07/04/2014 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me Zeinab Badawi.

A dramatic and emotional day in court as the South African athlete

Oscar Pistorius takes the stand for the first time in his murder trial.

He apologised to the family of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, who

he's admitted killing, and gave much of his evidence in tears. There has

not been a moment since this tragedy happened that have not thought about

family. Pro-Russian protesters step up their hold on Government

buildings. Kiev responds by exploiting -- deploying security

services. And it's the first day in the

five-day process that is India's general election: more than 800

million people have a vote. Also coming up: A remarkable

reconciliation - we'll hear from a victim and a convicted attacker, 20

years since the start of the Rwandan genocide.

"I'm a Yankee doodle dandy, Yankee doodle do or die."

The curtain comes down on one of Hollywood's greats, Mickey Rooney

dies at the age of 93. Hello and welcome.

It was an emotional start to the testimony given by the South African

athlete, Oscar Pistorius, who's on trial for the murder of his

girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year. As he stood in court he turned

to the public gallery instead of addressing the judge and made a

tearful apology directly to Reeva's mother June. He sobbed as he told

the court in Pretoria that there hadn't been a moment since he shot

dead his girlfriend that he hadn't thought about her family. He says he

mistook her for an intruder. Andrew Harding reports.

Finally, it is his turn to talk. Oscar Pistorius makes his way from

the dock this morning, heading to the witness box. Past his own toilet

door, the one he shot through, now an exhibit in the courtroom. We then

lose sight of him, only his voice is allowed to be broadcast as he turns

to the public and launches into an emotional speech to the family of

the woman he killed. I would like to apologise and say there is not a

moment and has not been a moment since this tragedy happened that I

have not thought about the family. I wake up every morning and you are

the first people I think of, the first people I pray for. I can't

imagine the pain and sorrow. I was simply trying to protect

Her, I can promise that when she went to bed that night she felt

loved. Reva's mother showed no emotion. The Oscar stories family,

quite the opposite. At one point, the athlete sops, he is comforted by

another aunt. Then Pistorius described his own state. I have

terrible nightmares about the things that happened that night. I can

smell the blood and I wake up being terrified. The state has sought to

shown that Oscar Pistorius as reckless. Today, he stressed his own

vulnerability. Disabled and fearful of crime. When I grew up, we were

exposed to crime. Housebreaking is with family members being

assaulted. -- housebreakings. He was allowed to finish early after his

lawyer pleaded that he had not slept last night. The core of his evidence

is expected tomorrow. Let's get the latest.

It was a day of great expectation when Oscar Pistorius started his

testimony. It certainly was. There had been no

certainty about when he was due to testify after the first witness, a

pathologist for the fans, started to take the stand this morning. Three

hours in, suddenly that evidence wound up Oscar Pistorius got up and

took the stand, walking over to the witness box. It was an hour before

lunch, and that our was extremely old -- emotional for Oscar

Pistorius. Starting with an apology and then going into early details of

his life. He began to calm down as he went through his early childhood

and talk less about Reeva Steenkamp. He then returned after lunch and

spent an hour or so of further evidence talking about more details

being questioned very gently by his defence counsel before he told the

judge that Oscar Pistorius was exhausted. Oscar Pistorius himself

said he had not slept at all last night and his defence counsel asked

for the day of evidence to be adjourned.

He will obviously have an easier time with his defence counsel. Yes.

His defence counsel who we have seen being very aggressive, today with

defence witnesses was trying to coax the information out that presents

their best case. He wanted to portray Oscar Pistorius has a

vulnerable but brave young man who triumphed over his disability to

them overcome adversity. Also a young man who had had a fear of

crime, a just viable fear, being a victim of crime and seeing members

of his family being victims. Also a sense that Oscar Pistorius wanted to

be self-sufficient. He talked about Oscar Pistorius at school trying to

give a sense of him looking after himself and taking the lead in his

own defence. Possibly playing into the picture of a man who fear

crime, perhaps paranoid about it, because of his vulnerability. At the

same time, he was taking matters into his own hands. This whole very

gentle questioning from Barry, the defence counsel, will come to an end

eventually and then we will see the state prosecutor, the fearsome state

prosecutor Tom some refer to as the pit bull, getting hold of Oscar

Pistorius and trying to present a different version of Oscar stories.

And also pick apart Oscar Pistorius's statement of events.

In Ukraine, security officials are being sent to the eastern cities of

Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv following the occupation of several

Government buildings by pro-Russian groups. In Donetsk, the people who

seized the regional administration building have announced the creation

of a sovereign "people's republic". They've also called for a referendum

and asked Moscow to send in a peacekeeping force.

Tell us what the state of affairs is. Tonight, pro-Russian

protesters, activists, can truly to control. -- continued to control.

They also control the local headquarters of the Ukrainian

security services just across town. As you mentioned, earlier today they

proclaimed the people's Republic of Donetsk. They have also called

President Putin -- called on President Putin to sending

peacekeeping groups. They have demanded a referendum by May the

11th and judging by all of the Russian flags that were flying at

the administration building and the Russian and Soviet era songs that

were blaring out of the loudspeakers, it is clear that a lot

of people in that crowd, 1000 people on the square, once Donetsk and

other regions to break away from Ukraine and to join Russia. We know

that Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry have been

holding talks and John Kerry apparently has said that he is quite

concerned about what is going on. What do you think the possibility of

any kind of Russian military intervention might be in that part

of Ukraine? That of course is a major concern,

it is a concern not only to John Kerry in the United States, but to

Europe, too. Authorities in Kiev who continue to maintain that there is a

real possibility that Russia could send in troops across the border

into the eastern Ukrainian regions. As far as Moscow is concerned,

Russia has continued to say that they have no plans to do that and

the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Ukraine should

stop blaming Russia causing trouble. And that they should find solutions

to its own problems. Thank you.

An Australian vessel searching for the missing Malaysian airline ship

has detected signals consistent with those from a black box flight

recorder. It's being described as the most promising lead of the

search so far. Here in the UK a British businessman

accused of hiring hit-men to murder his new wife on their honeymoon in

South Africa is being extradited today. It follows three years of

legal challenges. Shrien Dewani has always denied ordering the

carjacking in Cape Town, in November 2010.

Peaches Geldof has died at the age of 25. The circumstances of her

death in Kent in southern England are unclear. Police say it is being

-- treated as sudden and unexplained. Peaches Geldof is the

daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates.

A roadside bomb in Afghanistan has killed at least 13 people. The

explosion in Kandahar province hit two vehicles carrying civilians.

They were travelling on a side road after the main road was blocked

after an earlier suicide bombing. The bombing comes two days after

Afghanistan's presidential election that represents the first democratic

transfer of power in the country's history. Early unofficial results

from the vote suggest that two of the candidates are so far ahead of

the six others that later results or even ballot rigging would not affect

the result. With 10% of the votes counted, the former finance

minister, Ashraf Ghani, said he had 50%, and the former Foreign

Minister, Abdullah Abdullah, 35%. All sides have complained of fraud,

and candidates have until midnight to lodge objections. Vali Nasr is

the Dean of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He

was formerly senior adviser to the US special representative for

Afghanistan and Pakistan. First of all, the fact of the matter

is that the preferred candidate seems to be trailing, the preferred

candidate of Hamid Karzai. Does that sound about right? These are

preliminary results, we do not know how the voting in far-flung areas

have gone. But right now it is correct. Ashraf Ghani, the front

runner, was also quite close to President Hamid Karzai and there was

also the suspicion that he President Hamid Karzai was supporting more

than one candidate. He may get the candidate that he really wanted and

the one that he pretended to want and is happy distant third and that

gives legitimacy to the outcome he was looking for. I see. Ashraf Ghani

and Abdullah Abdullah both veterans on the political scene in

Afghanistan. Do you suppose that they are in a way the candidates of

continuity? More so Abdullah Abdullah than Ashraf Ghani. Ashraf

Ghani is a technocrat, his style is familiar to the West and very much

appreciated. He is a doing person, he wants to get things done, build

institutions. He worked at the World Bank. He is not the wheeler dealer

that Afghanistan is used to. It remains to be seen if he can manage

the political process with his style. Both have said that they

would sign the military cooperation agreement. That is with the United

States. That is something presumably that people in the United States

would welcome? Yes, of course. That was their rhetoric during the

campaign. Now we will see whether they have the strength to do so. If

they do so, whether there may be a backlash against that decision. This

became such a hot political issue, it is not as easy for a new

president is to come in and nearly proceed with signing the accord. I

think it is still a sensitive issue and we will have to see if the rest

-- rhetoric of the campaign will translate into action. Briefly, I

you pleased with how the election has gone? -- RU. The voting part

went well. We will have two see if the results stand up. It is not good

for Afghanistan if large cached in areas did not vote with the same

level of turnout as couple and the North. -- PAshtun. Those other

things we to watch. If they go smoothly, this will have been a

spectacular election. Thank you. The world's biggest election is

underway in India. It will take a month for more than 800 million

voters to cast their ballot. And opinion polls indicate that the

governing Congress Party is facing a stiff challenge if not defeat by the

nationalist Hindu BJP, led by Narendra Modi. The election involves

930,000 polling stations around the country and will be held over nine

phases, ending on May the 12th. One of the first regions to vote is the

north-eastern state of Assam, from where our correspondent Sanjoy

Majumder reports. They queued up from the early hours

of the morning at this polling station set up in a girls school.

Woman almost outnumbered men. Standing patiently for hours in 30

degrees heat. Once inside, a quick identity check after which their

fingers are marked with indelible ink to make sure no one votes twice

before they can make their choice. It's been a solid start on day one

of the voting. A pretty good turnout, and that is always a sign

that voters want to send politicians strong message. Assam has not really

kept pace with the rest of India when it comes to development. There

is a sense here that they have been left out, sense of frustration, even

of alienation. This is tea growing country, the plantations dotting

this country were set up by the British in the mid-19th century to

produce the world-famous Assante. But while the industry has

prospered, the tea growers have not. This is three generations of

this family. Father, son, and grandson will all vote in these

polls. The live right by the plantation in conditions that have

seen little improvement over the years. The tin shacks that serve as

their homes offer no protection against the heat. There is no

electricity or proper health care. TRANSLATION: The British were here,

I've been working here since then. They left. I voted in the first

elections and have voted in all elections since then.

We are not asking for much, all we want is someone who will improve

things for us. We work so hard but our wages are so low. The tea

industry is making profits, but we get no share of its.

I'm voting for the first time, so I'm really excited. Our lives you

are pathetic. There is no future for media. I want to vote for someone

who will give me an opportunity to move out from here and begin a new

life for me. Now it is decision time for Assam

and the rest of India. Five weeks from now we will know who they have

backed. Today Rwanda began its official week

of mourning to remember the 20% of its population - mostly Tutsis - who

perished in the genocide 20 years ago. 800,000 people were brutally

killed in just 100 days. President Paul Kagame said at a ceremony

attended by some world leaders that many had written Rwanda off as a

country with no future but only a past. My colleague George Alagiah is

in Kigali and examines whether Rwandans have reconciled after their

tragic past. A day to remember, a day to say

never again. But for some in the crowd the memory alone was too

much. Rwandans were joined by international dignitaries including

the UN Secretary General, and today he acknowledged the organisation's

failure to stop the genocide, the fastest boat of mass murder in

modern times. The people who planned and carried

out the genocide where London's -- were from Rwanda, but the history

and root causes beyond beautiful country.

One of the most infamous massacres took here in the South of the

country. Up to 50,000 people are killed in this half built school

with a sword refuge. It is a memorial centre now. First the water

was cut off and now supplies were allowed in, and then they moved in

for the kill. The clothing of the victims tells its own story. Women,

children, the elderly hash no one was spared. How do you remember the

past without getting trapped in? In every city, and every time, in every

village am a these are the challenges they have to deal with.

This man led a group of the killers two decades ago. In a remarkable act

of generosity, he has been allowed into the life of this woman, one of

the few who survived. She lost her husband and two sons on the night of

April 20 1994. TRANSLATION: We were pleading for mercy and they still

killed us. Some of the children were saying, forgive us for being Tutsi,

we will not be any more. But they still killed us.

What kind of man attacks innocent people? TRANSLATION: When we

attacked, there was no humanity in us. We were like wild animals. If

you have ever seen and mad dog, but was us. Our plan was to make sure

there were no survivors. That was our mission.

After the genocide, Emanuel admitted killing nine people and served seven

years in jail. How can you sit here, sit next to

the man who may have been the killer of your husband and sons?

TRANSLATION: I never thought I could be close to a person who killed

another, let alone speak to him. But with the counselling we have had, I

have learned to forgive. I also forgive him because he told the

truth and ask to be pardoned. Over half the population of Rwanda

was born after the genocide. Among them are the 20,000 or so children

conceived in heat and born to women who are raped. Background is one of

them, but like the rest of his generation, he wants to look

forward. TRANSLATION: The only reason we keep commemorating the

genocide is to make sure it never happens again. It is not fair to

just associate Rwanda with the genocide. If people came here, they

would realise that. Today, people in Rwanda are

remembering their past but in doing so they highlight the extraordinary

achievements of the last two decades. And nation no longer

divided between victims and perpetrators, but uniting around a

shared vision of the future. Remembering the genocide 20 years on

in Rwanda. He had one of the longest running

film careers of all time: the Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney, has

died at the age of 93. His career began, when he was just 18 months

old. Mickey Rooney was a prolific actor,

he starred in hundreds of films over ten decades. He worked with some of

the greatest names in cinema during the golden age of Hollywood. In a

moment we'll assess his life and career.

We just got a glance of them there with Judy Garland, and some people

would say that his best work was very early in his career.

That is the problem when you start young. Even one direction, dare I

say, the spent three years at the top ten years chasing it. What

people don't realise is that he started out in silent films, he was

then signed by MGM, and by the age of 19 1939 he was high star in the

world. And they sure these pictures of him in the White House with

Eisenhower, this was heady stuff for someone so young.

He was living history, wasn't he? Absolutely, but when you're young

you don't get it. He said he wasn't aware of how big he was. He was

signed to a very strict studio system, and they did not want to

marry either gardener. He went through a garage is. He would always

refer to his eighth wife as a transient thing.

Surprising he could render all their names.

His advice was always to get married in the morning because it didn't

work out you haven't wasted the whole day.

Was he not declared bankrupt? He was 93, everybody has problems.

You went through difficult times, and periods when Hollywood fell out

with him. But he discovered and created Marilyn Monroe, and many

other different stars, Lana Turner. The problem he really had, and he

told this to me, he said he could have been bigger, but I am short.

And when you are short, you can't play the bad guy.

He was very versatile, he did funny, serious, poignant.

He reinvented himself at the end as a Disney star, he popped up in a lot

of those films, and he always played the grumpy grandad and Santa 's

helpers. He didn't mind. Eyes and for the last time at the Oscars two

years ago, and he looked great. And totally coppers mentis?

He did a pantomime, and asked for anybody, he just love performing.

How would he like to be remembered, would you guess?

His daily was as long as you are remembered, that's all that

matters. If you love the work, that's all that matters. He said

that the big moment was meeting the British Royal Family, he got very

teary about that. A reminder of our main story. Oscar

Pistorius has made an apology to the family of Reeva Steenkamp on the

first day of giving evidence. Humidity are full apology directly

to the mother of Reeva Steenkamp. He told the court that had not been a

moment since he shot dead Reeva Steenkamp that he had not thought

about her family. That's all from us, from me and the team, goodbye.

about her family. That's all from us, from me and the team, goodbye.

A nasty squall line through this evening, but that will clear through

the evening. A fresh breeze and the fresher feel to