not only hostages, they exist as human shields. You cannot fire any
:09:00. > :09:03.shots at the insurgents without getting at the girls. Really what
:09:04. > :09:08.you are saying is that to get them out, negotiation would work but use
:09:09. > :09:13.of force is more likely to lead to some of them dying? The insurgents
:09:14. > :09:20.will not listen to government officials, they will not listen to
:09:21. > :09:25.security personnel. They are most likely to listen to Islamic
:09:26. > :09:29.religious leaders. With the girls still missing and the attacks
:09:30. > :09:33.against civilians ongoing, Christians and Muslims can do little
:09:34. > :09:41.else but pray. After prayers this Muslim scholar told me his niece was
:09:42. > :09:46.killed last week by Boko Haram. She was pulled out of a car and shot
:09:47. > :09:54.dead. What crime has she committed? She was a very brilliant student.
:09:55. > :09:58.How do you feel when Boko Haram speak out against girls and women
:09:59. > :10:07.getting an education? We believe this can not be an Islamic movement
:10:08. > :10:11.because Islam encourages knowledge. They keep praying for peace, but
:10:12. > :10:17.since the schoolgirls were seized, more than 150 people have been
:10:18. > :10:21.killed by Boko Haram in bomb attacks and raids on villages. The calls to
:10:22. > :10:27.bring back our girls alive will continue.
:10:28. > :10:34.Nigerian capital, Abuja. Historic talks in Delhi today
:10:35. > :10:36.between India's newly elected prime minister Narendra Modi and his
:10:37. > :10:42.Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. Nawaz Sharif was in Delhi to attend
:10:43. > :10:45.Mr Modi's inauguration on Monday. Relations between India and Pakistan
:10:46. > :10:59.took a nose-dive after a terror attack in Mumbai in 2008,
:11:00. > :11:03.in which 166 people were killed. No details have been given about
:11:04. > :11:04.what the two men have discussed. With me Dr Rudra Chaudhuri.
:11:05. > :11:13.He is from King's College London. These are hostile nations, aren't
:11:14. > :11:22.they? It is an unprecedented initiative from the Prime Minister,
:11:23. > :11:25.but also as far as Narendra Modi is concerned it allows him to
:11:26. > :11:31.personalise his relations with Pakistan. His approach is
:11:32. > :11:35.personality driven, he normally bypass its institutions and I
:11:36. > :11:38.believe he will not be placing his foreign policy imperatives on
:11:39. > :11:42.institutions but rather will take control of what he thinks is one of
:11:43. > :11:47.the most important relations in the neighbourhood. His predecessor did
:11:48. > :11:58.not really go for that brand of personality politics, did he? That's
:11:59. > :12:02.right, he did not have the kind of mandate that Narendra Modi has. In
:12:03. > :12:08.the 15 minute but both of the Prime ministers this morning in New Delhi,
:12:09. > :12:13.they were trying to implement a structured to deal with each other
:12:14. > :12:23.in the future. The hope is that they will appoint a back channel dialogue
:12:24. > :12:27.much like in 2008. On the reason that Narendra Modi chose to go to
:12:28. > :12:32.Pakistan first, the whole campaign was dogged by these accusations that
:12:33. > :12:36.Narendra Modi was anti-Muslim so do you think there is an element of
:12:37. > :12:42.symbolism as well? Yes, but there was also an element of divorcing
:12:43. > :12:46.domestic politics from his foreign policy imperatives. He is a
:12:47. > :12:51.pragmatic leader. The issues discussed most with Pakistan were
:12:52. > :13:03.terror and trade and this will give the kind of impetus for discussions
:13:04. > :13:09.around trade and to the Mumbai terror court trials within Pakistan.
:13:10. > :13:14.It sounds like you are optimistic about Narendra Modi's premiership
:13:15. > :13:18.and this relationship. Given the mandate that Narendra Modi has, the
:13:19. > :13:24.responsibility now all eyes on him to take this foreign policy
:13:25. > :13:30.direction forward. This party has criticised them for the last ten
:13:31. > :13:35.years so now the imperative remains on him to see what he can do, given
:13:36. > :13:41.that he has a much larger mandate than the Congress had over the last
:13:42. > :13:47.ten years. Thank you. Still to come: Pope Francis compares the
:13:48. > :13:53.sexual abuse of children to devil worship and vows a zero tolerance
:13:54. > :13:56.approach. And is Japan losing its appetite for sumo wrestling? Why
:13:57. > :14:05.foreign competition is pushing out the home-grown talent.
:14:06. > :14:11.You might normally expect to find peat bogs in Ireland or the UK, but
:14:12. > :14:17.scientists have discovered a massive tropical peat bog in the remote part
:14:18. > :14:22.of the Republic of Congo. On a journey into the heart of the
:14:23. > :14:26.Congo basin, this expedition is heading to an area so remote it is
:14:27. > :14:33.only accessible for a couple of months of the year. But inside this
:14:34. > :14:40.waterlogged swamp lies a surprising discovery, a colossal peat bog.
:14:41. > :14:43.Hidden beneath dense jungle, it is up to 2000 square kilometres in size
:14:44. > :14:49.and holds billions of tonnes of peat.
:14:50. > :14:55.The team spent three weeks exploring the boggy area. By taking samples
:14:56. > :14:59.they found the peat reached seven metres below the ground. There so
:15:00. > :15:06.much of this ancient partially decayed vegetation it means the area
:15:07. > :15:09.is a vast store of carbon. Analysing this material, which is
:15:10. > :15:14.10,000 years old will shed light on its past and present role in the
:15:15. > :15:20.global climate. To me it was incredibly surprising
:15:21. > :15:25.to find an area, the size of England, that was unchartered, so we
:15:26. > :15:29.went there, knowing almost nothing about it, apart from what ewe could
:15:30. > :15:34.see from satellites. When we walked into the swamp land we discovered it
:15:35. > :15:37.was all peatland so it is a big discovery.
:15:38. > :15:41.The find comes at a time when many of the world's peatland are under
:15:42. > :15:47.threat. They are being drained to make way for agriculture, but this
:15:48. > :15:49.bog is so remote the team believes the Congo's ancient peat is probably
:15:50. > :16:12.safe for now. This is BBC World News.
:16:13. > :16:15.These are the latest headline. After dramatic gains in EU elections
:16:16. > :16:20.Marine Le Pen of the French National Front says she wants an end to some
:16:21. > :16:25.of the EU's most high profile policies.
:16:26. > :16:29.The Ukrainian Government says it has recaptured Donetsk airport, killing
:16:30. > :16:31.many of the pro-Russian separatists who seized the base. Russia has
:16:32. > :16:37.called for an immediate end to the fighting.
:16:38. > :16:41.Now, Pope Francis says that he will take a zero tolerance approach to
:16:42. > :16:44.the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, he compared it to
:16:45. > :16:48.devil worship. She was speaking to reporters on the flight back to the
:16:49. > :16:53.Vatican, after visiting the Middle East. He played down the possibility
:16:54. > :16:56.of helping to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. Our
:16:57. > :17:01.Middle East editor was onboard and sent this report.
:17:02. > :17:06.Well, the Pope is back here at the Vatican in Rome, after hishis Middle
:17:07. > :17:11.East tour. I think he can look back on what happened and be satisfied
:17:12. > :17:17.with what he did. He is probably I suspect wiser about the
:17:18. > :17:23.complications of a very difficult situation, which he has now inserted
:17:24. > :17:28.himself in by inviting the Palestinian President, and Israeli
:17:29. > :17:33.counterpart here to Rome for a meeting of prayer. He tried, I
:17:34. > :17:40.think, to dampen expectations when he was talking to us journalists on
:17:41. > :17:46.the plane coming back from tell a vief, saying it was about mediation,
:17:47. > :17:50.he wasn't qualified to be a new diplomatic envoy, whether he wants
:17:51. > :17:54.to by opening his mouth, getting involved he has become something of
:17:55. > :17:58.a player in that situation. Not least because there is no diplomatic
:17:59. > :18:04.process going on at the moment, and therefore, I think people are
:18:05. > :18:11.looking for some kind of new idea. Now, while he was talking to the
:18:12. > :18:15.journalists he dealt with specific issues concerning the Catholic
:18:16. > :18:21.Church. On the subject of the sex scandals which have caused enormous
:18:22. > :18:26.damage to Catholicism, he said the abuse of children by priests
:18:27. > :18:32.specifically was as bad as a Satanic ritual, conducting a black mass.
:18:33. > :18:36.TRANSLATION: It is a horrible crime. We know it is a terrible crime under
:18:37. > :18:41.any circumstances, but I am interested in the church, because a
:18:42. > :18:48.priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord. A priest needs to
:18:49. > :18:54.lead children to sanctity but instead of leading them to sanctity
:18:55. > :18:59.he abuses then. This is terrible. I will make a comparison. It is like a
:19:00. > :19:06.Satanic mass. Secular people may say that paedophilia is a lot worse than
:19:07. > :19:12.a black mass, but for a Pope, for a religious leader to compare anything
:19:13. > :19:16.to the worship of the devil is, for him, strong language.
:19:17. > :19:21.I want to take you back to one of our top stories, that of the 200,
:19:22. > :19:29.more than 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram some six weeks now. Now
:19:30. > :19:38.an army officer says he knows where the girls are but he won't run the
:19:39. > :19:41.risk of intervening. What do you think the reaction is, what is the
:19:42. > :19:47.reaccuse sun to this latest statement, that the army knows where
:19:48. > :19:51.the girls are? Well, this statement -- reaction It comes from the
:19:52. > :19:58.highest ranking military officer in Nigeria. Many people would see this
:19:59. > :20:02.ideally as a genuine statement, with authenticity, but the problem is,
:20:03. > :20:07.the Nigerian Government and the military, they have the, the way
:20:08. > :20:12.they have been dealing with the whole Boko Haram situation, and the
:20:13. > :20:16.girls in particular, with that experience in mind, many Nigerians
:20:17. > :20:22.will be very sceptical about this statement, and will consider it as
:20:23. > :20:25.just part of the ongoing statement coming out from different Government
:20:26. > :20:30.officials and security agencies is across the country. So rather than
:20:31. > :20:34.giving relatives hope, they are just becoming cynical ability any
:20:35. > :20:37.pronouncements coming out from the authorities? Definitely. The
:20:38. > :20:42.remember the military had in the past two days the after the
:20:43. > :20:47.abduction of the girl, they said we managed to rescue more than 90% of
:20:48. > :20:53.them but it turned out to be untrue, and they had to retract that
:20:54. > :20:57.statement after complaint from families and Local Authorities. So I
:20:58. > :21:02.don't think many Nigerians will, they will hope this is true, and if
:21:03. > :21:07.it is true, it is going to be a good news for Nigerian, particularly the
:21:08. > :21:12.families, relatives of the girls but I think many Nigerians are sceptical
:21:13. > :21:15.about this statement. Even if it is true, the army officer is saying #4e
:21:16. > :21:20.won't run the risk of intervening because it is too dangerous, what do
:21:21. > :21:24.you make of that? Definitely, think that is true, because the militants
:21:25. > :21:30.are howling these girls as human shields and they are holding them
:21:31. > :21:34.as, so they are trying to use them to get what they want. Remember,
:21:35. > :21:39.this statement came out hours after the BBC learned there was a deal
:21:40. > :21:44.that was meant to get these girls released, but the Government put out
:21:45. > :21:48.at -- pulled out at the 11th hour. It means the militants are not happy
:21:49. > :21:53.with what the Government did. So I think that will be put the lives of
:21:54. > :21:57.the girls in danger. They are already in danger, but this, the
:21:58. > :22:03.latest action from the Government would put them in more risk, I
:22:04. > :22:13.think. What of the ordeal for the families? This pun bearable for
:22:14. > :22:19.them? Definitely. We heard one parent, one of the mothers had lost
:22:20. > :22:23.her life because of high blood pressure, definitely because of what
:22:24. > :22:27.happened, so I think they are still waiting and what that want, I think
:22:28. > :22:33.from the Government -- they want, I think from the Government, to do
:22:34. > :22:38.whatever possibility to get the girls, through whatever mean, the
:22:39. > :22:43.only options the Government have at the moment is whether to negotiate
:22:44. > :22:54.with the militants or to use force, which I think will has the danger.
:22:55. > :23:01.OK. Thank you very much. Now, can it really be possible? Sumo
:23:02. > :23:06.wrestling losing its charm for 2 Japan sneeze nit is a hard life --
:23:07. > :23:11.Japanese. Children no longer want to commit it to. More recruited are
:23:12. > :23:19.foreigners from Mongolia, Hawaii, Bulgaria or Russia. We have this
:23:20. > :23:24.report from Tokyo. Nothing about sumo is modern. These
:23:25. > :23:32.are the same moves they have been doing here for hundreds of years.
:23:33. > :23:39.However comic it may look this is hard. The temperature is just above
:23:40. > :23:47.freezing. But the sweat glistens off their bodies.
:23:48. > :23:53.This 19-year-old has come here to train from Hawaii.
:23:54. > :23:58.The man shouting at him is his uncle. Once a grand champion, and
:23:59. > :24:05.one of the most famous sumo wrestlers in Japan.
:24:06. > :24:09.Anyone who thinks sumo is just two fat men pushing each other round
:24:10. > :24:18.would be very wrong. The training is not only tough physically but it is
:24:19. > :24:22.tough mentally, if you don't have it up here, you have to be mentally
:24:23. > :24:26.tough. It is not just the strength, not just the body. You have to, you
:24:27. > :24:32.have to think that you can do it. You have to get the mentality that
:24:33. > :24:37.you can push harder and strive more. But fewer and fewer young men in
:24:38. > :24:45.Japan want to push hard and strive more on the hard packed clay. Sumo
:24:46. > :24:49.has existed for well over 1,000 years, but now Japan's most iconic
:24:50. > :24:54.sport is in deep trouble. Revenues are falling. Audiences are falling
:24:55. > :24:59.and there aren't that many young men who want to take on this gruelling
:25:00. > :25:07.existence. After training, it is time to cook.
:25:08. > :25:14.Chanko is the rich stew all wrestlers eat to keep their weight
:25:15. > :25:19.up. They have to eat a lot. When he came here sumo was dominated by
:25:20. > :25:24.Japanese wrestlers but now all the top wrestlers are foreign.
:25:25. > :25:29.They have never seen a Japanese grand champion in over ten years
:25:30. > :25:37.now. That is a problem? It is a problem, I think. We would rather
:25:38. > :25:40.have a Japanese, but you know, the foreign, the wrestlers from outside
:25:41. > :25:46.is more hungry than the Japanese wrestler, you know. That is the
:25:47. > :25:51.point. That is it. Sumo is not so much a sport as a
:25:52. > :25:59.priesthood. But this life requires a level of commitment few young
:26:00. > :26:04.Japanese men are willing to make. Fascinating insight into the culture
:26:05. > :26:09.of sumo there. I want to finish by bringing you some extraordinarily
:26:10. > :26:15.cute pictures. A cute alert for you. These come from Austria. Five rare
:26:16. > :26:20.white tiger cubs, unveiled at a zoo in the mountains south of Vienna.
:26:21. > :26:26.The zoo keeper says the cubs were born last month. He said it is
:26:27. > :26:31.unusual for such a large number of white tigers to be delivered alive
:26:32. > :26:35.and healthy in a single litter. He says the good health of the tigers
:26:36. > :26:41.is due to the fact they live in a big open air zoo. Listen to him!
:26:42. > :26:44.Located in the Austrian mountains where the animals can roam
:26:45. > :26:50.relatively freely. The tragedy is white tigers are so rare they are
:26:51. > :26:57.found almost exclusively in captivity -- captivity. They know a
:26:58. > :26:59.good piece of meat. You can message me or follow me on Twitter. Thank
:27:00. > :27:02.you for watching.