05/03/2014 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today, with me, Philippa Thomas.

Diplomatic efforts are underway in Paris - trying to find common ground

over Ukraine. Russian and American foreign ministers come face to face

on the crisis, but there's been no meeting of minds.

On the ground, the struggle for control continues. First the Ukraine

flag flies in Donetsk in the east, hours later marchers replace it with

the Russian flag flying over government buildings. I'll will be

live from Sevastopol where Russian forces are continuing to consolidate

their grip here in the Crimea. Also coming up: Israel says it's

seized a ship carrying advanced Iranian weapons to Gaza.

And we'll meet the 13-year-old British boy who's carried out atomic

fusion in his classroom. Hello and welcome.

The first day of direct diplomatic talks about the Ukraine crisis is

still underway in Paris, with no breakthrough yet in American and

European efforts to persuade Russia to back down. There's a fragile calm

in Ukrainian cities from Donetsk in the east, where rival groups have

wrestled each others flags from the top of government buildings, to

Sevastopol in Crimea in the south, where Russia has tightened its grip

on key military facilities. NATO has reviewed a fool review of its

cooperation with Russia. Russia has tightened its grip on key military

facilities. There has been a nasty diplomatic incident. My colleague

Ben Brown is there. Yes, it has been another difficult

and tense day here in Crimea. Highlighted perhaps by a series

incident in which the United Nations's special envoy who were

sent here on a fact mind -- fact-finding mission, he was

surrounded by armed men, armed pro-Russian supporters and

protesters, and he took refuge in a coffee shop and he was seeking

sanctuary there, really. He was pretty frightened and shaken up, and

he ended up cutting short his mission year, getting on an

aeroplane and leaving. The United Nations taking that very seriously

and saying he was seriously threatened. Meanwhile Russian forces

here in Crimea have been tightening their grip on Ukrainian military

bases, they have taken over partial control today of two missile defence

units in separate areas of Crimea. They are also continuing to tighten

their naval blockade of Ukrainian naval vessels here. As my colleague

Daniel Sandford no reports. The first sign that the Russians

were tightening further their stranglehold on Ukraine's small

navy. Russian troops taking up new positions overlooking a Ukrainian

military dock. We climbed down to see what was happening and found,

two of Ukraine's must fight -- sophisticated fighting ships,

blockaded in the bay by Russian boats and overlooked by a Russians

neighbour. -- sniper. On the dock we find this woman speaking to her

husband. He was only metres away. The ship dear not come closer in

case it is dolled by the Russians. -- stormed. When the commander of

the Black Sea Fleet came to the ship and said he would storm it, of

course it was frightening. War is a very frightening thing. On these

heavily armed ships, the sailors have resorted to medieval methods to

defending themselves. The Ukrainian soldiers have put

mattresses over the railings, that is to stop the Russians throwing

grappling irons and boarding the ship. Well almost the entire

Ukrainian navy is stuck in the harbour, they have to watch Russian

warships coming and going at will. What would have and if you try to

leave the harbour? TRANSLATION: There could be a clash between the

ships and navigation accident which can result in casualties. Then two

men in black courts arrived. They remonstrated with the officers on

the ship for our Ukrainian navy statement which had called the

Russian president ally. The Ukrainian stood their ground and

complained about the armed men surrounding them. -- president a

liar. I am the only one who has a weapon said the senior officer. I

have given up everything else. I just have the one pistol to protect

my crew. This evening a small boat came up to replenish the ships. The

Ukrainians are preparing for a long siege.

So it is as you can stay still very tense here in Crimea. Yesterday we

had that incident where Russian troops actually fired warning shots

over the heads of unarmed Ukrainian soldiers at the Belbek a military

airfield. We have not had any shots of any kind fired today. But still

another dangerous day in Crimea. The stand-off between the Russian forces

and Ukrainian forces continuing at bases around Crimea.

We have come to the Ukrainian naval headquarters where there are

volunteers from the self-styled Russian defence Force, besieging the

space along with unidentified Russian soldiers as well. And they

will not even let us go from here, the few yards to those gates, to try

to talk to interview the Ukrainian naval staff who inside there.

TRANSLATION: wives arrived to bring them food and

fresh clothes. But the Russians laying siege to this base here

refuse to let them deliver their suffice. A retired naval commander

told me it is tense but peaceful. Only one week this is a peaceful

coexistence. That is it. It is like a barrel with powder. Right now

everyone can understand that war is not the case. War is not the choice

of the people. No one doubts the very real dangers of the stand-off

but it is also beginning to look like a stalemate that could last for

quite some time. One footnote to that, interesting to

hear today the Foreign Minister saying that Russia has no control

whatsoever of these armed groups that are surrounding various

Ukrainian bases here in Crimea. When you see those pictures that we were

showing you there and that report of the forces who are outside the

pro-Russian forces, clearly some of them are local volunteers as a style

themselves, but there are also these uniformed troops who look very much

like Russian armed troops, although they do not have the Russian army

insignia on their uniforms. Then when you see their vehicles, they

are definitely Russian army, because you can see they have Russian army

number on them. There is not any doubt about that. The Ukrainian

prime minister, the acting prime minister, he is 100% sure that these

forces are under the control of Moscow. That shows I suppose how far

as said, far apart the two sides are, the Russians and Ukrainians on

this one issue of who is controlling these pro-Russian forces. Clearly it

will be a difficult divide that the diplomats are trying to address, the

US Secretary of State has been meeting Sergey Lavrov in Paris. We

await the details of exactly what they have discussed and whether

there has been any progress in those talks. That is all from here in the

Crimea, and you back to the studio in London.

Let's take a closer look at the European response to this crisis.

Joining me from Brussels is Daniel Brossler. He's the correspondent for

the centre left German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. Daniel, thank

you for joining us on World News Today. I was going to ask you about

the European response, but we do not have one as yet, and it is difficult

for there to be a united European response, isn't there? It is

difficult. But everyone understands the needs to be a response and I

think there will be one. If tomorrow, at the summit, the leaders

will not find a common position, Putin will laugh at that. This is

impossible. I think there will be strong wording, there will be an aid

package for Ukraine, and probably there will be sanctions as well. As

the German Chancellor Merkel has the strongest position with President

Putin, she has been cautious in the way she has spoken about his

actions? That is how a way of doing politics. She is looking at the

options, being careful. But if you asked her, she would say she was

outspoken, she called Putin several times and she made it known to the

public that she really criticised harshly during those telephone

calls. I think she did not do before. So I think she is trying to

send a message to Vladimir Putin. I do not think that she will reject

sanctions as there is a need to have sanctions. Reminders, Daniel, how

close the relationship is and when -- how much is at stake? The

relationship is very important. First of all you have to see that

economic play Germany and Russia are having really close ties, as far as

energy is concerned, Germany pretty much depends on supplies from Russia

to a great deal. So this is of course at stake. But on the other

hand I think in Germany the federal government is clearly seeing that if

there is no strong message noted Russia, then there is a red line

that they have crossed, then it will be very difficult to deal with

Russia in the future. So I think there is a strong understanding of

this. And the Chancellor, coming from East Germany, knows very well

who she is dealing with. She harbours no illusions whatsoever as

far as Mr Putin is concerned. Do you think from her point of view it is

important to keep the conversation going. She can treat him German and

Russian face-to-face? She speaks Russian, he speaks German. I think

there is no real trust between them. There is something like a working

relationship. It is known that we tend to speak quite frankly, quite

openly. Anglo-American will has criticised Vladimir Putin in

public. -- Angela Merkel. Not really trust, but a working relationship.

But if there is anybody know who is able to find a dialogue with Mr

Putin, probably it would be Angela Merkel. Finally, could you give me a

brief idea, can we say there is German public opinion flowing one

way or the other, saying what the sentiment is? In Germany you always

have a certain fear of war. If you would as Germans now, they would

say, do everything to avoid anything that is coming close to war. So I

think Germans would say, it is really bad what is happening in the

Ukraine. But the priority should be to come to terms with Russia and to

avoid any military conflict. Thank you very much for joining us.

A South African boxer and friend of Oscar Pistorius has told his murder

trial, that Pistorius once fired a shot under a table in a restaurant

in Johannesburg, and then asked him to take the blame for it. The

incident happened last January, just weeks before the Olympic and

Paralympic athlete killed his girlfriend. He says he mistook her

for an intruder. Our Africa correspondent Andrew Harding reports

from Pretoria. For relatives guarding Oscar

Pistorius on his way into court this morning. As the prosecution

continues to build its case against him. Taking the stand, the first

witness to agree to appear live on camera. Professional boxer. He

describes an incident at her South African restaurant. This is the

place today. The athlete fired a Fred's done under one of these

tables, seemingly by accident. Then allegedly as the friend to take the

blame. I remember Oscar clearly apologising, is everybody OK. He at

pleased to Darren, to say it was you. I do not want any attention.

This is a murder trial saw it may seem to discuss a separate minor

incident and a restaurant. It gives the prosecution the unique

opportunity to raise questions about Pistorius' character. The painted a

picture of Oscar Pistorius being a bit of gun fiend. But it was not all

bad for him today. His lawyer picked holes in the vital evidence of two

neighbours. That cannot be. They said they had heard a woman scream

before the gunshots on the night that Reeva Steenkamp died,

contradicting his version of events. It is a man's life at stake. In all

fairness let's say, let's look at other possibilities. Today's

restaurant revelations may prove damaging to the story is, but his

team has shown signs of the formidable research it has done to

prove it he did not need to kill Reeva Steenkamp. In Cairo the trial

has resumed of Al-Jazeera journalists accused of supporting

the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed movement of ousted Egyptian

president Mohamed Morsi. In all 20 people, including former

BBC correspondent Peter Greste, are on trial, 12 of them in absentia.

The trial is seen as a test of how far the current military-installed

government will tolerate independent media. From the court Quentin

Sommerville reports. Here we heard some of the first

detailed allegations against the three journalists today. Up for

questioning was the lead investigator in the case. He was

asked a direct question about the bureau chief for Al Jazeera English

here in Egypt's. He was asked if he is a member of the Muslim

Brotherhood. The policeman responded that as long as he was supporting

them then he was a member of the group. They all deny the terrorism

charges. I spoke to Peter Greste at the end of the child -- trial. He

said the men were doing well but they had been incarcerated for 66

days. He says they are political prisoners, caught in a battle

between the government of the jet and the government of Qatar that

owns the Al Jazeera network. The trial still has some way to go.

Peter Greste said to us that he hopes for more support from the

Australian government. He thinks the Prime Minister there could do more

to help the man. More witnesses will be called. At least four more are

expected but they will not be heard from and to March 24 when the

hearings resume. The Israeli military says it has

seized a ship carrying rockets made in Syria that was heading towards

Gaza. The cargo ship was intercepted in the Red Sea. Israel says it began

tracking the missiles several months ago as they were flown from Damascus

to Tehran. Yolande Knell reports. This footage shows Israeli marines

inspecting a rocket in the hold of a ship. The Israeli military says it

is a Syrian made surface to surface missile and that dozens were found

on board a cargo ship that it intercepted in the red Sea. Israeli

intelligence is understood to have tracked the shipment over months. It

says the rockets were moved from Damascus airport to Teheran and then

taken to a port in southern Iran. From there it is said they were

placed on a civilian vessel which sales to Iraq. Finally the ship was

intercepted by Israeli naval forces in international waters on its way

to Sudan. Add a news conference journalists were told that the

rockets were bound for militants in Gaza. If they had reached their

destination it would have meant that millions of a stray leaves were at

the mercy of the terrorists in Gaza. -- millions of Israelis. That

is what we set out to stop. Israel blames Iran for supplying the

weapons because these cement bags were found with them. The Prime

Minister that is in the US pressing for tougher international action on

Iran was quick to clandestine operation was organised by Iran.

While Iran is conducting these plots and smiling to the international

community it continues to perpetrate terrorism around the world. The

government in Gaza denies any link to these rockets but Iran has not

commented. The crew of the ship is being questioned.

Now a look at some of the day's other news.

Pope Francis has strongly defended the record of the Catholic Church on

tackling the sexual abuse of children by priests. In a rare

interview with an Italian newspaper the Pope said no-one had done more

to root out paedophilia. Last month the United Nations strongly

criticised the Vatican for failing to stamp out child abuse and for

allowing systematic cover-ups. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab

Emirates and Bahrain have withdrawn their ambassadors to Qatar. It's in

protest at what they've called its interference in their internal

affairs. The three countries accuse Qatar of failing to implement a

security deal signed last year stipulating non-interference in each

other's affairs, including support to hostile media.

A big parade in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, has marked the first

anniversary of the death of the former president Hugo Chavez who led

the country for 14 years. Thousands of troops and supporters took part.

The commemoration comes at a time of high tension. Mr Chavez's successor

Nicolas Maduro has faced a month of protests and demonstrators say they

will be back on the streets during the day.

Across the United States, in fact in 17 states so far, there've been

efforts to decriminalise marijuana and now that campaign has come to

the US capital. A bill passed by the council in Washington DC may mean it

will no longer be a criminal offence to possess and smoke marijuana in

the privacy of one's own home. Michael Collins works with the Drug

Policy Alliance and joins me now from Washington. A favourite treat

-- decriminalisation. Thank you for being with us. We should make it

clear that this is not about being allowed to smoke marijuana in the

streets of the US capital but do you think it is a significant step in

decriminalisation terms? Yes, it is a huge step forward for the capital

of the United States and a huge step forward towards ending what is a

failure, the war on drugs. I think that the interesting thing about the

Washington, DC initiative is that the arguments used to persuade the

council members to vote in favour of decriminalisation were ones that

involved racial justice because inside the nation's B majority of

people who are arrested for crimes related to marijuana are people of

colour and the council members voting in favour agreed that the law

was unjust and racially -- unjust and racially biased. So it is not

just a drugs or medical issue, it is seen as a civil rights issue as

well. Absolutely. Other states such as Colorado and Washington that have

legalised marijuana and taken steps towards decriminalisation have used

different arguments that have been more persuasive. In Colorado and

Washington there was a huge debate about using the money from taxation

towards education but in Washington, DC the prevalent debate revolved

around civil liberties and the fact that the laws in Washington, DC

adversely affect minorities, people of colour and people of low income

so they were seen as being in complete -- completely unjust. This

could change police priorities? We hope so. We think it is a waste of

time for police to be going after low-level drug users, marijuana

users. The resources would be better spent on serious crimes and we are

very pleased that the City Council agreed with us. Where next do you

think such initiatives are likely to come up? We have covered Colorado

where voters have legalised the sale of marijuana and where else in the

United States is the issue coming to the fore? Perhaps in Washington, DC

this year we will go a step further. The decision has not been

made yet but perhaps we will see a referendum on full legalisation.

There are initiatives being prepared this year for Oregon and Alaska. In

2016 you will see a number of other states putting legalisation there.

In Colorado the train has left the station. There is a lot of momentum

around marijuana legalisation. People have crossed the Rubicon. A

lot of other states are looking at marijuana legalisation as a way to

increase their revenue for budgets and so we have no doubt that the we

are going to see this movement spread elsewhere. We will watch this

developing story. Thank you. A 13-year-old British boy has become

the youngest person ever to successfully carry out atomic

fusion. Today Jamie Edwards showed off his experiment for the first

time and proved that it really worked. Our correspondent Danny

Savage was there. A school classroom in Preston is not

the first place you would expect to see a nuclear reactor but yes, this

is a 13-year-old who has built one. Jamie Edwards today attempted to be

the youngest fusion era in the world by smashing two hydrogen atoms

together, making helium through nuclear fusion. I need to ask you

all to leave... It is not without its risks so the room was cleared

although we left the camera running and after a few minutes. I heard the

geiger counter rapidly go up and I thought, what is that? Then I looked

over and the neutron counter was write-up of the scale. I've realised

we must have done it, that is neutrons, I cannot believe it. His

mum watched on from outside, hoping that practical science did not turn

into horrible histories. Relief that it is safe and he is all right and

he has achieved what he wanted to achieve. I am really relieved at the

moment. Radiation is measured with a geiger counter and a couple of

Christmases ago Jamie spent all his Christmas money on buying a geiger

counter. He has since gone on to develop this project to become the

youngest fusion era in the world. The previous record was held by a

14-year-old in America. Jamie turns 14 this weekend so he had to get it

done today. For his next trick Jamie plans and mini hadron Collider.

That makes the rest of us feel very inadequate!

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, has held meetings with his

Russian counterpart in Paris. The highest level diplomatic encounter

since the Ukraine crisis escalated. The Russian Foreign Minister left

the French following mirrors/ -- French Foreign Ministry today

without having held a hoped-for meeting with his Ukrainian

counterpart, hoped for by the Ukrainians anyway. The UN

representative in the Crimea was forced to cut his mission short

after being threatened by armed men as he left the naval headquarters in

the regional capital. Thank you for being with us.

Hallo. An area of high pressure is going to build in next week and

bring some dry weather. Tomorrow there is more rain to come. There