:00:00. > :00:10.This is BBC World News Today with me, Philippa Thomas. President Putin
:00:11. > :00:22.redraws the map, signing a bill to take Crimea from Ukraine back into
:00:23. > :00:26.the hands of Russia. TRANSLATION: In the hearts and minds of our people,
:00:27. > :00:29.Crimea has always been part of Russia.
:00:30. > :00:33.In Red Square, thousands of Russians celebrate an historic day - as the
:00:34. > :00:35.US vice-president declares the move to be "nothing more than a land
:00:36. > :00:38.grab". As the search area for the missing
:00:39. > :00:40.Malaysia Airlines plane widens, relatives of Chinese passengers
:00:41. > :00:44.threaten a hunger strike, desperate for more accurate information.
:00:45. > :00:47.It's called Operation Punch - but is the police crackdown on gangs in the
:00:48. > :00:50.capital of Congo, Kinshasa, going too far?
:00:51. > :00:56.And how safe is it to trade breast milk online - with more women
:00:57. > :01:10.turning to the internet to sell their excess supplies?
:01:11. > :01:14.Hello and welcome. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has
:01:15. > :01:20.signed a treaty paving the way for Crimea to become part of Russia -
:01:21. > :01:23.again. He won a standing ovation in the Russian Parliament, where he
:01:24. > :01:27.declared that in the hearts and minds of the people, Crimea had
:01:28. > :01:31.always been Russian. Although he said he had no plans to annex more
:01:32. > :01:34.of Ukraine, he did describe Russia and Ukraine as "one nation" and
:01:35. > :01:37.warned Western powers their sanctions would have no effect. From
:01:38. > :01:54.Moscow, here's Daniel Sandford. In the imperial splendour, a defiant
:01:55. > :02:00.President Putin entrance to a fanfare. Today, in the Kremlin, the
:02:01. > :02:06.historic seat of power, he was expanding Russia's borders for the
:02:07. > :02:11.first time in 70 years, welcoming back the former jewel in the crown
:02:12. > :02:19.of the Russian Empire. TRANSLATION: In the hearts and minds
:02:20. > :02:23.of our people, Crimea has always been an inalienable part of Russia.
:02:24. > :02:29.This is an unshakeable conviction, transferred from generation to
:02:30. > :02:34.generation, unshaken by time and by circumstance. Time and again, the
:02:35. > :02:38.audience of MPs rose to applaud him. He accused the West of acting
:02:39. > :02:42.irresponsibly, aggressively and the critically in Ukraine, but promised
:02:43. > :02:49.he was not interested in annexing any more to a tree. TRANSLATION: I
:02:50. > :02:54.want you to hear me, dear friends. Don't trust those who frighten you
:02:55. > :02:57.about Russia, those who say that Crimea will be followed by other
:02:58. > :03:04.regions. We don't want Ukraine to be split. Then, he signed a treaty with
:03:05. > :03:07.the new Crimea leadership beginning the process of joining the strategic
:03:08. > :03:14.peninsula to the Russian Federation. It could all be over by the end of
:03:15. > :03:18.this week. The Russian national anthem brought to a close a ceremony
:03:19. > :03:23.that went ahead despite the intense objections of Ukraine, American
:03:24. > :03:30.accusations of a land grab and what is sure to be a period of
:03:31. > :03:36.international isolation. And as the crowd on Red Square
:03:37. > :03:43.shouted, Russia, Russia, President Putin told them that Crimea had
:03:44. > :03:46.returned to its home port. The annexation of Crimea has moved with
:03:47. > :03:51.breathtaking speed, three weeks, from start to finish. The world has
:03:52. > :03:56.condemned it, but many Russians see it as an end to a historic mistake,
:03:57. > :04:01.an end to a quarter of a century of decline. But as Ukrainian troops
:04:02. > :04:04.massed on the border with Crimea, there are reports of a Ukrainian
:04:05. > :04:08.soldier being shot dead in his base in the peninsula, which brought this
:04:09. > :04:14.warning from the Prime Minister. TRANSLATION: Now, the conflict is
:04:15. > :04:17.shifting from a political to a military phase. Russian soldiers
:04:18. > :04:24.have started shooting at Ukrainian servicemen. But in Russia, the
:04:25. > :04:28.annexation of Crimea is being hailed as a triumph. They know there will
:04:29. > :04:30.be a price, but they have calculated it is a price worth paying.
:04:31. > :04:35.Ukraine says that pro-Russian gunmen have today invaded one of its
:04:36. > :04:39.military bases in Crimea, killing one serviceman and badly injuring
:04:40. > :04:44.another. We'll have more on that later in the programme. But let's
:04:45. > :04:48.bring you more now on President's Putin's intentions. A short time
:04:49. > :04:51.ago, in an exclusive interview with the BBC's Hardtalk, his spokesman
:04:52. > :05:03.Dmitry Peskov called for better protection for Russian speakers
:05:04. > :05:10.living in the east of Ukraine. First of all, we do expect some measures
:05:11. > :05:15.from those people who call themselves the Ukrainian government.
:05:16. > :05:19.And we do expect the Western community to be begging those people
:05:20. > :05:22.to take effective measures in order to protect those people living in
:05:23. > :05:26.the Eastern regions of Ukraine. Because at the same time, we are
:05:27. > :05:33.hearing reports about clashes in Kharkiv, an Eastern city of
:05:34. > :05:38.Ukraine, and so, there are clashes and sounds of gunfire, and also,
:05:39. > :05:47.some reports about one or two people being wounded. Those clashes between
:05:48. > :05:53.military government, extremists, coming from Western regions. So, we
:05:54. > :05:58.do expect the Ukrainian government to protect the Russian population,
:05:59. > :06:05.otherwise Russia simply cannot stay without reaction. We will have to
:06:06. > :06:09.react. We will have two protect Russians, and also Ukrainians,
:06:10. > :06:11.living there. To discuss President Putin's
:06:12. > :06:13.strategy, and international reaction, we're joined from
:06:14. > :06:19.Washington by Cliff Kupchan, head of the Russia and Eurasia Team at the
:06:20. > :06:26.consulting firm Eurasia Group. Thank you for being with us. Mr Putin
:06:27. > :06:29.today looked pretty triumphant - do you think he is likely to stop here
:06:30. > :06:37.or does he have ambitions to go further? This, for President Putin,
:06:38. > :06:46.is it out Ukraine, it is not about Crimea. -- is about Ukraine. He will
:06:47. > :06:48.insist upon Ukraine adopting a neutralised status, he will insist
:06:49. > :06:55.upon the decentralisation of Ukraine, so that Ukraine -- so that
:06:56. > :07:00.Russia can, as his spokesman said, protect the lives of ethnic Russians
:07:01. > :07:08.in a decentralised Ukraine. Now, I do not think he is going to get a
:07:09. > :07:11.decentralised Ukraine. On Thursday, the European Union will enter into
:07:12. > :07:19.an agreement which will draw it ever closer to Ukraine. So, this is about
:07:20. > :07:25.Ukraine. So, for those who might say, well, Crimea can be made out to
:07:26. > :07:27.be a special case, perhaps Mr Putin will stop there, and perhaps he
:07:28. > :07:30.would not have the support of the Russian publics to go any further,
:07:31. > :07:36.that is too much wishful thinking for an easy life? Well, I am scared
:07:37. > :07:42.that we are going to fall into the same Putin trap that we fell into
:07:43. > :07:45.about 2.5 weeks ago. In my view, the US Government and the policy
:07:46. > :07:50.community in the West thought that Putin would never use force to get
:07:51. > :07:55.Crimea. Well, he did. I have met with this man many times. The roomy
:07:56. > :07:59.ferocious in many senses, he is very bright, but he wants what he wants.
:08:00. > :08:03.It is very clear that it does not want Ukraine to go into another
:08:04. > :08:08.sphere of influence. It would be very dangerous to think that now
:08:09. > :08:12.that he has got Crimea, he is fed, and it is over. That is just wrong.
:08:13. > :08:19.So what in your view is the best way for Washington and the West to
:08:20. > :08:26.approach Mr Putin now? Well, so far, I think we are doing pretty well. It
:08:27. > :08:29.is not obvious to me that all that President Putin is doing what I
:08:30. > :08:34.would call a rational cost benefit analysis of his game. I think he
:08:35. > :08:38.wants influence over Ukraine. Whether that means the shedding of
:08:39. > :08:43.blood or whether it means economic pain on Russia, he is willing to
:08:44. > :08:48.absorb it. Over time, as the West makes clear that if he goes further,
:08:49. > :08:55.he could be vulnerable to Iran-like sanctions, or even the annexation of
:08:56. > :08:58.Ukraine, many of his closest associates could come under
:08:59. > :09:02.sanction, as well as Russian companies. I think that would be a
:09:03. > :09:06.significant push back and could deter him from further action. We
:09:07. > :09:10.have heard very strong words from John Kerry, the Secretary of State,
:09:11. > :09:15.over the last couple of weeks, and today from Vice President Joe Biden
:09:16. > :09:19.is there a danger, though, in the level of their rhetoric, if they
:09:20. > :09:24.cannot really follow through? There is always a danger of miscalculation
:09:25. > :09:30.and action and we action, but look, what is the US supposed to do?
:09:31. > :09:35.Russia just dismembered a nation state. Strong push back and
:09:36. > :09:42.deterrent is what we need to do, in my view. And I do not think there is
:09:43. > :09:47.nothing we can do. The US has tremendous financial diplomacy at
:09:48. > :09:52.its disposal. The United States just took Iran off-line, its economy
:09:53. > :09:55.contracted by 6%. Mr Putin had better read up on what US financial
:09:56. > :10:00.sanctions can do if they are in plummeted. So, I do think the United
:10:01. > :10:04.States is headed down the right path and I do think there is a great deal
:10:05. > :10:12.we can do if this gets worse. Thank you very much.
:10:13. > :10:16.11 days on, 239 people missing, and still we're all searching for clues
:10:17. > :10:20.about Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Some of the relatives of
:10:21. > :10:22.Chinese passengers are so angry at the lack of accurate information
:10:23. > :10:26.that they're threatening a hunger strike. Meanwhile, the search has
:10:27. > :10:28.expanded to cover a huge area of nearly 2.25 million square miles.
:10:29. > :10:32.Malaysia's Transport Minister says all 26 countries along the search
:10:33. > :10:37.zones need to co-operate closely if the search is to succeed. But as our
:10:38. > :10:38.correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes discovered today, politics is
:10:39. > :10:52.already getting in the way. Somewhere over the Indian Ocean, an
:10:53. > :10:56.American search plane has just spotted an oil slick on the surface
:10:57. > :11:02.of the water. The pilot sweeps loafer another pass. In the back,
:11:03. > :11:07.the crewmember drops a sonar device which can detect a plane's emergency
:11:08. > :11:12.transmitter deep beneath the water. In the hunt for Malaysia Airlines MH
:11:13. > :11:15.370, planes like this can make a huge difference. The Malaysian
:11:16. > :11:25.government today said the search area is now as big as Australia, and
:11:26. > :11:28.it needs more help. The search area is now 2.24 million square nautical
:11:29. > :11:36.miles. This is an enormous search area. It is something which Malaysia
:11:37. > :11:39.cannot possibly search on its own. And therefore, we are pleased that
:11:40. > :11:49.so many countries have come forward to offer assistance and support in
:11:50. > :11:53.the search and rescue operation. But at this air base near Kuala Lumpur
:11:54. > :11:57.today, much of that international support was sitting on the ground,
:11:58. > :12:01.unable to fly. We were supposed to take off more than 7.5 hours ago, in
:12:02. > :12:05.one of these Japanese search aircraft. By now we should have been
:12:06. > :12:11.well out over the Indian Ocean, south of Java, flying a grid search
:12:12. > :12:15.pattern, hunting for signs of Flight MH370. We are obviously not. That is
:12:16. > :12:20.because we have been waiting here all day for the Indonesian
:12:21. > :12:22.government to give permission for these foreign military aircraft to
:12:23. > :12:27.overfly their territory. International politics could now be
:12:28. > :12:32.the biggest obstacle to finding Flight MH370. The northern search
:12:33. > :12:37.area straddles Burma, India, China and Pakistan. None of these
:12:38. > :12:43.countries are likely to allow military overflights. Time to find
:12:44. > :12:48.the Malaysian aircraft is rapidly ticking away. The plane's so-called
:12:49. > :12:53.black box flight recorders will continue to put out a signal for
:12:54. > :12:57.just 30 days. In 11 of those days are already gone. The search has
:12:58. > :13:14.hardly got off the ground. Now a look at some of the day's
:13:15. > :13:17.other news: On the 12th day of the trial of Oscar Pistorius in
:13:18. > :13:20.Pretoria, the court was shown photographs of the bloody scene at
:13:21. > :13:23.the athlete's home, and a police ballistics expert described how he
:13:24. > :13:25.tried to reconstruct the angle of the gunfire on the night Pistorius
:13:26. > :13:27.killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
:13:28. > :13:29.He denies her murder. New information on human rights
:13:30. > :13:32.violations in Syria suggests civilians are increasingly being
:13:33. > :13:35.targeted by both sides. United Nations investigators say they have
:13:36. > :13:37.evidence that jihadist rebel groups have carried out mass executions of
:13:38. > :13:41.civilian detainees. And they say government forces have increased the
:13:42. > :13:49.use of barrel bombs, which the UN says are designed to spread terror
:13:50. > :13:52.among the population. And the Rolling Stones have
:13:53. > :13:55.cancelled the rest of their tour in Australia and New Zealand following
:13:56. > :13:58.the death of Mick Jagger's partner L'Wren Scott. The US fashion
:13:59. > :14:00.designer was found dead in her New York apartment on Monday - she'd
:14:01. > :14:11.apparently committed suicide. In Kinshasa, the capital of the
:14:12. > :14:14.Democratic Republic of Congo, the police are going after the city's
:14:15. > :14:16.dangerous street gangs. The authorities say the operation has
:14:17. > :14:20.already proved successful because many of the young men who used to
:14:21. > :14:24.kill, loot, and rape are nowhere to be seen. But human rights groups
:14:25. > :14:26.claim hundreds of young men have been arbitrarily executed by
:14:27. > :14:36.policemen. The BBC's Maud Jullien sent us this report from Kinshasa.
:14:37. > :14:43.It is place although that this was once a dangerous part of kin
:14:44. > :14:47.Chasseur. For years residents were afraid to carry money or phones in
:14:48. > :14:56.their pockets after dark, women worth afraid of getting rate. --
:14:57. > :15:00.where afraid. TRANSLATION:. It was very difficult here at first, they
:15:01. > :15:05.would through broken bottles and often we had to close shop and go
:15:06. > :15:15.home. But in the past few months, life has become easier. Behind this
:15:16. > :15:23.change operation is this man. This footage from local television shows
:15:24. > :15:26.how the police target street gangs. Human rights organisations are
:15:27. > :15:30.accusing policeman being behind the disappearance of over 100 young men.
:15:31. > :15:34.I am standing on a football field where I am told a young man was
:15:35. > :15:39.killed is. Apparently there was a police truck right here and the
:15:40. > :15:45.young man was standing right next to that pull over there. He was shot
:15:46. > :15:51.three times in the skull and I am told executions like these were not
:15:52. > :15:59.rear during this operation. -- not rare. All his father has this
:16:00. > :16:03.photograph of him which was taken after he had died. His father did
:16:04. > :16:11.not want to be identified. He said his son was killed by policeman. We
:16:12. > :16:15.did not know where our son was taken. We know he was killed by a
:16:16. > :16:22.policeman who took issue with them for personal reasons. The Congolese
:16:23. > :16:27.government has hailed the operation as a success and has decided to
:16:28. > :16:31.continue with that. The head of the country's police admits there was
:16:32. > :16:34.some abuse by his staff but he said there were no murders and that all
:16:35. > :16:39.those responsible have been taken to court. Some policemen have been
:16:40. > :16:47.sentenced to death, they are in prison for life for acts committed
:16:48. > :16:51.in this operation. We cannot tolerate criminals within the police
:16:52. > :16:57.service who remain. The operation may have helped clear the streets of
:16:58. > :17:05.gangs, but it's brittle excesses have left heartbreak for many
:17:06. > :17:09.families. Let's go back to top story, today
:17:10. > :17:14.President Putin noted that no shots had been fired over the annexation
:17:15. > :17:19.of Crimea. But within hours it seemed that shots had been fired to
:17:20. > :17:31.deadly effect. The BBC's Ben Brown is at the base in Simferopol. What
:17:32. > :17:38.do we know happened there? We do not know anything for at salute these --
:17:39. > :17:49.for absolute certainty. The Ukrainian government has said this.
:17:50. > :17:54.Let me run you through what they are saying, they are saying this base
:17:55. > :18:02.behind me, not a high-profile military base, there were -- was
:18:03. > :18:08.some sort of assault on the base by men in masks. We think perhaps
:18:09. > :18:12.pro-Russian volunteers rather than conventional Russian army to its,
:18:13. > :18:18.but we do not know that for sure. But one Ukrainian army officer
:18:19. > :18:26.killed. He was shot dead. Another officer wounded in the neck and
:18:27. > :18:32.arm. He was a captain. Another Ukrainian army officer or soldier at
:18:33. > :18:36.least also wounded. He was attacked, said by the Ukrainian government, by
:18:37. > :18:41.Iron Dome is. And the other troops there, they had their weapons and
:18:42. > :18:53.their IDs, they were concentrated and taken away. -- confiscated.
:18:54. > :19:00.People have seen that Crimea will be Russian again. You can sum up the
:19:01. > :19:07.mood there. The mood here is, I think amongst
:19:08. > :19:12.the Russian people here, it is very jubilant. There were not well
:19:13. > :19:18.jubilation is here today. There were celebrations after the referendum.
:19:19. > :19:26.People sang and danced and wave their flags. There is real concern
:19:27. > :19:31.now, they will feel that they are in a foreign country, they are in
:19:32. > :19:35.Russia effectively now, and they are nervous. Some have been packing up
:19:36. > :19:40.and leaving Crimea altogether. Thank you very much.
:19:41. > :19:45.A referendum on Scotland's independence from the United Kingdom
:19:46. > :19:47.is now exactly six months away, and both the Independence and the
:19:48. > :19:49."Better Together" campaigers know that large numbers are still
:19:50. > :19:52.undecided. On the 18th of September, they'll be
:19:53. > :19:55.asked the "Yes/No" question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"
:19:56. > :19:58.Well, following What Scotland Thinks is John Curtice, Professor of
:19:59. > :20:05.Politics at the University of Strathclyde, who joins me now from
:20:06. > :20:12.Glasgow. How would you say that opinion is
:20:13. > :20:16.divided right now? The truth is that the opinion polls show that the no
:20:17. > :20:22.side, those people who want to stay inside United Kingdom, are head. But
:20:23. > :20:27.they also suggest that there is no narrow lead before Christmas. If you
:20:28. > :20:32.take the average of the opinion polls, once you take out the
:20:33. > :20:38.dominoes and undecided, we're looking at a figure of around 58%
:20:39. > :20:44.for the no side, do the same calculations for the second half of
:20:45. > :20:50.last year, you were looking at 61% no, 39% yes. The yes side have made
:20:51. > :20:59.and bands of around two to three points. It is giving them some hope
:21:00. > :21:04.but -- that the opinion polls have started to move in their direction.
:21:05. > :21:09.And in six months they could close the 8-point gap that stands between
:21:10. > :21:14.them and the magic 50% figure. How much is this about where Scots will
:21:15. > :21:20.be better off, outside or within the United Kingdom? Undoubtedly this is
:21:21. > :21:25.a central issue in the campaign. It is the basics and the framework on
:21:26. > :21:32.which people are looking at the campaign. It is about how Scottish
:21:33. > :21:37.or British you feel. If you feel more Scottish, you feel more
:21:38. > :21:42.sympathetic to the referendum. Given that many people in Scotland feel a
:21:43. > :21:50.mix of Scottish and British, they are having to resolve the choice
:21:51. > :21:54.between -- put in front of them. Out of all the consequences, the one
:21:55. > :21:58.that seems to matter most to voters is whether or not they think
:21:59. > :22:02.independence will be good for the country's economy and or bad. The
:22:03. > :22:07.problem the yes side face is that although they may have some progress
:22:08. > :22:12.and have persuaded some people in Scotland that independence would be
:22:13. > :22:16.a good idea, there are still more people has a mystic about the
:22:17. > :22:20.consequences of independence than optimistic. Certainly they will have
:22:21. > :22:35.to change those numbers around if Scotland is going to vote in favour
:22:36. > :22:39.of independence. -- optimistic. We have a referendum on whether a part
:22:40. > :22:44.of a country should leave not. It is all being done by agreement. Spain
:22:45. > :22:48.in particular is rather nervous about this because it faces its own
:22:49. > :22:54.issues, particularly in Catalonia where there is a majority in the
:22:55. > :23:01.Parliament of holding a referendum. In Spain, the view of the central
:23:02. > :23:07.government is -- in Madrid, no individual party can hold a
:23:08. > :23:14.referendum on leaving the country, therefore Madrid and Barcelona are
:23:15. > :23:24.at logger heads. But here the process has been agreed. Thank you.
:23:25. > :23:27.Breast milk is often called liquid gold because of its unmatched health
:23:28. > :23:31.benefits for babies. But it's becoming gold in another sense as
:23:32. > :23:34.well - as a growing number of women use the internet to sell their
:23:35. > :23:38.excess milk. The demand is there, not just from mothers who can't
:23:39. > :23:41.supply their own babies, but from fathers too. From New York, Nada
:23:42. > :23:48.Tawfik reports. This couple raising their
:23:49. > :23:52.seven-month-old son on one income. With times tough and expensive
:23:53. > :23:58.growing, she found a creative way to earn extra money. Staying at home
:23:59. > :24:04.takes away income from our home. I racked my brain for all the things I
:24:05. > :24:11.could do from home and I stumbled on selling my breastmilk. So I figured
:24:12. > :24:17.why not. This is the stash I have been building. At $2 an ounce, her
:24:18. > :24:23.breastmilk gets the family an extra $100 a week. Money she says that she
:24:24. > :24:27.can spend on groceries or meals. Her ad on this website is one of
:24:28. > :24:37.hundreds from others who see an opportunity where there is demand.
:24:38. > :24:43.And not just from women. Partners Mark and brain connected with women
:24:44. > :24:49.on line Udine to their breast milk. Their twins were felt -- fed with
:24:50. > :24:55.that milk from the day there were born. There was an appealing option
:24:56. > :25:03.to be able to do this. It was something we never thought we were
:25:04. > :25:08.able to do, having the boys. In the United States, 80% of pregnant women
:25:09. > :25:14.come into hospital saying they will nurse their babies. That is proof
:25:15. > :25:17.that baby -- people recognise the benefits of breastmilk. But when
:25:18. > :25:28.that milk is obtained over the Internet, officials risk that the --
:25:29. > :25:33.won the risks might outweigh the benefits. This woman says it is a
:25:34. > :25:43.growing trend in period should be aware of potential risks. It can
:25:44. > :25:46.contain viruses, such as aids or hypertensives -- hepatitis. You do
:25:47. > :25:51.not know of this milk is drugs and, medications that the woman is taking
:25:52. > :25:57.or illicit drugs in it. There is no way to know these things. Baby keys
:25:58. > :26:02.losses mother's milk and she hopes that by selling online any -- many
:26:03. > :26:15.other babies will benefit from it too. -- baby 's lives.
:26:16. > :26:18.We've now found out who scooped one of Britain's biggest lottery
:26:19. > :26:21.jackpots. A car mechanic from South London, Neil Trotter, who's 41, won
:26:22. > :26:25.almost ?108 million in Friday's Euromillions draw. He now plans to
:26:26. > :26:29.give up his job and focus on his passion for car racing. He said
:26:30. > :26:32.today he's going to need a lot of garage space - as he's planning to
:26:33. > :26:37.buy a fleet of supercars. Let's remind you of main headline.
:26:38. > :26:41.Ukraine's defence ministry says one of its soldiers has been killed and
:26:42. > :26:45.another injured in a raid on a military base in Crimea. You're
:26:46. > :26:50.watching World News Today, thank you for being with us.
:26:51. > :27:07.Mild-to-moderate, and staying pretty breezy. For most places it will be a
:27:08. > :27:10.fine day tomorrow. Hazy sunshine developing,