:00:00. > :00:11.This is BBC World News Today with me Zeinab Badawi. The US and EU impose
:00:12. > :00:14.limited sanctions on Russian and Crimean officials after the region
:00:15. > :00:19.votes to break away from Ukraine and join Russia.
:00:20. > :00:25.Tensions remain high. Ukraine says Russia is holding Crimea at
:00:26. > :00:29.gun-point. Moscow is warned there may be further measures against it,
:00:30. > :00:32.if it annexes Crimea. ?? new line The international community will
:00:33. > :00:33.continue to stand together to oppose any violations of Ukrainian
:00:34. > :00:36.sovereignty and territorial integrity and continued Russian
:00:37. > :00:45.military intervention will only deepen Russia's diplomatic
:00:46. > :00:49.isolation. "All right, goodnight". The final
:00:50. > :00:54.words uttered by the co-pilot on the missing Malaysian airline. As the
:00:55. > :00:58.search continues, attention shifts to the plane's two pilots. ?? new
:00:59. > :01:01.line The fashion designer L'Wren Scott, girlfriend of Mick Jagger, is
:01:02. > :01:08.found dead in her New York apartment. Suicide is suspected.
:01:09. > :01:11.And the noise behind the big bang. Solving the mystery of the universe,
:01:12. > :01:22.scientists say they have discovered extraordinary new evidence.
:01:23. > :01:27.Hello and welcome. The referendum vote in Crimea for the region to
:01:28. > :01:32.break away from Ukraine and join Russia has triggered sanctions from
:01:33. > :01:36.the US and the EU, as expected. Now the world is waiting to see what
:01:37. > :01:39.Moscow's next move is, will it annex Crimea formally and what are the
:01:40. > :01:41.implications of the situation in Crimea for pro-Russian regions in
:01:42. > :01:45.eastern Ukraine? Vladimir Putin has signed a decree recognising Crimea
:01:46. > :01:48.as an independent state. The Ukrainian government in Kiev has
:01:49. > :01:52.said it is prepared for talks with Moscow but that it will never accept
:01:53. > :01:57.annexation of its land. Daniel Sandford reports from the Crimean
:01:58. > :02:01.city, Simferopol. Under the statue of Lenin in the
:02:02. > :02:05.centre of the Crimean capital, they were still celebrating yesterday's
:02:06. > :02:11.referendum. A vote to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, a vote
:02:12. > :02:14.that has plunged Europe into crisis. In the Crimean parliament, the first
:02:15. > :02:19.stage was to declare independence from Ukraine. From there, the Prime
:02:20. > :02:22.Minister flew straight to Moscow to formally ask President Vladimir
:02:23. > :02:30.Putin to annex Crimea to the Russian Federation. Russian troops and
:02:31. > :02:32.armour still surround the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but the Ukrainian
:02:33. > :02:43.Defence Minister insisted that there will be no retreat. TRANSLATION:
:02:44. > :02:46.Crimea was, is and will be a Ukrainian territory. Our military
:02:47. > :02:51.will stay there and we will solve this problem in a peaceful and
:02:52. > :02:54.diplomatic way. We drove north from Simferopol to a strategic town near
:02:55. > :03:01.where Crimea joins the Ukrainian mainland. There, we found a new
:03:02. > :03:04.Russian military base and a mobile radar station on what had been a
:03:05. > :03:12.disused airfield until a fortnight ago. Far from relaxing, the Russians
:03:13. > :03:20.are reinforcing what may soon be a disputed border with Ukraine. Then,
:03:21. > :03:25.a group of men claiming to be from the People's militia asked us to
:03:26. > :03:30.leave. Although the referendum is now over, there is still a huge
:03:31. > :03:34.Russian military presence in Crimea. All day, we have been filming trucks
:03:35. > :03:41.coming and going on the main road from Crimea to mainland Ukraine. In
:03:42. > :03:50.this small town near the base, people were also salivating.
:03:51. > :03:52.Dash-macro celebrating. Alexi, a freelance writer, was helping his
:03:53. > :04:00.parents on their market stall and hopes that Crimea's moved back into
:04:01. > :04:04.the Russian fold will improve the We believe in one thing, in a better
:04:05. > :04:09.life in future. Not as part of Ukraine. But the price that will be
:04:10. > :04:14.paid for the future is an international crisis. Months or even
:04:15. > :04:21.years of uncertainty and a new stand-off between Russia and the
:04:22. > :04:24.West. We will be discussing the legal
:04:25. > :04:28.implications of the referendum in Crimea, first as we mentioned the US
:04:29. > :04:31.and the EU have announced an asset freeze and travel ban on Ukrainian
:04:32. > :04:34.and Russian interests and individuals. The American measures
:04:35. > :04:38.have been described as the "toughest since the end of the Cold War", but
:04:39. > :04:43.it is not clear what effect they will have on the conflict. Bridget
:04:44. > :04:48.Kendall reports. After last night's euphoria, now the
:04:49. > :04:51.consequences. In Crimea, the referendum results to break away
:04:52. > :05:07.from Ukraine was for Russian speakers a cause for celebration.
:05:08. > :05:10.But in Kiev and the West, it is an illegal move and must be resisted.
:05:11. > :05:12.So both EU and the United States today announced new sanctions. The
:05:13. > :05:15.international community will continue to stand together to oppose
:05:16. > :05:17.any violation of Ukrainian's sovereignty and territorial
:05:18. > :05:20.integrity and continued Russian military intervention in Ukraine
:05:21. > :05:26.will only deepen Russia's diplomatic isolation. These sanctions are aimed
:05:27. > :05:30.at those closely involved in trying to split off Crimea from Kiev.
:05:31. > :05:36.Travel bans on those behind the Russian military build-up and asset
:05:37. > :05:39.freezes. European sanctions on 21 people and 11 named by the
:05:40. > :05:41.Americans, including the Deputy Russian Prime Minister, the ousted
:05:42. > :05:50.Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, and Crimea's separatist
:05:51. > :05:56.leaders. And there is a warning of more sanctions to follow. In Moscow,
:05:57. > :05:59.one of the officials targeted dismissed the sanctions as political
:06:00. > :06:10.blackmail. President Putin's reaction will come in a big speech
:06:11. > :06:13.he is giving tomorrow. In the meantime, his government have laid
:06:14. > :06:19.out conditions for negotiation and made clear that it backs Crimea's
:06:20. > :06:23.call to reunite with Russia. TRANSLATION: I expect the majority
:06:24. > :06:27.of the Ukrainian population will respect this convincing result. So
:06:28. > :06:30.what does Russia want? Well, firstly, constitutional reform, to
:06:31. > :06:35.devolve powers to Ukraine's Russian speaking regions. And a cast-iron UN
:06:36. > :06:45.guaranteed that Ukraine will stay neutral and not join the EU or NATO.
:06:46. > :06:48.It also wants Russian language to be given equal status to Ukrainian. So
:06:49. > :06:51.far, so good, but Russia also insists that Crimea's referendum
:06:52. > :06:55.vote to leave Ukraine must be respected and there is no way that
:06:56. > :07:04.either the West or Kiev will agree to that. Already, it has been ruled
:07:05. > :07:08.out by Ukraine's acting president. We are ready for talks with Russia,
:07:09. > :07:11.he said today, but we will never accept the annexation of our
:07:12. > :07:15.territory. So all Ukraine can do is dig in to protect its borders from
:07:16. > :07:32.further incursions as tensions with Russia set to escalate.
:07:33. > :07:35.At that President Putin has recognised Crimea as an independent
:07:36. > :07:37.state, what is the legal implications for the current
:07:38. > :07:40.situation. Marc Weller is Professor of
:07:41. > :07:46.International Law at the University of Cambridge. He joins me now.
:07:47. > :07:50.President Putin saying that the referendum result must be respected,
:07:51. > :07:56.and he now says that Crimea is an independent state, is that a legal
:07:57. > :07:59.status for Crimea and what precedents are there that may help
:08:00. > :08:06.us to understand this current situation? This is the kind of game,
:08:07. > :08:09.because we know this is a 2-step process that Russia has gone for.
:08:10. > :08:13.Russia tries to avoid a situation where it would be accused
:08:14. > :08:16.immediately of having forcibly acquired the territory of a
:08:17. > :08:25.neighbouring state. Sometimes, something that is one of the gravest
:08:26. > :08:28.things against international legal order, there is only one such case
:08:29. > :08:32.that has occurred in the 21st century in Europe. That is Russia's
:08:33. > :08:38.occupation of two provinces of Georgia, which it also declared
:08:39. > :08:44.independent, but it has run and independently since 2008 since the
:08:45. > :08:47.armed conflict. What about the Kosovan referendum, what about
:08:48. > :08:52.Scotland, the referendum coming up here, what is the difference in
:08:53. > :08:55.legal terms between people fair in these regions having the right to
:08:56. > :09:04.decide if they should be independent or not? There are many critical
:09:05. > :09:08.differences. The Yugoslav federation dissolved and Kosovo became part of
:09:09. > :09:12.the overall federation disappearing. There is no suggestion that Ukraine
:09:13. > :09:16.had been under threat of dissolution. More are less, Kosovo
:09:17. > :09:23.had been repressed for ten years and at the time any, contrast to the
:09:24. > :09:27.Ukraine, it's Tommy had been by Belgrade and the UN mediator that
:09:28. > :09:31.dealt with the situation after the conflict, he came to the Security
:09:32. > :09:37.Council and said, we cannot hand back Kosovo to those that have been
:09:38. > :09:43.severely repressing it. -- its autonomy had been run by Belgrade.
:09:44. > :09:46.This is the first step. Normally, if you join really want to seek
:09:47. > :09:53.independence, you have to negotiate the terms. He remembered that David
:09:54. > :09:58.Cameron and Alex Salmond negotiating the referendum question and you look
:09:59. > :10:05.at the other options, perhaps enhanced autonomy would do the job.
:10:06. > :10:12.Now that the people of Crimea have taken the step, what is the basis
:10:13. > :10:16.for Russia to bear the brunt of the sanctions and the wrath of the
:10:17. > :10:20.international community, if they say that we accept the outcome of the
:10:21. > :10:25.referendum, it is what the people wanted, how can you triggered the
:10:26. > :10:32.sanctions against Russia? It is difficult to say that this is what
:10:33. > :10:37.the people wanted if you are at the same time virtually occupying the
:10:38. > :10:42.territory where these people live, and for the ultimate aim is to
:10:43. > :10:45.incorporate that territory into your own state. It is probably true that
:10:46. > :10:53.it was the genuine wish of many people in the Crimea to join Russia,
:10:54. > :10:57.but it is such a dangerous and difficult idea that you can just
:10:58. > :11:02.invade your neighbouring state or just use troops that you already had
:11:03. > :11:09.there, and then slice it off from that state and forcibly
:11:10. > :11:12.incorporated. That is why this is taken as such a serious incident,
:11:13. > :11:20.which is quite different from other cases. Thank you for taking us
:11:21. > :11:23.through the legal aspects. The continuing mystery of the
:11:24. > :11:26.missing Malaysian aeroplane is now focussing on the two pilots. The
:11:27. > :11:29.authorities now believe the final message from the airliner that
:11:30. > :11:32.disappeared nine days ago was made by the co-pilot. But it's still
:11:33. > :11:35.unclear whether that message, "all right, good night", made to ground
:11:36. > :11:38.controllers came after the plane's communication system had been turned
:11:39. > :11:41.off. 26 countries are involved in the search for the plane. From the
:11:42. > :11:43.Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur Rupert Wingfield-Hayes sent this
:11:44. > :11:47.report. These are the last pictures of the
:11:48. > :11:50.captain and the co-pilot of flight MH370, going through security
:11:51. > :11:53.minutes before boarding the plane. Today, we learned that it is this
:11:54. > :11:56.man, the co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, who was in control of the
:11:57. > :12:02.aircraft moments before it disappeared. The initial
:12:03. > :12:11.investigation indicates that it was the co-pilot. He spoke the last time
:12:12. > :12:14.it was recorded on tape. Just two minutes after Fariq Abdul Hamid made
:12:15. > :12:16.that last call, the plane's transponder was switched off and
:12:17. > :12:25.flight MH370 disappeared from radar screens. In the last few days, the
:12:26. > :12:28.focus of suspicion has been very much on the captain of flight MH370,
:12:29. > :12:35.but following today's revelations, the focus appears certain to switch
:12:36. > :12:39.here. Behind me is the house where 27-year-old Fariq Abdul Hamid lived
:12:40. > :12:46.with his parents. Across the street is the mosque where he prayed. He is
:12:47. > :12:50.not the only suspect. This man's son, an aircraft engineer flying to
:12:51. > :12:55.a new job in Beijing, is also being investigated. For the families, the
:12:56. > :13:02.tortured wait for information drags on and on. And the area that must be
:13:03. > :13:06.searched only continues to grow. North, it stretches across western
:13:07. > :13:11.China to the shores of the Caspian Sea. To the south, from Indonesia,
:13:12. > :13:19.almost to the Antarctic. Analysts say that this mystery is
:13:20. > :13:22.unprecedented in aviation history. I think it was very well-planned. They
:13:23. > :13:26.knew what was there and what routes to go to. They practised it even.
:13:27. > :13:34.Whoever has planned this is well ahead of us. And we do not yet know
:13:35. > :13:37.where it is. It is going to be very challenging to be able to figure
:13:38. > :13:41.this out. Today, the Chinese Navy began stocking up for the long
:13:42. > :13:44.voyage into the Indian Ocean. There are now 26 countries involved in
:13:45. > :13:59.this search but whoever took the plane has left them almost no trail
:14:00. > :14:02.to follow. The fashion designer and girlfriend
:14:03. > :14:06.of Mick Jagger, L'Wren Scott, has been found dead at her apartment in
:14:07. > :14:08.New York. She is believed to have committed suicide by hanging
:14:09. > :14:12.herself. L'Wren Scott was forty-nine and had been in a relationship with
:14:13. > :14:16.the Rolling Stones singer for about thirteen years. A spokesman for Mick
:14:17. > :14:29.Jagger, who's on tour in Australia, said he was "completely shocked and
:14:30. > :14:33.devastated". L'Wren Scott had been a model, a
:14:34. > :14:39.stylist, and in recent years a successful fashion designer. She had
:14:40. > :14:43.shown collections at London Fashion Week. Elegant, the epitome of
:14:44. > :14:49.upmarket glamour. We are expanding in Europe, the Middle East.
:14:50. > :14:52.Today her body was found in her New York apartment. Initial reports say
:14:53. > :14:57.she was found with a scarf around her neck that was attached to a
:14:58. > :15:00.door. Born in Utah in the States, at six feet three inches she rather
:15:01. > :15:06.towered over her partner of the last 13 years, Mick Jagger. He is today
:15:07. > :15:12.in Perth in Australia preparing for concerts with the Rolling Stones. A
:15:13. > :15:15.spokesman said he was completely shocked and devastated by the news.
:15:16. > :15:18.His first wife Bianca Jagger says she is heartbroken. Tributes have
:15:19. > :15:30.also come from fellow designers who said she was a talented artist and
:15:31. > :15:41.giving friend. Let us go to New York now. What do
:15:42. > :15:46.we know? Her body was discovered at ten
:15:47. > :15:50.o'clock this morning by an assistant who had been asked to come around to
:15:51. > :15:59.this apartment building on the west side of Manhattan by a text message
:16:00. > :16:03.from L'Wren Scott. When she opened up the door she found her lifeless
:16:04. > :16:09.body and it was apparent she had committed suicide. The police say
:16:10. > :16:15.there is no foul play and they have not yet found a suicide note. The
:16:16. > :16:19.body has been taken away by the medical examiner who has not yet
:16:20. > :16:27.made any statement. But it does look like this was suicide.
:16:28. > :16:32.She was quite a force in the world of fashion in New York and in
:16:33. > :16:45.London. She was. She was a successful
:16:46. > :16:58.fashion designer and fashion icon. She had a celebrity qui tell. -- she
:16:59. > :17:04.had celebrity clients. In the fashion district there is a great
:17:05. > :17:30.deal of shock. Her passing has been met with disbelief.
:17:31. > :17:34.The Big Bang theory is one of the most fascinating of topics - a great
:17:35. > :17:37.enigma which has even given its name to a popular American comedy series.
:17:38. > :17:40.Well now scientists trying to explain the birth of the universe
:17:41. > :17:42.seem to have made a significant development. Astro-physicists at
:17:43. > :17:45.Harvard University in the US think they've detected space-time ripples
:17:46. > :17:47.left over from the Big Bang. Our Science Editor David Shukman
:17:48. > :17:49.reports. These are ancient and incredibly
:17:50. > :17:52.challenging mysteries. How the universe started. What was it that
:17:53. > :17:55.allowed everything we are familiar with to be born? Questions that
:17:56. > :17:59.modern science is trying to answer with the idea of a Big Bang. It's
:18:00. > :18:03.the theory of a single burst of creation and for the first time
:18:04. > :18:06.there is proof of this process at work. A telescope under the freezing
:18:07. > :18:11.skies of the South Pole is detecting clues from the earliest moments of
:18:12. > :18:17.time. Applause today for a major advance. At Harvard University the
:18:18. > :18:23.first results were unveiled. This is a genuine breakthrough in
:18:24. > :18:27.understanding how it all began. For decades the idea of a Big Bang
:18:28. > :18:31.giving birth to the universe has been a theory with no hard evidence
:18:32. > :18:34.of exactly how this works. Now this American team has discovered
:18:35. > :18:38.patterns in the energy left over from the earliest moments. From the
:18:39. > :18:41.particular twists in the light that was created back then, patterns that
:18:42. > :18:46.can only have been formed by ripples radiating out from the initial burst
:18:47. > :18:49.of the big bang. Those ripples are what ultimately allowed gravity to
:18:50. > :18:56.pull together the galaxies, stars and the planet. This is a major
:18:57. > :19:02.advance in understanding how we got here. Scientists all over the world
:19:03. > :19:08.have been poring over the results. This team gathered at Oxford
:19:09. > :19:12.University this afternoon. There is a recognition that this is a hugely
:19:13. > :19:15.important milestone. We don't know why the universe started expanding.
:19:16. > :19:21.We don't know why the big bang happened. This takes us as far back
:19:22. > :19:26.as it's possible to go and will hopefully help us figure that out.
:19:27. > :19:32.So all this raises a tantalising thought. If we can know how the Big
:19:33. > :19:48.Bang got going can we also find out how it actually started? The big
:19:49. > :19:57.question about our own existence. This type of light can travel and
:19:58. > :20:06.impeded. How do we know it is to do with the Big Bang? We look at the
:20:07. > :20:11.galaxies. Look deeper and deeper and they move even faster. If you run
:20:12. > :20:15.the movie back, so to speak, then you understand things must have been
:20:16. > :20:21.closer together in the past. That is the basis of the dearly. It is the
:20:22. > :20:26.idea that just after it got going that they moved to a super
:20:27. > :20:32.expansion. It is the marker that was left on the older slight in the sky
:20:33. > :20:37.that proves that that was the case. So we can say with certainty that
:20:38. > :20:41.this might is from the Big Bang? Yes. Scientists say it is very
:20:42. > :20:47.difficult for this particular marker to be made any other way. But if it
:20:48. > :20:52.is real it is very difficult to describe how that marker in the sky
:20:53. > :20:57.got to be there other than through super growth at the start of the
:20:58. > :21:05.universe. People will be trying to verify this. There's this Nobel
:21:06. > :21:09.prize territory? Absolutely. People have talked about this for a decade.
:21:10. > :21:15.The people who would see this marker on the sky would get a Nobel prize.
:21:16. > :21:28.Yes, it has to be verified. There is one experiment. Other people how to
:21:29. > :21:30.do that. We have just one experiment. There are other
:21:31. > :21:36.telescopes looking for this particular signature. Other
:21:37. > :21:40.telescopes that are even better than this coming online in the next few
:21:41. > :21:47.years. We will find out pretty quickly when the science community
:21:48. > :21:52.accepts this result. In time for this year's Nobel prize? Probably
:21:53. > :22:14.not this year, but maybe the year after. A South African guns expert
:22:15. > :22:17.has been testifying in Oscar Pistorius' murder trial. Sean Rens
:22:18. > :22:21.said that months before he killed his girlfriend, the athlete said he
:22:22. > :22:24.drew his gun and went into "combat mode'' after thinking he heard the
:22:25. > :22:27.noise of an intruder at his home. That sound turned out to be a
:22:28. > :22:32.washing machine. Pistorius is accused of murdering Reeva Steenkamp
:22:33. > :22:36.on Valentine's Day last year. A car bomb outside a military base
:22:37. > :22:39.in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi has killed at least eight
:22:40. > :22:42.soldiers. More than ten other people were wounded. The bomb went off as
:22:43. > :22:46.people were leaving a graduation ceremony for officers at the
:22:47. > :22:50.barracks. US Navy Seals have taken control of
:22:51. > :22:52.a tanker loaded with oil owned by the Libyan government after a
:22:53. > :22:55.dramatic raid in international waters, south of Cyprus. The vessel
:22:56. > :22:59.known as Morning Glory evaded a naval blockade in the Libyan port of
:23:00. > :23:02.Sidra last week. The oil terminal has been under the control of
:23:03. > :23:08.militia wanting autonomy for Eastern Libya since July 2013.
:23:09. > :23:12.North Korea's ambassador to the UN has walked out of a hearing on human
:23:13. > :23:15.rights violations in his country, when a Japanese representative began
:23:16. > :23:18.to speak. The meeting was discussing a UN report that describes North
:23:19. > :23:22.Korea's crimes as being as chilling as those of the Nazis. A number of
:23:23. > :23:29.people who escaped from North Korea were there.
:23:30. > :23:40.Exiled Syrians are trying to reach back into their own country. One
:23:41. > :23:51.group the broadcast from Turkey. From a rooftop in Istanbul this
:23:52. > :23:56.person presents a programme. She used to read the news on Syrian
:23:57. > :24:08.state TV, but she got fed up with being told what to say so she went
:24:09. > :24:19.into exile. People in Syria changed. Now we want to speak. We want to say
:24:20. > :24:26.what we want. We are not afraid of anyone. The station has said radios
:24:27. > :24:49.to Syria. It asks its listeners to phone in. Some of them do not want
:24:50. > :24:58.to come back. Others want to make a deal with the regime.
:24:59. > :25:16.This man arranges the music of the station. Inside Syria he did the
:25:17. > :25:26.same thing for the government. I made songs for President Assad. If I
:25:27. > :25:36.still worked until now, maybe I would kill myself.
:25:37. > :25:52.In this war his music is used to inspire both sides.
:25:53. > :25:56.The European Union and the United States have announced asset freezes
:25:57. > :26:03.against officials who played a key role in the referendum and Crimea.
:26:04. > :26:08.But the president of Russia has signed a decree recognising Crimea
:26:09. > :26:13.as an independent state. The government in Kiev has said that
:26:14. > :26:18.Russia is holding Crimea at gunpoint and that will never accept the
:26:19. > :26:24.annexation of Crimea, but that has said it is willing to hold jocks
:26:25. > :26:31.with Moscow. CCTV vector is short the pilot and co-pilot from the
:26:32. > :26:38.missing Malaysian flight going through security before boarding the
:26:39. > :26:41.plane. That is all for now. Next it is the
:26:42. > :27:03.weather. Goodbye. The cloud increasing overnight. The
:27:04. > :27:06.breeze picking up. It will be a windy day tomorrow. The showers will
:27:07. > :27:12.be heavy.