:00:00. > :00:11.This is BBC World News Today with me, Zeinab Badawi. Two days before
:00:12. > :00:14.the referendum in Crimea that could see the region breakaway from
:00:15. > :00:20.Ukraine and re-join Russia, Moscow ignores US calls for it to respect
:00:21. > :00:23.Ukraine's territorial integrity. A handshake but no common vision on
:00:24. > :00:25.Ukraine, says Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during talks
:00:26. > :00:33.in London with his American counterpart.
:00:34. > :00:35.We do not have a common vision of the situation. The differences are
:00:36. > :00:49.there, but the dialogue was definitely constructive.
:00:50. > :00:52.We believe the referendum is contrary to the constitution of
:00:53. > :00:55.Ukraine, is contrary to international law, is in violation
:00:56. > :00:57.of that law and we believe it is illegitimate.
:00:58. > :01:01.We're marking the third aniversary of the start of the conflict in
:01:02. > :01:04.Syria. We ask what hope is there of a diplomatic solution with the
:01:05. > :01:06.different sides showing little appetite for compromise.
:01:07. > :01:09.An automatic signal from the missing Malaysian airliner suggests it flew
:01:10. > :01:12.on for five hours after air traffic control lost contact with it.
:01:13. > :01:15.And remembering one of Britain's political giants: Tony Benn -
:01:16. > :01:28.towering figure of the radical left - has died.
:01:29. > :01:37.Hello and welcome. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei
:01:38. > :01:41.Lavrov, and the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, had six hours of
:01:42. > :01:44.talks today on Ukraine - including a walk together in the sun in the
:01:45. > :01:48.grounds of the US ambassador's residence in London. But even with
:01:49. > :01:51.the threat of extensive US and EU sanctions hanging over it, Moscow
:01:52. > :01:55.was not budging on its support for the referendum on Sunday in Crimea,
:01:56. > :02:01.which will allow the region to break away from Ukraine. Washington says
:02:02. > :02:03.it is regrettable that Russia has chosen not to de-escalate tensions
:02:04. > :02:19.in Crimea. An intensive six hours of talks in
:02:20. > :02:23.the sunshine of the US Ambassador's London garden. At stake, the future
:02:24. > :02:27.of relations between the West and Russia. At the end of it, no
:02:28. > :02:34.narrowing of the gap over Ukraine's future. The urgency is the
:02:35. > :02:39.referendum planned for Sunday in Crimea. The region could either
:02:40. > :02:45.break away from Ukraine even opt to join Russia. People in the West are
:02:46. > :02:49.saying this would be illegal and a violation of Ukrainian sovereignty.
:02:50. > :02:53.With preparations under way, there seems little chance of it being
:02:54. > :02:58.called off. John Kerry flew to London for one last attempt. And to
:02:59. > :03:01.warn his Russian counterpart that if Crimea is effectively annexed by
:03:02. > :03:10.Russia, there will be serious consequences. We believe that the
:03:11. > :03:16.decision to put for word this by Russia and to ratify the boat, this
:03:17. > :03:20.would be a back door annexation of Crimea and would be against
:03:21. > :03:23.international law. Sergei Lavrov said that
:03:24. > :03:34.disagreements remain and indicated that if Crimea votes to join Russia
:03:35. > :03:38.in Moscow will not stand in its way. Do you expect Crimea to become
:03:39. > :03:45.independent or to become part of the Russian Federation? TRANSLATION: As
:03:46. > :03:49.for the referendum, I and President Putin have said that we will respect
:03:50. > :03:52.the choice of the Crimean people and will make clear our position once
:03:53. > :03:56.the outcome of the referendum is known.
:03:57. > :03:59.It is clear that these last-ditch talks have gotten nowhere and
:04:00. > :04:03.there's nothing that the West can do if the Russians because of Crimea
:04:04. > :04:06.were to break away and join Russia. The stage is set for new western
:04:07. > :04:10.sanctions against Russia next week and a deterioration further
:04:11. > :04:20.East-West relations. Who knows what the consequences will be? And,
:04:21. > :04:23.immediately a further worry. Violence in eastern Ukraine last
:04:24. > :04:28.night. Sergei Lavrov said that Russia has no plans to intervene.
:04:29. > :04:32.But his Foreign Ministry warned that Russia reserves the right to protect
:04:33. > :04:43.its compatriots. A worrying hint of possible things to come.
:04:44. > :04:48.Bridget Kendall joins us now. Presumably people are waiting to see
:04:49. > :04:52.what the results are? In particular, whether Russia may wish
:04:53. > :04:58.to annex Crimea? Sergei Lavrov said in public and
:04:59. > :05:02.private to John Kerry, that would meet its nuclear ones the referendum
:05:03. > :05:06.has happened. I do not think that is a sign that there could still be a
:05:07. > :05:09.way out of this. That is simply Russia being procedural. It does not
:05:10. > :05:15.want to pre-empt what the people of crime yesterday. I asked him, as you
:05:16. > :05:22.heard on the report, what will happen? He said that they would
:05:23. > :05:28.respect the Crimean people. Crimea is lost to Ukraine. It will join
:05:29. > :05:32.Russia and the West sees this as annexation. Russia sees it as the
:05:33. > :05:36.Crimean people exercising their right to self-determination. If that
:05:37. > :05:41.happens, if the referendum goes ahead, then there will be more
:05:42. > :05:45.sanctions. EU ambassadors will be gathering on Sunday to prepare for
:05:46. > :05:53.the talks on Monday which may trigger these abounds for officials.
:05:54. > :06:01.-- bans on visas. That also includes Germany. It has
:06:02. > :06:05.strengthened its position. Yes, Angela Merkel has toughened her
:06:06. > :06:11.position. She has previously been a peacemaker but she clearly has an
:06:12. > :06:16.arrangement, a relationship with President Putin. She has spoken to
:06:17. > :06:20.him on the phone. She speaks in Russian and he speaks
:06:21. > :06:25.in German, apparently. Yes, they have the languages and a
:06:26. > :06:34.relationship but you have seen that Germany has no hard its position.
:06:35. > :06:36.Europe is very alarmed. Russia sending its troops into Crimea and
:06:37. > :06:44.training taking place on the border with eastern Ukraine, as he saw in
:06:45. > :06:49.the report, is a sign of trouble. This will be seen as a pretext. A
:06:50. > :06:51.new statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry said that they
:06:52. > :06:55.reserve the right to protect compatriots. That is worrying.
:06:56. > :06:58.Although, Sergei Lavrov seems to have reassured John Kerry that
:06:59. > :07:03.Russia does not plan to intervene. But things change quickly.
:07:04. > :07:08.Do you see any potential for movement on either side? There was a
:07:09. > :07:15.change in tone with John Kerry. He said that Crimea has a special
:07:16. > :07:20.status for the Russians. John Kerry came with a proposal
:07:21. > :07:26.which was that if you do not annex Crimea then maybe Kiev will allow
:07:27. > :07:29.greater autonomy. The new Ukrainian Prime Minister, the interim Prime
:07:30. > :07:36.Minister, was in Washington yesterday. But I think what was
:07:37. > :07:46.interesting was that it took six hours today for these talks. It was
:07:47. > :07:50.fairly congenial also. They had different visions but they did shake
:07:51. > :07:55.hands. They both do not want to stop the diplomatic track. 's the body
:07:56. > :08:02.language is good. They are smiling at each other. Shaking hands.
:08:03. > :08:09.Yes. This is not a break-up of a relationship. Even a personal level,
:08:10. > :08:15.between Russia the West. But once the sanctions that chicken, Russia
:08:16. > :08:18.will retaliate. They have said there will be reciprocal actions. That
:08:19. > :08:28.will ratchet up the tension. Whether schools now, is well...
:08:29. > :08:46.They said it was regret regrettable. We are going to be
:08:47. > :08:52.asking where diplomacy is in the Syrian situation. To mark this grim
:08:53. > :08:57.milestone, we have gained rare access to a new front in the war, in
:08:58. > :09:02.the north-east of Syria. The Kurdish population they are clashed daily,
:09:03. > :09:09.not with the regime, but with Islamist and other rebel groups.
:09:10. > :09:16.Killed by a suicide bomber. Another gunfight is given an emotional
:09:17. > :09:21.funeral. This person is among more than 500 who have died in the
:09:22. > :09:29.struggle with Islamic extremists, not the Assad regime. This part of
:09:30. > :09:37.Syria is controlled by the cards. We have rare clips of women fighters.
:09:38. > :09:44.-- this part of Syria is controlled by the Kurdish people.
:09:45. > :09:47.You cold-blooded British, you are sending us the scum of Britain and
:09:48. > :09:54.Europe. And all in the name of Islam. They grow their beards but
:09:55. > :09:57.they have nothing to do with Islam. This Islamic group is more extreme
:09:58. > :10:03.than Al-Qaeda and are on the offensive here. This mosque was
:10:04. > :10:10.virtually demolished when the attack a village recently. It belonged to a
:10:11. > :10:15.sect of Islam they do not like. This was not random damage, this was
:10:16. > :10:20.wholesale and absolutely systematic destruction of the mosque. There is
:10:21. > :10:27.virtually nothing left. For most Muslims it is the ultimate insult to
:10:28. > :10:34.burn the Koran. The Kurdish people are back in control of that village
:10:35. > :10:38.but it is still problematic. The struggle is also about the oil that
:10:39. > :10:44.abounds here. Gangs fight over it at night. By day, home-made mini
:10:45. > :10:50.refineries pumping pollution. This nearby village was occupied for six
:10:51. > :10:55.months last year by an official Al-Qaeda group in Syria. Kurdish
:10:56. > :11:04.forces got them out. The villagers say they were glad to see the back
:11:05. > :11:11.of them. TRANSLATION: When we were attacked, the village fled. If they
:11:12. > :11:18.were here, you would not last five minutes.
:11:19. > :11:24.The Kurdish people showed us a jail for captured militants. A group of
:11:25. > :11:27.prisoners paraded for cameras. They were all Syrians from ices or
:11:28. > :11:35.Al-Qaeda and we were not allowed to speak to them. But we were shown
:11:36. > :11:39.people with papers from several countries. They found on the bodies
:11:40. > :11:47.of Islamist fighters. Evidence of outside involvement in Syria's war.
:11:48. > :11:50.This is a war with any words. Kurdish people fighting Islamic
:11:51. > :11:56.extremists while the regime watches on. Like the wider war, it shows no
:11:57. > :12:06.sign of ending, as Syria moves further deeper into conflict and
:12:07. > :12:10.disintegration. We can now speak to Andrew Tabler, a
:12:11. > :12:19.Syria specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East policy. On
:12:20. > :12:27.this grim anniversary, I would like to ask you where we are at
:12:28. > :12:32.diplomatically in trying to find a resolution?
:12:33. > :12:40.Were at a dead stop. The recent peace talks in Geneva and Montreux,
:12:41. > :12:46.came up with no solution. The deal was between Russia and the United
:12:47. > :12:49.States that the United States would deliver the opposition and the
:12:50. > :12:54.Russians would deliver the regime and they would hammer out a
:12:55. > :13:02.transitional Government, based on the Geneva communique. The regime
:13:03. > :13:07.refuses to discuss it. It only once talk about fighting terrorism.
:13:08. > :13:14.Therefore, the talks broke down. Special representative Dave a top to
:13:15. > :13:20.the Security Council yesterday and his words back that up to stop why
:13:21. > :13:26.do you suppose the international community has lost the momentum a
:13:27. > :13:30.bit in trying to bring the Geneva talks back to any kind of meaningful
:13:31. > :13:38.pathway? Is it because of Ukraine? Is the
:13:39. > :13:43.situation simply too difficult? The regime simply will not discuss
:13:44. > :13:49.it. It is a strange situation where everybody realises that the only way
:13:50. > :14:00.to peace Syria together again is through a transition, the bona fides
:14:01. > :14:04.transition. Unfortunately that is simply not happening. Particularly
:14:05. > :14:11.for the Russian side, there has been no pressure placed on the Assad
:14:12. > :14:13.regime to comply. And that, I think, has led to the current breakdown in
:14:14. > :14:21.talks. Is there also a sense, which some
:14:22. > :14:25.people in Washington have expressed, of concern about certain elements in
:14:26. > :14:38.the opposition being Islamist? Even jihadist West were hanging on?
:14:39. > :14:42.Yes. I think that particularly among the Sunni opposition it is extremely
:14:43. > :14:46.chaotic. Not just on the extremist side, but there are literally
:14:47. > :14:52.hundreds of groups and I think that in the absence of a coherent
:14:53. > :15:01.structure, but people can trust, the height next to a very brittle leader
:15:02. > :15:11.like President Assad. -- a very brittle leader. It is one that is
:15:12. > :15:14.not easily rectified. Thus far, the only programme that President Assad
:15:15. > :15:23.has put forward to try and change this is his transition, his third
:15:24. > :15:32.re-election as president of Syria. I have observed a number of elections
:15:33. > :15:38.in my life and really, the elections there are just a big joke. President
:15:39. > :15:50.Assad won the last election by 97%. Quite overwhelming. Do you see the
:15:51. > :15:55.friends of Syria, perhaps, using military force in some shape or
:15:56. > :16:02.form? I do not mean in the way of boots on the ground, but perhaps a
:16:03. > :16:07.no-fly zone? Unfortunately, I do not see that. I see consensus where, the
:16:08. > :16:12.regime is behind on delivering chemical weapons and there is
:16:13. > :16:17.international agreement if they do not comply, there could be military
:16:18. > :16:21.strikes, but until now, we do not have the strong arguments for direct
:16:22. > :16:26.military intervention. People are suffering in the meantime and we
:16:27. > :16:30.will see how much the international community can stomach this. We still
:16:31. > :16:40.have a way to go before intervention is likely. Thank you for talking to
:16:41. > :16:46.us. And now some of the other news in
:16:47. > :16:49.brief. The police officer who initially investigated the death of
:16:50. > :16:51.Oscar Pistorius' girlfriend was cross-examined again today at the
:16:52. > :16:55.athlete's murder trial in Pretoria. He told the court that Pistorius had
:16:56. > :17:02.blood on his arm after shooting Reeva Steenkamp. Photos from the
:17:03. > :17:05.night, of the athlete with blood and of the gun were also shown in court.
:17:06. > :17:12.Pistorius denies intentionally killing his girlfriend.
:17:13. > :17:15.The president of Bayern Munich Uli Hoeness says he will not appeal
:17:16. > :17:18.against his conviction for tax evasion. He's been sentenced three
:17:19. > :17:21.and a half years in prison, for defrauding the German tax
:17:22. > :17:24.authorities out of more than $35 million. A former star player,
:17:25. > :17:32.Hoeness is stepping down immediately as president of Bayern Munich.
:17:33. > :17:35.Information has emerged that the the Malaysian airliner that has been
:17:36. > :17:38.missing for seven days sent routine automatic signals for several hours
:17:39. > :17:42.after the aircraft was reported lost. 239 people were on board.
:17:43. > :17:46.There is still no trace of the aircraft, and still no idea of what
:17:47. > :17:53.happened to it. The search area has widened again. That search began in
:17:54. > :17:57.the South China Sea. The authorities have since expanded that area
:17:58. > :18:00.several times. First to the Straits of Malacca, then they shifted focus
:18:01. > :18:03.toward the Andaman Islands. In the latest development, the search has
:18:04. > :18:06.stretched further west to include the Indian Ocean, as well as deeper
:18:07. > :18:16.into the South China Sea. Rupert Wingfield- Hayes sent this report
:18:17. > :18:19.from Kuala Lumpur. In Beijing today, but hostility
:18:20. > :18:26.towards Malaysia Airlines officials was palpable. One of the most
:18:27. > :18:31.important things Malaysia Airlines has been doing is not speculating.
:18:32. > :18:37.Nobody here is satisfied. How can love ones have simply disappeared?
:18:38. > :18:48.It is incomprehensible. Astonishingly, a week later, there
:18:49. > :18:52.is no trace of the flight. Today, the BBC confirmed the aeroplane
:18:53. > :18:57.continued sending out a signal, via satellite, for several hours after
:18:58. > :19:03.radar contact was lost. In the past 24 hours, we have seen a shift of
:19:04. > :19:09.resources, ships and aircraft from the original search area, in the
:19:10. > :19:14.Gulf of Thailand, over here, to the Straits of Malacca, and even far out
:19:15. > :19:18.into the Indian Ocean. The latest to join this shift has been the U.S.
:19:19. > :19:26.Navy, which is sending a destroyer to the Straits of Malacca today.
:19:27. > :19:31.What remains unclear is why. This captain was a Malaysia Airlines
:19:32. > :19:36.pilot for 35 years and says there is no way they are starting to search
:19:37. > :19:43.the Indian Ocean on a hunch. I have a feeling. This is not your own
:19:44. > :19:48.property. You are telling America, give me a ship, send it there. The
:19:49. > :19:54.British, probably, have you any ships around the area? Can you
:19:55. > :19:59.please send it now? It is our own property, we can do what we want.
:20:00. > :20:05.There must be a level of strong conviction that something has
:20:06. > :20:12.happened. Malaysia 's prime minister joined prayers for the missing. Many
:20:13. > :20:18.think is government knows much more about the fate of the flight than it
:20:19. > :20:24.is letting on. Our science correspondent has
:20:25. > :20:30.conducted his own research, looking at satellite systems on the flight.
:20:31. > :20:36.One of the systems was operated by the big London telecommunications
:20:37. > :20:40.company who confirmed their system was on board and they received
:20:41. > :20:46.automated signals. I understand they received the signals for up to five
:20:47. > :20:51.hours after the aircraft went out of Malaysia and S space. It is probable
:20:52. > :20:55.the information was automated, it does not really carry any real
:20:56. > :21:02.information. But the fact they received the signal means the plane
:21:03. > :21:09.must be intact and powered. It cannot have crashed.
:21:10. > :21:17.Jonathan Amis. -- Amos. The veteran British Labour
:21:18. > :21:21.politician Tony Benn has died at his home in London at the age of 88.
:21:22. > :21:24.Tony Benn was one of the most influential left- wing figures in
:21:25. > :21:26.British politics, and was a popular public speaker, anti-war campaigner
:21:27. > :21:30.and political diarist. He was a life-long Socialist and in a moment
:21:31. > :21:33.we will be discussing how relevant his kind of politics is in today's
:21:34. > :21:40.world, first Iain Watson looks back at his life. 100% support to those
:21:41. > :21:44.who do not, cannot, or, will not pay the poll tax. For much of his career
:21:45. > :21:48.he was seen as a left-wing firebrand, indulging in what he
:21:49. > :21:54.called extraparliamentary to the tee, or put simply taking the
:21:55. > :22:02.argument for socialism into the streets. -- activity. As Anthony
:22:03. > :22:14.Wedgwood Benn, he refused to inherit a title to become an MP. You have
:22:15. > :22:17.defeated the House of Lords. As a minister in the Wilson government he
:22:18. > :22:21.was seen as a modern eyes and technocrat and help to clear the
:22:22. > :22:36.supersonic Concorde project for take-off. He later said that Tony
:22:37. > :22:43.Benn later immature -- immatured with age. His critics say the
:22:44. > :22:47.deficiency highlighted help get labour from power the two decades.
:22:48. > :22:54.He argued the nationalisation of the Big Bang is and the withdrawal from
:22:55. > :22:58.the European Union. The Humphrey Applebys have got together. You
:22:59. > :23:03.cannot do this, Minister, because we agreed with the Dutch, and the
:23:04. > :23:09.Belgians and the Italians, and so the minister has no power anyway. In
:23:10. > :23:13.2001 he said he was leaving Parliament to take up politics. He
:23:14. > :23:24.was a leading figure in the campaign to stop the Iraq war. People paid to
:23:25. > :23:27.hear his thoughts. Confirming he had completed the journey from radical
:23:28. > :23:32.to national institution. He chronicled contemporary events. Last
:23:33. > :23:37.year, he told the BBC he remained convinced politics should not be
:23:38. > :23:41.about shoddy compromise. My mother said to me that all decisions,
:23:42. > :23:48.including political, are basically moral, is it right, is it wrong? He
:23:49. > :23:53.often declared politics should be about policy as not personality.
:23:54. > :24:00.Today, Westminster lost one of its most distinctive and distinguished
:24:01. > :24:03.figures. With me is Hilary Wainwright,
:24:04. > :24:06.founding editor of the magazine Red Pepper, and an author and
:24:07. > :24:12.commentator on left-wing politics and social movements. Looking at the
:24:13. > :24:20.political beliefs Tony Benn had, socialism. A bit out of date today?
:24:21. > :24:24.I do not think so. His socialism was about people collaborating, acting
:24:25. > :24:31.collectively. It was not about the state. He believed in workers'
:24:32. > :24:38.control and industrial democracy. It was going back to original ideas of
:24:39. > :24:45.socialism as a form of collaboration and cooperation rather than the
:24:46. > :24:49.market ethos of individualism. Even countries who have socialist
:24:50. > :24:54.somewhere in their title, such as Cuba, with the socialist system,
:24:55. > :24:59.China, if you look at them now, especially the economic systems,
:25:00. > :25:08.they have embraced capitalism. I would not say capitalism. Market
:25:09. > :25:13.forces. It is a particular kind. The state still plays an important role.
:25:14. > :25:19.On the other hand, you have coming from the people, whether it is next
:25:20. > :25:25.to Wall Street, or the City of London here, all the squares of
:25:26. > :25:29.Spain and Greece, you have the emergence of incredibly strong,
:25:30. > :25:33.youthful movements, wanting a different system, which are clearly
:25:34. > :25:39.against capitalism and the kind of experiment with new kinds of collect
:25:40. > :25:48.to democracy, which is what Tony Benn would have looked towards and
:25:49. > :25:54.been inspired by. Is the term socialism an albatross, and people
:25:55. > :26:03.espouse socialism but the term is a bitch... ? I
:26:04. > :26:19.-- the term is a bit... It is the worship of capital. It is worth
:26:20. > :26:23.keeping alive. It is important to distinguish the social from the
:26:24. > :26:27.state. There have been many different forms of social and that
:26:28. > :26:34.should not be overwhelmed by simply the notion of the state. Tony Benn,
:26:35. > :26:39.he said the older he got the more of a socialist he was and that is
:26:40. > :26:46.unusual. Because he radicalised in office. He had a vision. He was
:26:47. > :26:51.blocked by business and the state. He was looking all the time for
:26:52. > :26:59.alternatives. That is it. Enjoy your weekend.
:27:00. > :27:07.With more of a breeze picking up, we have lost the risk of fog in the
:27:08. > :27:11.morning. Into the weekend, it is looking pretty decent the most.