:00:00. > :00:10.This is BBC World News Today with me Philippa Thomas.
:00:11. > :00:14.In Ukraine today, deadly violence in the east and south. There's a
:00:15. > :00:17.standoff in Sloviansk, where the Ukrainian military has encircled the
:00:18. > :00:27.rebels but they're still holding the city centre. Two Ukrainian soldiers
:00:28. > :00:30.were also killed and two helicopters brought down.
:00:31. > :00:33.And in the southern port city of Odessa, at least three people have
:00:34. > :00:37.been killed during clashes between protestors for links with Russia and
:00:38. > :00:40.those for Ukrainian unity. It is obvious to the world that these
:00:41. > :00:45.Russian groups are not just protesters. They are heavily and
:00:46. > :00:49.militants who are receiving significant support from Russia.
:00:50. > :00:52.Around 500 are feared dead as a landslide buries a village in the
:00:53. > :00:59.north east of Afghanistan. Also coming up: dozens arrested in
:01:00. > :01:01.the Philippines for luring Internet users into explicit sex acts and
:01:02. > :01:05.then blackmailing them with the images.
:01:06. > :01:09.And imagine a gospel according to Mary - we visit the London stage
:01:10. > :01:14.production that breathes life into a character rarely given a voice. The
:01:15. > :01:21.church downgraded her to almost silence, to acceptance, to
:01:22. > :01:31.passivity. This may be seen as lovely virtues in the female form.
:01:32. > :01:38.Hello and welcome. Rebels in eastern Ukraine have suffered heavy losses
:01:39. > :01:41.according to a statement from Ukraine's acting president - who
:01:42. > :01:44.says Kiev's forces have taken control of a number of checkpoints
:01:45. > :01:49.during today's military operation against pro-Russian activists in the
:01:50. > :01:53.eastern city of Sloviansk. But government forces have also taken
:01:54. > :01:56.losses. Two Ukrainian helicopters have been shot down by what Kiev
:01:57. > :02:08.says appeared to be surface-to-air missiles, with two crew dead.
:02:09. > :02:11.Meanwhile, in Odessa, at least three people are said to have been killed
:02:12. > :02:14.and many others injured through clashes with pro-Russian militants
:02:15. > :02:19.and supporters of the country's unity. More on that in a minute but
:02:20. > :02:30.first, our Special Correspondent Fergal Keane got to the outskirts of
:02:31. > :02:35.Sloviansk and this is his report. This was the rebels answer to the
:02:36. > :02:41.government's offensive, missiles that downed helicopters. These were
:02:42. > :02:45.the instruments of state power. Two were brought crashing to the
:02:46. > :02:50.ground, two pilots killed. Here, a wounded crew member is helped by the
:02:51. > :02:54.rebels who captured him. It was an image that seemed to define a day in
:02:55. > :02:58.which the government yet again struggled in the face of determined
:02:59. > :03:03.opposition. The militants had been waiting for some move by the state.
:03:04. > :03:09.This, the masked face of well-prepared insurgency. Don't
:03:10. > :03:14.stand behind me, this gunman warns. Here, petrol bombs are being
:03:15. > :03:22.prepared, ammunition brought forward. And a promise of fire down
:03:23. > :03:26.the road any soldiers might come. It was here on this bridge that
:03:27. > :03:32.Ukraine's army was confronted by its own citizens. Helicopters deployed
:03:33. > :03:42.troops onto the strategic crossing six miles from Sloviansk. But the
:03:43. > :03:47.people refused to allow them across. Firing in the air, they tried to
:03:48. > :03:55.push on but it simply increased the emotion. This elderly man was
:03:56. > :04:05.treated for shock. But as the stalemate on the bridge deep end, we
:04:06. > :04:17.found a mood of defiance. I am prepared to take the gun if I need
:04:18. > :04:20.to for my land. You understand me? The soldiers were nervous, far from
:04:21. > :04:24.Kiev and the government that is giving them orders. You don't seem
:04:25. > :04:31.very in control here? What is happening? Pointing to the
:04:32. > :04:37.protesters, he told us, they are the people. The atmosphere on the bridge
:04:38. > :04:39.remains very tense. There is not an appetite for any more confrontation
:04:40. > :04:45.from the troops and there is a great deal of anger for the pro Russian
:04:46. > :04:49.supporters. No -- neither side knows where this is leading.
:04:50. > :04:56.Let's get the latest on this from the BBC's Sarah Rainsford, who's in
:04:57. > :05:01.Donetsk. Sarah, is it your understanding that the military
:05:02. > :05:05.operation is continuing? Yes, certainly that is what both sides
:05:06. > :05:12.are saying. There is a statement from the pro-Russian forces inside
:05:13. > :05:17.Sloviansk and they are confirming they have suffered some casualties,
:05:18. > :05:22.talking about 3 million share and two civilians being killed and
:05:23. > :05:26.fortified checkpoints being taken over. They say they are building new
:05:27. > :05:31.check point inside the city as they prepare for another assault by the
:05:32. > :05:35.Ukrainian military. We have also heard from the interior minister,
:05:36. > :05:40.talking about what has been happening. He described military
:05:41. > :05:46.operation as a necessary action. He said, we couldn't not act but we
:05:47. > :05:50.needed to act carefully. We need to act carefully. Underlining the very
:05:51. > :05:56.delicate situation that the government is enough it begins the
:05:57. > :06:01.launch of this military operation, anxious to reassert its control in
:06:02. > :06:07.Ukraine but nervous about sparking a reaction from Russian troops on the
:06:08. > :06:09.border, as Russia said they would intervene if they felt their
:06:10. > :06:12.citizens were in any danger. Thank you.
:06:13. > :06:15.In the last couple of hours, President Obama and the German
:06:16. > :06:18.Chancellor, Angela Merkel, have been speaking at the White House about
:06:19. > :06:27.the Ukraine crisis and urging Russia to take more action to de-escalate
:06:28. > :06:29.the situation. It is obvious to the world that these Russian backed
:06:30. > :06:34.groups are not peaceful protesters. They are heavily armed militants who
:06:35. > :06:39.are receiving significant support from Russia. The Ukrainian
:06:40. > :06:43.government has the right and responsibility to withhold law and
:06:44. > :06:49.order within its territory and Russia needs to use its influence to
:06:50. > :07:00.make these groups disarm and stop promoting -- stop provoking
:07:01. > :07:04.violence. But Russia's Minister proclaimed that the people of
:07:05. > :07:11.Ukraine are standing up for themselves. The most striking and
:07:12. > :07:14.irritating thing is that the requirements of the people in the
:07:15. > :07:17.east of the country are very simple. They are in a situation
:07:18. > :07:21.where there is an illegitimate government in the capital, very much
:07:22. > :07:24.representative of radical elements and people wanted guarantees of
:07:25. > :07:31.their right, they wanted federalisation. Over a very long
:07:32. > :07:36.period of time, perhaps two months after the toppling of the legitimate
:07:37. > :07:40.government, no one took up weapons, at least for a month and a half.
:07:41. > :07:44.They were waiting for a construct of response from Kiev regarding their
:07:45. > :07:48.requirements to ensure their legitimate interests.
:07:49. > :07:53.With me is John Lough, an associate fellow on the Russia and Eurasia
:07:54. > :08:00.Programme at Chatham House. Clearly an military battle now and still
:08:01. > :08:09.that battle of propaganda. A proper -- a problem for the Russian --
:08:10. > :08:12.Ukrainian military is that they want to see if they can assert control
:08:13. > :08:19.without provoking Russia. That is right. As you just spoke about and
:08:20. > :08:22.that report, the danger is that a peacekeeping force will come over
:08:23. > :08:29.the border. At the same time, the Ukrainian military's capacities are
:08:30. > :08:36.limited so how successful they could be his questionable. What do you
:08:37. > :08:43.think of President Putin's strategy here? From what we can see, Russia
:08:44. > :08:49.wants to prevent the election taking place in Ukraine, thus meaning it
:08:50. > :08:56.would delegitimise a new leader. That would put pressure on Kiev to
:08:57. > :09:00.agree to reformatting of Ukraine as a country, giving the regions are
:09:01. > :09:07.much enhanced autonomy, allowing eastern regions to gravitate away
:09:08. > :09:12.from Kiev, undermining the independence of the country. So the
:09:13. > :09:18.strategy is not so much to go in and be seen to go in and an incursion as
:09:19. > :09:26.to make the east ungovernable customer I think that is the intent.
:09:27. > :09:31.It would be very dangerous if they invaded, as it would probably
:09:32. > :09:35.unleash war. They wouldn't want to do that. The danger is that they are
:09:36. > :09:40.escalating the situation in the east of the country and it could get
:09:41. > :09:44.beyond their control. We saw President Obama and Angela Merkel
:09:45. > :09:52.talking there but what can they do? The sanctions have been levied. They
:09:53. > :09:55.could put more sanctions in, stop Russia having access to
:09:56. > :09:59.international finance. That would have a very marked effect on the
:10:00. > :10:04.Russian economy. It is something of a nuclear option. It would tip them
:10:05. > :10:11.immediately into recession. But I do not see any immediate hunger for
:10:12. > :10:17.that because it would have an effect on the rest of the West as well.
:10:18. > :10:21.Briefly, is there any other way to de-escalate the situation from
:10:22. > :10:26.outside? At the moment, I don't see any immediate way of doing that. We
:10:27. > :10:31.have to hope that the Russians will accept that there are extreme
:10:32. > :10:36.dangers involved here and they may have to come involved in appeasing
:10:37. > :10:39.-- peacekeeping way. As many as 500 people are missing,
:10:40. > :10:43.feared dead, after heavy rains triggered a major landslide in
:10:44. > :10:47.Afghanistan. A UN spokesman in the country says they died after a hill
:10:48. > :10:50.collapsed on the village of Hobo Barik in the remote northeastern
:10:51. > :10:53.province of Badakshan. Local government officials are appealing
:10:54. > :11:00.for help, including special equipment to help them dig through
:11:01. > :11:04.the mud. Let's get more from our correspondent who is following
:11:05. > :11:10.events from Kabul. David, there are various figures for the numbers
:11:11. > :11:17.missing, feared dead. What are you hearing? I appreciate it is hard to
:11:18. > :11:22.know this far-flung region. Hard facts are very few and far between
:11:23. > :11:25.on the ground but we do know that 350 bodies have been confirmed found
:11:26. > :11:32.in the mud when this huge landslide came down and engulfed not one but
:11:33. > :11:37.two villages, wrecking 300 houses, threatening 700 more. It is, as you
:11:38. > :11:41.say, the most remote part of the country. It is the finger of
:11:42. > :11:45.Afghanistan that stretches up towards the Chinese border in the
:11:46. > :11:49.north-east. Badakhshan is mountainous, there are deep ravines
:11:50. > :11:53.and high mountains. It is inaccessible and in a country where
:11:54. > :11:57.there are many mountainous and desert regions which are hard to get
:11:58. > :12:01.to, Badakhshan really is the most inaccessible part of the country.
:12:02. > :12:05.The government -- the governor of the province has told us that he
:12:06. > :12:08.believed some 2000 people could be missing. There was a wedding going
:12:09. > :12:14.on in one of the villages, it was a Friday morning, so those that work
:12:15. > :12:20.away from the village would have been away so those attending the
:12:21. > :12:26.wedding will have been caught up in this natural disaster. This follows
:12:27. > :12:29.many days of very heavy rain. We had 150 people killed in the north of
:12:30. > :12:35.the country last week in floods and bass heavy rain caused the mountain
:12:36. > :12:40.to collapse downwards. The first pictures which are coming in from
:12:41. > :12:46.the area show rescuers digging with shovels and their bare hands. Local
:12:47. > :12:53.rescue officials are saying they need heavy machinery to come in to
:12:54. > :12:58.see if they can find survivors, miraculously, hidden in the mud. As
:12:59. > :13:02.we saw in the United States recently, it is very hard to find
:13:03. > :13:08.people in thick mud settling down in an area like this. The UN have got
:13:09. > :13:12.teams on the ground and the international forces here say they
:13:13. > :13:17.stand ready to help if the request comes from the Afghan government.
:13:18. > :13:21.President Obama has expressed his solidarity with the Afghan people,
:13:22. > :13:24.calling this a tragedy, and saying the international forces will be
:13:25. > :13:28.what they can but at the moment, it is just individuals with picks and
:13:29. > :13:33.shovels trying to find whether there are any survivors under this huge
:13:34. > :13:37.mudslide. Thank you. The Nigerian capital Abuja has again
:13:38. > :13:40.been hit by a bomb blast, which has killed at least 19 people, injuring
:13:41. > :13:44.60 more. The car bomb targeted a busy bus station in the suburbs
:13:45. > :13:48.which was hit by another deadly explosion last month. The Islamist
:13:49. > :13:59.militant group, Boko Haram, claimed responsibility. Our correspondent,
:14:00. > :14:03.Will Ross, reports from the scene. Scenes of chaos on the outskirts of
:14:04. > :14:09.the Nigerian capital. A man was seen parking a car here and walking away.
:14:10. > :14:17.Seconds later, the bomb exploded. Is molested extremists -- Islamist
:14:18. > :14:22.extremists said they carried out the attack. This is the spot where the
:14:23. > :14:26.car was detonated, overhear the wreckage of other cars which were
:14:27. > :14:31.loaned out. The great shop here is that this is the second blast in
:14:32. > :14:35.less than two weeks and people here are wondering why they are being
:14:36. > :14:39.targeted. In hospitals across the capital, the injured are getting
:14:40. > :14:48.help. Reza tells me she was waiting for a lift home with a friend when
:14:49. > :14:52.the bomb exploded. There was fire everywhere and she said she was
:14:53. > :15:01.thrown to the ground by a nearby car. She has no idea if her friend
:15:02. > :15:05.survived. Security is getting worst -- worse in Nigeria. These are the
:15:06. > :15:10.parents of the 200 girls missing after being abducted last month.
:15:11. > :15:15.They are angry the government has not done enough to rescue the girls.
:15:16. > :15:19.At the bomb site, foreign forensic teams have come to help with
:15:20. > :15:23.investigations but feeling vulnerable, many people want to know
:15:24. > :15:28.what is being done to prevent another attack. This city is due to
:15:29. > :15:31.hold a huge event, the world economic Forum, next week with heads
:15:32. > :15:36.of state coming here from all over the world. With results as --
:15:37. > :15:40.relentless violence in the north-east and now bomb blast,
:15:41. > :15:45.perhaps it is now time for everyone to admit the strength of the crisis
:15:46. > :15:49.in Nigeria. Now a look at some of the days other
:15:50. > :15:53.news. Northern Ireland's Republican party Sinn Fein says police in the
:15:54. > :15:56.province are asking a judge for more time to question its leader, Gerry
:15:57. > :15:59.Adams, in connection with one of the most notorious murders of Northern
:16:00. > :16:04.Ireland's Troubles. Jean McConville, a mother of ten, was shot by the IRA
:16:05. > :16:10.in 1972. Mr Adams, who denies any involvement, volunteered for
:16:11. > :16:13.questioning almost 48 hours ago. A truce has been agreed between
:16:14. > :16:16.Syrian government forces and rebels in the besieged city of Homs. It
:16:17. > :16:23.allows opposition fighters to withdraw from their positions.
:16:24. > :16:26.Around 1,000 fighters are expected to leave the city over the next 48
:16:27. > :16:28.hours. The US Secretary of State, John
:16:29. > :16:32.Kerry, says the South Sudanese president has agreed to hold peace
:16:33. > :16:35.talks with his bitter rival Riek Machar. The talks between Salva Kiir
:16:36. > :16:43.and his former deputy could take place as early as next week.
:16:44. > :16:46.Here in Britain the celebrity publicist Max Clifford is beginning
:16:47. > :16:49.an eight year jail sentence tonight for a string of indecent assaults
:16:50. > :16:56.against young girls and women in the 1970s and 80s. It's a longer
:16:57. > :16:59.sentence than many expected, but the judge told Clifford that he was
:17:00. > :17:04.wrong to assume his position in the entertainment world meant he was
:17:05. > :17:07.untouchable. Police in the Philippines say they
:17:08. > :17:12.have arrested dozens of suspects linked to an online sexual blackmail
:17:13. > :17:15.syndicate. In a case relating to what some describe as sextortion 58
:17:16. > :17:18.people have been arrested, alleged to have persuaded people to expose
:17:19. > :17:21.themselves in front of webcams, or to send explicit material. Demands
:17:22. > :17:25.for between ?500 and ?15,000 dollars were made with threats to send the
:17:26. > :17:31.compromising images to the victims' relatives or friends.
:17:32. > :17:33.It took place from call-centre style offices on what Interpol
:17:34. > :17:38.investigators described as an industrial scale. There were
:17:39. > :17:41.hundreds of victims in Hong Kong and Singapore.
:17:42. > :17:45.People in the Philippines, the United States and United Kingdom
:17:46. > :17:47.were also targeted. Among the victims, investigators say, was the
:17:48. > :17:56.Scottish teenager Daniel Perry who committed suicide last July.
:17:57. > :17:58.Jim Gamble is the former head of a specialist British police unit the
:17:59. > :18:01.Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and now runs his
:18:02. > :18:05.own internet security company tackling a range of issues including
:18:06. > :18:15.so-called sexploitation cases. He joins us from Belfast.
:18:16. > :18:22.Welcome to the programme. Tell us what your take is on the industrial
:18:23. > :18:25.nature of this very systematic exploitation. It is a blend of
:18:26. > :18:31.grooming techniques that you will see from those people who seek out
:18:32. > :18:35.children to offend against them online and actually traditional
:18:36. > :18:38.criminal techniques where conmen for years and years have laboured
:18:39. > :18:43.vulnerable and susceptible individuals. I am not surprised that
:18:44. > :18:48.it is industrial. It is almost a call Centre of days gone by when you
:18:49. > :18:53.would have phoned the sex lines they are able to go online to social
:18:54. > :18:56.media sites and dating sites and identify men who are either
:18:57. > :19:02.vulnerable would because of their age, either very young or very old
:19:03. > :19:07.or because they are out and seeking some kind of sexual engagement so it
:19:08. > :19:11.must be like shooting fish in a barrel for these criminals. When
:19:12. > :19:14.they get these men and engage them in a conversation where the men
:19:15. > :19:20.think they are talking to attractive young women, they are all too quick
:19:21. > :19:25.to expose themselves in what they think is some form of sexual
:19:26. > :19:33.gratification and then they are caught, trapped. Is this kind of
:19:34. > :19:39.Sting, it has been uncovered in the Philippines, are the Philippines a
:19:40. > :19:42.centre for this kind of abuse) I do not think the Philippines
:19:43. > :19:47.necessarily. South East Asia has a range of factors apparent within it
:19:48. > :19:52.around the vulnerability of some groups where we have seen travelling
:19:53. > :19:57.sex offenders go there in the past. There has been a perception I think
:19:58. > :20:02.wrongly held by some where police corruption lends itself to people
:20:03. > :20:06.getting away with this but the police in the Philippines have shown
:20:07. > :20:09.that there is a real collaborative effort here to identify and locate
:20:10. > :20:15.and hold these people to account. Let us go to basics. A young boy,
:20:16. > :20:20.Daniel Perry, was exploited and blackmailed and he took his own
:20:21. > :20:24.life. What to Police Scotland have done should be applauded, they have
:20:25. > :20:27.set an example for other police services to follow and they have
:20:28. > :20:30.relentlessly and ruthlessly pursued the individuals the whole way to the
:20:31. > :20:35.Philippines to hold them to account to what they did to this young
:20:36. > :20:38.Scottish man. I must say this is that it is the kind of deterrent
:20:39. > :20:43.that we need to see, it is a real deterrent that sees 58 people
:20:44. > :20:49.arrested. If you are listening to this programme tonight and you have
:20:50. > :20:52.been seduced by one of these exploited groups, please talk to the
:20:53. > :20:56.police. Once you hand over any financial details and you pay
:20:57. > :20:59.someone, it never goes away. These people will bleed you and drain you
:21:00. > :21:02.dry and you might think you can keep it a secret but one day the police
:21:03. > :21:06.and the Philippines or elsewhere around the world will discover some
:21:07. > :21:11.of these organisations and they will get into the computer that they have
:21:12. > :21:15.and your photographs and names will come out anyway. Think about it, the
:21:16. > :21:20.right time to come forward is when somebody tries to exploit you. Go to
:21:21. > :21:23.talk to the police, where ever you are, and put the fear where it
:21:24. > :21:28.belongs, in the predator, so they do not come online looking for people
:21:29. > :21:31.to exploit for their own financial gain. That is a very important
:21:32. > :21:35.discussion to have. Jim Gamble in the Belfast, thank you.
:21:36. > :21:40.She is worshipped, she is an icon of womanhood, but we rarely hear her
:21:41. > :21:43.words. Now a stage production of Colm Toibin's novel The Testament Of
:21:44. > :21:46.Mary gives the world's most famous mother a voice. The Virgin Mary is
:21:47. > :21:54.played in a 90 minute one-woman performance by the actor Fiona Shaw
:21:55. > :21:59.at London's Barbican Centre. Kasia Madera has been speaking to Shaw and
:22:00. > :22:07.her producer Deborah Warner. We sat there for a while in silence
:22:08. > :22:28.because they were afraid of the word. Crucified. I said, yes. Yes.
:22:29. > :22:34.And that Mary spoke, but it will be a new beginning. I would say the
:22:35. > :22:39.intention is to open up the imagination of someone without a
:22:40. > :22:43.religious act dash-mac whip dash-mac without a religious imagination or
:22:44. > :22:48.with. You open it up to a different keyhole and you see a different
:22:49. > :22:55.landscape, different and yet familiar. It lets you see something
:22:56. > :23:05.that you know in a new way. The crucifixion is a scene that is so
:23:06. > :23:09.well-known. How do you dramatise it. The items that she lives with now.
:23:10. > :23:14.She lives in a room with the necessary items to prompt her
:23:15. > :23:19.memory. She has a crown of thorns which is made out of barbed wire.
:23:20. > :23:23.She has the large nails of the cross. Sponges. It is amazing how
:23:24. > :24:07.domestic the death of that man was. I grasped. I saw the cross. Given
:24:08. > :24:12.that she is so iconic and she is such a mythical creature now, this
:24:13. > :24:16.story is so well-known, it is so important to so many different
:24:17. > :24:22.people. By playing it in such a way, by making the figure of Mary so
:24:23. > :24:27.ordinary, are you downplaying it? She does not speak often. If she was
:24:28. > :24:32.ever downgraded, the Church downgraded her to almost silence, to
:24:33. > :24:36.acceptance, to passivity. All of this may be seen as lovely virtues
:24:37. > :24:43.in the female form but if God came to earth as a man, then there is
:24:44. > :24:48.always a limitation of identity if he is only a man. There has to be
:24:49. > :25:01.also the female side of that theology. I dream to my son came
:25:02. > :25:09.back to life it was dawn. We dream to that we were sleeping. There were
:25:10. > :25:16.left trees in the distance but nothing close by and there was no
:25:17. > :25:21.sound. We were woken by the sound of water gargling up from the earth and
:25:22. > :25:26.I put my hand down to see if it was real. Then I heard Mary Garst
:25:27. > :25:35.because the water seems to be gushing out over the well and then I
:25:36. > :25:40.saw him. He was rising with the water. He seems -- his hands, his
:25:41. > :25:50.feet, his forehead where their form and been, there were blue marks,
:25:51. > :25:54.open and gaping -- where the thorns had been. Mary held him as the water
:25:55. > :26:02.delivered in. She laid him across my lap. Fiona Shaw giving us The
:26:03. > :26:08.Testament Of Mary. A final story. Twin sisters who have spent almost
:26:09. > :26:13.80 years apart have been reunited. They were separated as babies when
:26:14. > :26:18.one was put up for adoption. Their unmarried mother was in domestic
:26:19. > :26:24.service and could not afford to keep both girls. The women met in
:26:25. > :26:25.California after the longest period of separation ever recorded for
:26:26. > :26:28.twins. A reminder of our main news: Ukraine
:26:29. > :26:31.says pro-Russian militants have suffered what it called heavy losses
:26:32. > :26:33.during the government operation against the insurgent-controlled
:26:34. > :26:36.city of Sloviansk. Ukrainian forces are reported to
:26:37. > :26:49.have taken control of a number of checkpoints around the city. There
:26:50. > :26:51.have also been losses on the Ukrainian side. Thank you for being
:26:52. > :27:01.with us. Hello. It has been a cloudy day
:27:02. > :27:08.today and the cloud will continue to melt away tonight and it will turn
:27:09. > :27:10.cold. There will be patches of frost developing overnight even