:00:00. > :00:08.This is BBC World News Today, with me Philippa Thomas.
:00:09. > :00:11.A historic day for Anglo-Irish relations as the Irish President
:00:12. > :00:18.makes the first state visit to Britain since his country became
:00:19. > :00:21.independent in 1922. Michael D Higgins was welcomed at Windsor
:00:22. > :00:25.Castle by the Queen, where he'll attend a royal banquet shortly. He's
:00:26. > :00:27.said Britain and Ireland have a shared responsibility to reinforce
:00:28. > :00:33.the peace process in Northern Ireland.
:00:34. > :00:36.The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has accused Russia of using
:00:37. > :00:43.special forces to foment chaos in Ukraine. He says allied forces will
:00:44. > :00:46.react if necessary. The United States and our allies will not
:00:47. > :00:52.hesitate to use 21st century tools to hold Russia accountable for 19th
:00:53. > :00:54.century behaviour. Also coming up, athlete Oscar
:00:55. > :00:58.Pistorius breaks down in court while recounting the night he shot his
:00:59. > :01:01.girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. And ground-breaking treatment helps
:01:02. > :01:16.four paraplegic men to move their legs again.
:01:17. > :01:23.Hello and welcome. Anglo-Irish history is being made today. The
:01:24. > :01:27.Irish President, Michael D Higgins, has begun the first ever official
:01:28. > :01:32.visit of an Irish head of state to the UK. He has praised the
:01:33. > :01:35.achievement of peace in Northern Ireland, while saying of course
:01:36. > :01:44.there is still a road to be travelled to a lasting
:01:45. > :01:47.reconciliation. Earlier today, the Queen welcomed the Irish president
:01:48. > :01:51.to Windsor Castle - he has since addressed both Houses of Parliament
:01:52. > :01:55.at Westminster and as we go on air, he's about to be celebrated as the
:01:56. > :01:57.guest of honour at a royal banquet. Our special correspondent Fergal
:01:58. > :02:01.Keane has been following the day's events. The formality of the state
:02:02. > :02:07.occasion quickly gave way to the genuine warmth of friendship. The
:02:08. > :02:14.Irish anthem, played in Windsor, harks back to the days of revolution
:02:15. > :02:20.against the Crown. But here, none of history's darker shadows. For
:02:21. > :02:27.decades, they had made an event like this unthinkable. Today's welcome is
:02:28. > :02:31.all about the spectacle of a grand state occasion. But behind the
:02:32. > :02:34.symbolism is a story of real historical significance, of a
:02:35. > :02:38.changed relationship between two nations. This journey to Windsor
:02:39. > :02:43.Castle has taken much patient work to achieve. President Higgins
:02:44. > :02:46.inspected a guard of honour, a reminder of military links between
:02:47. > :02:52.two countries stretching back to the days of empire. Here, he presented
:02:53. > :03:01.The Irish Gurads with a coat for their mascot - an Irish hound called
:03:02. > :03:03.Donal. -- Irish wolf hound. But at Westminster Abbey, the President's
:03:04. > :03:10.visit reached its most poignant moment. At the tomb of the unknown
:03:11. > :03:14.soldier he paid tribute to the war dead. Among them, many thousands of
:03:15. > :03:17.Irishmen. And then a gesture of remembrance for a victim of a more
:03:18. > :03:25.recent conflict. The plaque to the Queen's cousin, Lord Louis
:03:26. > :03:38.Mountbatten, killed by the IRA. The President spoke of warm Anglo-Irish
:03:39. > :03:40.friendship. The journey, then, of our shared British Irish
:03:41. > :03:43.relationship has progressed from the doubting eyes of estrangement to the
:03:44. > :03:49.trusting eyes of partnership and in recent years to the welcoming eyes
:03:50. > :03:52.of friendship. Tonight he will attend a state banquet hosted by the
:03:53. > :03:56.Queen, at which the former IRA commander Martin McGuinness will be
:03:57. > :04:04.a guest. A moment when history pivots towards the future.
:04:05. > :04:11.Mark Hennessy, London Editor of the Irish Times, joins me from
:04:12. > :04:19.Westminster. Welcome to the programme. It has been a long and
:04:20. > :04:32.difficult journey but what do you think have been the key events that
:04:33. > :04:37.are made today possible? That has brought a level of connection
:04:38. > :04:42.between the countries. A little hole trust has built up slowly. Both
:04:43. > :04:50.governments were attempting to deal with the closest that was the
:04:51. > :04:56.Troubles. -- the crisis. There has been ever closer union between
:04:57. > :05:02.diplomats, politicians and others on both sides. This visit could not
:05:03. > :05:08.have taken place a few years ago because of the problems of Northern
:05:09. > :05:14.Ireland. But the relationship is just much bigger now than Northern
:05:15. > :05:19.Ireland. It was so important when the Queen went to the Irish Republic
:05:20. > :05:28.and then later she shook cows with Martin McGuinness? -- shook hands.
:05:29. > :05:37.It may not be understood outside of Ireland in terms of the open at --
:05:38. > :05:47.impact it made. When she went to the garden of remembrance, she laid a
:05:48. > :05:50.wreath and that moment change public opinion and wheeze that are
:05:51. > :06:00.difficult to understand for anybody who was an ordeal. -- was not there.
:06:01. > :06:04.There is a debate deal of work to be done and the connections that have
:06:05. > :06:13.taken place are only political level. There is a great deal of work
:06:14. > :06:22.to be done in decades to come between the Irish people who live in
:06:23. > :06:26.Britain and so on. That is not necessarily an opinion double B shot
:06:27. > :06:33.by every Irish person at home but there is a hope that in years two,
:06:34. > :06:40.that will happen. A final thought on Martin McGuinness being there at
:06:41. > :06:49.Windsor Castle. It is significant but that should not be overly
:06:50. > :06:58.emphasised. It couldn't have happened to a musical? -- ten years
:06:59. > :07:04.ago? They were not in a position to refuse this invitation. They were
:07:05. > :07:10.told by Irish public opinion that they had made the mistake. Thank
:07:11. > :07:13.you. Warnings are flying both ways over a
:07:14. > :07:17.very tense situation in eastern Ukraine tonight. With Russian forces
:07:18. > :07:19.still massed on their side of the border, Moscow has warned Ukraine to
:07:20. > :07:23.stop any military preparations in the region, saying Kiev's actions
:07:24. > :07:26.could provoke a civil war. But the US Secretary of State, John Kerry,
:07:27. > :07:30.has accused Russian special forces of fomenting what he describes as
:07:31. > :07:34.the current "chaos" in the east. He's warned that the US and its
:07:35. > :07:39.allies are willing to impose further tough sanctions on Moscow if
:07:40. > :07:43.necessary. It's clear that Russian special forces and agents have been
:07:44. > :07:52.the catalyst behind the chaos of the past 24 hours. Some have even been
:07:53. > :07:56.arrested and exposed. Equally as clear must be the reality that the
:07:57. > :07:59.United States and our allies will not hesitate to use 21st century
:08:00. > :08:04.tools to hold Russia accountable for 19th century behaviour.
:08:05. > :08:06.A lot of the drama in the east of Ukraine right now revolves around
:08:07. > :08:09.the actions of pro-Moscow separatists who have seized
:08:10. > :08:12.buildings in cities like Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv, as well as the
:08:13. > :08:15.efforts of the Ukrainian authorities to take the buildings back. From
:08:16. > :08:23.Donestk, Steve Rosenberg sent us his assessment of the current situation.
:08:24. > :08:28.The picture here really does remind me of the kind of things I saw in
:08:29. > :08:31.Kiev in recent months. In other words, a government building which
:08:32. > :08:37.has been stormed and barricades set up outside - barricades made of
:08:38. > :08:39.tyres and barbed wire. Except in this particular case, it's
:08:40. > :08:44.pro-Russia protestors who have stormed and seized the building and
:08:45. > :08:47.set up these barricades. On the square outside the building, there's
:08:48. > :08:52.a group of 1,000 pro-Russia protestors who have been chanting
:08:53. > :08:55.'Russia, Russia'. They've been listening to speeches about the
:08:56. > :09:04.Donetsk people's republic, and Russian, Soviet music. This is the
:09:05. > :09:15.foyer of the administration building. The last time I was here
:09:16. > :09:19.about three weeks ago it was very different. There were lots of riot
:09:20. > :09:23.police here. The governor was in his office upstairs. Now no police at
:09:24. > :09:27.all. Instead, pro-Russia activists. They've changed the decor a little
:09:28. > :09:35.bit. You can see on the wall there are maps of the Donetsk region.
:09:36. > :09:38.They've been changed. The word Russia is in the middle. People here
:09:39. > :09:42.support Russia and they're counting on Russia to make sure a referendum
:09:43. > :09:51.is held on regional sovereignty. Let's go to Washington now, and the
:09:52. > :09:52.BBC's Barbara Plett-Usher. You have been heating pad John Kerry sizzler
:09:53. > :10:13.will be talks about Michael too. He was quite hard in his testimony.
:10:14. > :10:19.He was saying that these activists had been inspired. He said that if
:10:20. > :10:29.this continued, the United States will willing to continue with toffs
:10:30. > :10:37.sanctions. -- tough sancions. There had been a dream and for a meeting
:10:38. > :10:44.next week and Europe. They were trying to come to some sort of
:10:45. > :10:57.diplomatic solution. He wanted Russia to publicly demobilise trips.
:10:58. > :11:18.-- troops. Will this be the most serious thing between Moscow and?
:11:19. > :11:23.John Kerry said that he had been called and the report of the
:11:24. > :11:29.conversation had been constructive. There is contact. But John Kerry
:11:30. > :11:37.said he thought it was not a small matter that Russia had come to the
:11:38. > :11:41.table. With me is Irena Taranyuk of the BBC
:11:42. > :11:46.Ukrainian Service. Clearly there are diplomatic moves but what I do
:11:47. > :11:59.healing about the situation in eastern Ukraine? -- are you hearing.
:12:00. > :12:14.Barricades have been going. The footage as you can see, it is tense
:12:15. > :12:21.and tan. -- calm. Part of the second tests -- But the separatists to not
:12:22. > :12:30.recognise the authorities and the recognise themselves to be the legal
:12:31. > :12:33.bills. We see the activists, but how much enthusiasm as they are in
:12:34. > :12:45.eastern Ukraine to hold a referendum, what do you think? There
:12:46. > :12:53.is almost universal support. Russian speakers have been prevalent and
:12:54. > :12:59.they have had the rates respected. Yesterday an influential candidate
:13:00. > :13:12.team to a location to ensure people that the Russian language would be
:13:13. > :13:31.used... Public opinion is with CF. -- Kiev. William Hague has stated
:13:32. > :13:37.this morning that this deal is the hallmark of Russian special forces.
:13:38. > :13:49.Do you think people are afraid that Russian forces will cross over? Very
:13:50. > :13:59.much so. Russians are warning against using military force and it
:14:00. > :14:07.is an act of direct interference. They are trying to precipitate the
:14:08. > :14:13.situation. We will keep across the story. Thank you.
:14:14. > :14:16.Oscar Pistorius has told his murder trial about the final minutes before
:14:17. > :14:20.he shot dead his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. He told the court that he
:14:21. > :14:24.was overcome with fear after hearing a noise from the bathroom - and that
:14:25. > :14:30.his first thought had been to arm himself and to protect her.
:14:31. > :14:50.Let's hear more from the BBC's Milton Nkosi who's at the court in
:14:51. > :14:58.Pretoria. Today we witnessed an emotional Oscar Pistorius. He tried
:14:59. > :15:05.in court when he talked about attacking the bathroom door with a
:15:06. > :15:17.cricket bat. After he had filed for gunshots entered. -- fired four
:15:18. > :15:21.gunshots into it. There have been tears and drama already in this
:15:22. > :15:24.trial. But nothing like today. Oscar Pistorius arrives, poised to tell
:15:25. > :15:28.the court how and why he shot Reeva Steenkamp. Her family are here in
:15:29. > :15:31.numbers - knowing this is a crucial day. From the witness stand, but not
:15:32. > :15:34.shown on television, Oscar Pistorius describes hearing his bathroom
:15:35. > :15:38.window being opened in the middle of the night. That is the moment that
:15:39. > :15:44.everything changed. I thought there was a burglar. The first thing that
:15:45. > :15:56.ran through my mind was I had to arm myself. I needed to protect Reeva
:15:57. > :16:00.and I, that I needed to get my gun. It was then that I was overcome by
:16:01. > :16:03.fear and I fired some shots. Reeva Steenkamp's mother, in the centre,
:16:04. > :16:06.bows her head as he describes moving desperately without his prosthetic
:16:07. > :16:18.legs from his bedroom shown here to the bathroom down this narrow
:16:19. > :16:22.corridor. I had my pistol raised to my eye, to the corner of the
:16:23. > :16:29.entrance of the bathroom. And then I heard a noise from inside the
:16:30. > :16:35.toilet. What I perceived to be someone coming out of the toilet.
:16:36. > :16:41.Before I knew it I had fired four shots at the door. It was Reeva
:16:42. > :16:45.Steenkamp in the toilet. Oscar Pistorius said he rushed back to the
:16:46. > :16:48.bedroom to check on her, realised she was missing. He frantically
:16:49. > :16:56.broke down the toilet door to find her. He then breaks down and
:16:57. > :17:07.wretches, his family in tears. I sat over Reeva and I cried. And I don't
:17:08. > :17:16.know how long... I do not know how long I was there for. She wasn't
:17:17. > :17:30.breathing. At which point the court is abruptly adjourned for the day.
:17:31. > :17:34.Milton, there could hardly have been a more dramatic day, how that South
:17:35. > :17:40.Africans reacted to what they have heard in court? Philippa, South
:17:41. > :17:43.Africans across the length and breadth of the country are talking
:17:44. > :17:48.about this case, remember that on the 7th of May in one month's time
:17:49. > :17:56.there will be a historic taking place year. The political parties
:17:57. > :18:00.are full and campaign swing and they are trying to get the votes. The
:18:01. > :18:05.country is still talking about one story, the Oscar Pistorius trial.
:18:06. > :18:11.There is a dedicated channel that is broadcasting 24 hours about this
:18:12. > :18:17.trial and all of what they have today was live on radio throughout
:18:18. > :18:22.the country, so people are talking about this case at the dinner table.
:18:23. > :18:26.Thank you, Milton. Now a look at some of the day's
:18:27. > :18:30.other news: In Pakistan, a bomb blast has killed at least 12 people
:18:31. > :18:32.on a busy train in the Balochistan province in the south-west of the
:18:33. > :18:35.country. The train was travelling from Quetta
:18:36. > :18:38.to Rawalpindi when the bomb went off at the Sibi station while passengers
:18:39. > :18:41.were boarding and disembarking. It's been confirmed that the
:18:42. > :18:45.Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe is in hospital in Sydney. His
:18:46. > :18:49.manager says he's fighting a serious infection and may never swim
:18:50. > :18:52.competitively again. He's being treated with high doses of
:18:53. > :18:56.antibiotics, after contracting an infection during surgery on his
:18:57. > :19:06.shoulder. His manager says his condition is not life-threatening.
:19:07. > :19:09.Although Australia media say he may lose use of his arm.
:19:10. > :19:12.Teams searching for the missing Malaysian plane say they have not
:19:13. > :19:16.picked up any more signals which could be from the black box plane
:19:17. > :19:19.locator. Two sets of signals were detected over the weekend. It's now
:19:20. > :19:23.exactly a month since the plane went missing with 239 people on board.
:19:24. > :19:27.Four men who were paralysed from the chest down have begun to move parts
:19:28. > :19:29.of their legs again - for the first time in years - after
:19:30. > :19:32.ground-breaking treatment in the United States. A report, in the
:19:33. > :19:35.journal Brain, suggests that electrical stimulation makes the
:19:36. > :19:38.spinal cord more receptive to the few messages still arriving from the
:19:39. > :19:41.brain. Experts say electricity could become a treatment for spinal
:19:42. > :19:54.injury. Here's our medical correspondent, Fergus Walsh.
:19:55. > :19:57.Stimulators off, West Lake up. Kent Stevenson from Texas was completely
:19:58. > :20:06.paralysed from the chest down five years ago. He can now do this. It is
:20:07. > :20:10.thanks to electrodes fitted to just below his injury, which stimulate
:20:11. > :20:16.this spinal-cord enabling messages from his brain to control movements
:20:17. > :20:23.that were previously in his paralysed limbs. We did not expect
:20:24. > :20:30.these individuals to ever be able to think, let me move my tall and be
:20:31. > :20:35.able to move it, this was an astonishing thing and it made us
:20:36. > :20:41.step back and have to look at how we thought the nervous system function.
:20:42. > :20:44.Rob Summers was the first of the four paralysed patients fitted with
:20:45. > :20:50.electrodes in his spine. Three years ago, scientists published research
:20:51. > :20:56.showing that he could stand and even take a few steps on a treadmill
:20:57. > :21:02.while being supported. Mr Summers has continued with physiotherapy and
:21:03. > :21:05.reading more muscle control. But US researchers writing in the journal
:21:06. > :21:08.Brain, say although all of the patients have regained some
:21:09. > :21:15.voluntary movements, none can walk unaided. The experimental technique
:21:16. > :21:18.does not involve repair of the spinal-cord but researchers believe
:21:19. > :21:22.it may help many other paralysed patients to regain some of their
:21:23. > :21:28.movement. A British businessman accused of
:21:29. > :21:31.arranging his wife's moderate reading their honeymoon in South
:21:32. > :21:35.Africa has been extradited from Britain after a long legal battle on
:21:36. > :21:40.the grounds of his mental illness. He denies hiving mentor and tell his
:21:41. > :21:48.wife as they travel by taxi outside Cape Town in 2010.
:21:49. > :21:51.After such a long wait for his extradition and such a long way to
:21:52. > :21:55.see him appear in court, this evening was over almost as soon as
:21:56. > :22:01.it had begun. There were epic scenes outside Cape Town. Camera crews from
:22:02. > :22:08.across South Africa and a lot from the UK came to try to get a shot of
:22:09. > :22:14.this man as he arrived. He came any black people carrier with blacked
:22:15. > :22:17.out windows. We understand he was taken to holding cells beneath the
:22:18. > :22:22.these courtrooms where he was interviewed and formally charged
:22:23. > :22:26.with the murder of his wife. They were on honeymoon here in November
:22:27. > :22:31.2010. He was taken upstairs and put in front of the judge and that was
:22:32. > :22:39.the first time we saw and in public for a very long time. He was very
:22:40. > :22:45.smartly dressed but the black suit and white dress. He was concentrated
:22:46. > :22:50.and understood what was going on during proceedings. He quickly was
:22:51. > :22:54.taken back down below. He was remanded in custody and will appear
:22:55. > :23:00.again on the 12th of May but now he will go to a secure time traffic --
:23:01. > :23:05.psychiatric unit where he will have his own room. He will be observed
:23:06. > :23:08.for 30 days and ultimately it will be up to doctors and they hoodie
:23:09. > :23:12.said when and if he has ever said to stand trial again.
:23:13. > :23:16.Indians have started going to the polls in the first phase of a
:23:17. > :23:23.general election in which more than 814 million people are eligible to
:23:24. > :23:26.vote. And to mark this giant exercise in democracy, we thought
:23:27. > :23:29.we'd bring you the story of a man who makes his political statements
:23:30. > :23:32.anonymously. Daku is India's answer to Banksy - a graffiti artist who
:23:33. > :23:35.says his work is a political statement. This is his first
:23:36. > :23:43.television interview. My name is Daku and I am a street
:23:44. > :23:50.artist. Daku is a Hindi word and it means bandit. I just draw on walls
:23:51. > :24:01.and I kind of leave my mark on the walls. Most of my work includes
:24:02. > :24:10.social-political topics. Mostly they are illegal. Everyone has an image
:24:11. > :24:14.of Daku in their head. In Delhi, or generally in India, people pee
:24:15. > :24:25.everywhere. That's legal, but painting is illegal, how is that?
:24:26. > :24:28.Unlike Europe or in America where people look at graffiti with a very
:24:29. > :24:31.negative eye, generally in India people don't look at graffiti as
:24:32. > :24:39.vandalism, it's simply colour on the wall. Most of my work has multiple
:24:40. > :24:43.stories, people make up their own stories with that and that is what I
:24:44. > :24:46.like about it, whether it is pro-voting or someone says it is
:24:47. > :24:52.anti-voting, it creates some kind of conversation around it. I made a few
:24:53. > :25:01.stickers like, "Stop Bribing. Stop Shopping. Stop Raping." There are,
:25:02. > :25:06.like, so many of them. Because Banksy is popular, you compare me
:25:07. > :25:15.with him. As Daku is spreading it's becoming more and more like, "Oh,
:25:16. > :25:19.there's Banksy." More people see it, more people like it, more people
:25:20. > :25:27.share it, more people do it and it multiplies. I also feel the wall is
:25:28. > :25:31.a very powerful medium. It is so sensitive as well that you can
:25:32. > :25:42.almost start a riot with just one wall. Whether it is in the form of
:25:43. > :25:46.graffiti or in the form of street art, or whatever that is, I want
:25:47. > :25:50.more youngsters to come out and experience it for themselves.
:25:51. > :25:52.Especially on the streets because that is where you can get your
:25:53. > :26:03.message out. A reminder of our main news: In an
:26:04. > :26:06.historic address to the British parliament, the Irish President,
:26:07. > :26:09.Michael D Higgins, said Britain and Ireland had a shared responsibility
:26:10. > :26:12.to help reinforce the peace process in Northern Ireland. The President's
:26:13. > :26:22.state visit is the first since Ireland gained independence from
:26:23. > :26:26.London. And the US Secretary of State, John
:26:27. > :26:29.Kerry, has accused Russia of being behind the latest unrest in eastern
:26:30. > :26:33.Ukraine. Moscow has said any use of force to end pro-Russian protests in
:26:34. > :26:37.eastern Ukraine may lead to a civil war.
:26:38. > :26:59.Well, that's all from the programme. Next, the weather. Goodnight.
:27:00. > :27:06.Good evening. It felt more like early April today with that fresh
:27:07. > :27:08.breeze from the North West. Tomorrow