:00:08. > :00:10.This is BBC World News Today with me Zeinab Badawi.
:00:11. > :00:13.Leaders of the G7 group of industrialised nations put Russia on
:00:14. > :00:22.stop backing the rebels there or face new deeper sanctions.
:00:23. > :00:29.It is the first meeting of the group since Russia's membership was
:00:30. > :00:33.suspended over the annexation of Crimea. In an exclusive interview
:00:34. > :00:42.with the BBC, the US defence secretary says Putin's actions have
:00:43. > :00:45.united Europe and NATO. World War II veterans gather at in northern
:00:46. > :00:52.France to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
:00:53. > :01:00.And it took six months to write, a decade to be published and it was
:01:01. > :01:01.the surprise winner of Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. We talked
:01:02. > :01:20.to the winning author Eimer McBride. Welcome to the programme. In
:01:21. > :01:24.Brussels, leaders of the G7 group of industrialised nations have want
:01:25. > :01:28.Russia to do more to end the crisis in Ukraine or face further sections.
:01:29. > :01:34.President Obama said Moscow should recognise Petro Poroshenko is really
:01:35. > :01:39.just a medley elected president of Ukraine and Russia should stop its
:01:40. > :01:52.backing for separatists in eastern Ukraine. -- is the legitimate
:01:53. > :01:56.elected resident. The club of the world's elite is
:01:57. > :02:02.shrinking. Today, just seven national leaders. A family photo
:02:03. > :02:11.tells the story of Russia's isolation. This was the grams eight
:02:12. > :02:18.a year ago. Then, Vladimir Putin was welcome by David Cameron, but the
:02:19. > :02:27.Russian president has been scrubbed out for now. -- this was the G8 a
:02:28. > :02:32.year ago. President Obama made his feelings clear. Harder sanctions
:02:33. > :02:46.will be on the wane if Russia does not stop interfering in Ukraine. Mr
:02:47. > :02:58.President, do you see a way of opening up a path? There is a path
:02:59. > :03:08.where Russia has the chance to talk directly with Petro Poroshenko. If
:03:09. > :03:12.he does not, it will undermine the sovereignty of Ukraine and we will
:03:13. > :03:18.have no choice but to respond. For now, there is no sign of an end to
:03:19. > :03:24.the violence in Ukraine as the fight for political control goes on. One
:03:25. > :03:35.rebel leader told the BBC that there is no going back. But when Vladimir
:03:36. > :03:47.Putin was asked if he would talk to leaders in Ukraine, the did not roll
:03:48. > :03:53.it out. Our correspondent is in Paris and
:03:54. > :03:59.joins us live. Talks have shifted from Brussels to Paris. Who is
:04:00. > :04:07.meeting who as we speak. It is rather complicated. Right now we
:04:08. > :04:25.have a meeting between resident Obama and the French president. --
:04:26. > :04:33.President Obama. There is an odd situation where President Hollande
:04:34. > :04:41.is having to dinners. He is with President Obama now and later he
:04:42. > :04:45.will talk to Putin. He has kept both leaders apart because they will not
:04:46. > :04:52.sit down together in public. It is all part of this diplomatic to wing
:04:53. > :05:01.and throwing which has hastily been rushed through so that tomorrow we
:05:02. > :05:15.have the D-Day commemorations, they will be overshadowed by what's going
:05:16. > :05:22.on. When President Hollande has another dinner with Vladimir Putin,
:05:23. > :05:30.what will happen? France said it will maintain its sales with Russia,
:05:31. > :05:38.despite criticism from Washington. It makes you wonder how unified that
:05:39. > :05:44.G7 message to Putin is. When it comes to Ukraine and talking to
:05:45. > :05:51.Poroshenko, no doubt President Hollande will be repeating the same
:05:52. > :06:00.message that David Cameron gave to Putin. But there is this other issue
:06:01. > :06:06.about the French sales of warships to Moscow. Moscow has said quite
:06:07. > :06:11.definitively to France, don't think of stopping this sale because if you
:06:12. > :06:15.do, you won't be selling anything else to us and also is a commercial
:06:16. > :06:20.contracts will be on the line. But there is pressure from the Americans
:06:21. > :06:24.not to go ahead with it. The French are determined to go ahead with it
:06:25. > :06:28.because it is important to them and it is half done anyway. These are
:06:29. > :06:36.two ships that will help the Russian military effort, for example, in the
:06:37. > :06:42.war against Georgia two or three years ago they would have made a
:06:43. > :06:46.difference. They are is a lot of criticism, but the French are keen
:06:47. > :06:55.to push ahead with it because they don't get big contracts like this
:06:56. > :06:58.everyday. Thank you very much. The US will be hoping that the G7
:06:59. > :07:04.message to President Putin is loud and clear. In an exclusive interview
:07:05. > :07:10.with the BBC, the US Defence Secretary said Vladimir Putin's
:07:11. > :07:18.actions had united Europe and NATO and given them, purpose. Our
:07:19. > :07:24.correspondence asked him first how much of a threat Russia poses to
:07:25. > :07:34.Europe at the moment. Based on its recent actions as it is essentially
:07:35. > :07:40.illegally annexed Crimea, put over 40,000 of its troops under Ukrainian
:07:41. > :07:45.border, I think those actions speak very clearly on what his interests
:07:46. > :07:50.are. We know the Russians are pulling a lot of those troops back,
:07:51. > :07:56.but many remain. It is critically important for NATO and all the
:07:57. > :08:01.European nations to recognise this very real threat and challenge to
:08:02. > :08:07.their security. A lot of East European countries are nervous about
:08:08. > :08:12.the Russian threat. Can you guarantee to NATO members in the
:08:13. > :08:18.east of Europe that you would defend under Article five every single inch
:08:19. > :08:28.of NATO territory? We have reassured and committed to that. We are very
:08:29. > :08:34.responsible members of NATO. We are committed to our 27 allies in NATO.
:08:35. > :08:41.Article five is not just a piece of paper. I said that once again in the
:08:42. > :08:45.last two days in Brussels. The president has made it clear. Our
:08:46. > :08:51.actions over the last few months have had some resonance on that
:08:52. > :09:01.point as we have moved rotational troop presence in the Baltics. So if
:09:02. > :09:10.Russia moved in, you would take action? Article five of the treaty
:09:11. > :09:18.is very clear. If any of those members of NATO are violated or
:09:19. > :09:23.invaded, then all of NATO, all of the 27 other members have a
:09:24. > :09:28.responsibility to come to the defence of our partners. We, just
:09:29. > :09:39.like the British, Germans and French have committed to this again and
:09:40. > :09:43.again. Let us talk about Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. You spoke to his
:09:44. > :09:46.family last night. How are they responding to be criticism in the
:09:47. > :09:53.public surrounding their son's release? His parents are strong
:09:54. > :10:01.people. Any of us who are parents, and I know you are one, so I might,
:10:02. > :10:10.has that dimension to ask whereby we don't care how much we are obligated
:10:11. > :10:17.professionally, we are a parent. I wanted to assure them we were doing
:10:18. > :10:22.everything we could. We need to rehabilitate him and get his health
:10:23. > :10:27.back so that he can be reunited with his family and brought back into
:10:28. > :10:33.society. I have been the target of the criticism, so I am aware of it.
:10:34. > :10:37.We did the right thing here. The president feels very strongly about
:10:38. > :10:49.this and so do I. I have into warm and I know a lot about it. -- I have
:10:50. > :10:56.been to war. Many American senators are not convinced. What was the
:10:57. > :11:02.urgency? What made you do it without going to Congress and saying, we
:11:03. > :11:10.want to give you a heads up? It was our judgement that his life and his
:11:11. > :11:17.health were in peril. Imminently? It is easy for us to sit here and look
:11:18. > :11:27.behind and say, 24 hours, 48 hours. It was our judgement, which was
:11:28. > :11:31.unanimous by the way, we all came to the same conclusion that we did not
:11:32. > :11:37.want to take any chances. Can you imagine if we would have waited or
:11:38. > :11:41.taken the chance of leaks over a 30 day period? I will tell you what I
:11:42. > :11:49.know, and I made a judgement on this as well. This would have imperilled
:11:50. > :11:52.getting him out. You are going to testify before Congress next week.
:11:53. > :11:53.Can you guarantee that the five detainees released from Grand Canyon
:11:54. > :11:59.Mowbray will be detainees released from Grand Canyon
:12:00. > :12:00.Mowbray held in the conditions that the United States would find
:12:01. > :12:26.tolerable? -- Montana Mowbray. I was satisfied that it was all
:12:27. > :12:34.mitigated enough that the risk for our... But the Taliban see this as a
:12:35. > :12:39.victory. They would not have released that video otherwise. Let's
:12:40. > :12:47.look at the bottom line. We have back in our possession our one
:12:48. > :12:54.prisoner of war that was still outstanding. That was the US Defence
:12:55. > :12:58.Secretary Chuck Hagel. Now some of the other news in brief. The Israeli
:12:59. > :13:07.government has announced plans to build about the Dean hundred new
:13:08. > :13:17.settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem -- 1500 new settler homes.
:13:18. > :13:24.The Palestinian leadership has threatened and unprecedented
:13:25. > :13:31.response to the settlement plan. Narendra Modi may visit Japan. There
:13:32. > :13:37.are some proposed dates and Visic could happen as early as June. The
:13:38. > :13:43.Indian president has a long working investment with Japan with companies
:13:44. > :14:00.investing in which a rat where he was chief minister. China has made a
:14:01. > :14:05.formal complaint to the US. It's regarding remarks made about ten and
:14:06. > :14:10.square. Many of it in Hong Kong to mark the 25th anniversary of the
:14:11. > :14:20.event, but all mention of it is forbidden in mainland China. Two
:14:21. > :14:24.those ceremonies to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day had begun. Many
:14:25. > :14:27.have gone to Normandy to honour those who gave their lives in the
:14:28. > :14:31.Second World War. This morning the Prince of Wales met some of the
:14:32. > :14:37.survivors and laid a wreath in their honour. This afternoon one veteran
:14:38. > :14:43.of the conflict played a special part in the commemorations.
:14:44. > :14:49.At the iconic bridge, Prince Charles, the colonel in charge of
:14:50. > :14:54.the Parachute Regiment, marked the loss of life in the surprise attack
:14:55. > :15:08.that was Faisal to be D-Day landings. We give thanks to the men
:15:09. > :15:12.of the glider regiment. In the hours before the seaborne assault, 181 men
:15:13. > :15:20.carried in gliders targeted bridges over which German been fulsome and
:15:21. > :15:30.could threaten Allied forces. -- German reinforcements. Then to this
:15:31. > :15:38.cafe, which is still owned by the same family that owned injuring
:15:39. > :15:39.D-Day. This veteran was badly wounded and returned for the first
:15:40. > :15:57.time. asked me to get down to the first
:15:58. > :16:03.aid post. I said, no thank you. I have never refused an order in my
:16:04. > :16:11.life, but I said I wanted to stay on the machine-gun post. 13,000 feet
:16:12. > :16:15.above the wartime object is, this veteran raced himself for another
:16:16. > :16:26.job. He had helped his unit sees a nearby town. Below him, and admiring
:16:27. > :16:32.audience watched him and his partner lands perfectly. Once I stuck my
:16:33. > :16:38.head out the door and I got a heave from the back, I was away. We
:16:39. > :16:45.trained for months and we landed with one purpose in mind and that
:16:46. > :16:50.was to liberate. 300 parachutes loss and. Men from Britain, France and
:16:51. > :16:54.Canada and the US, representing thousands who had plunged from the
:16:55. > :16:59.darkness to protect the landing beaches. Some who took part today
:17:00. > :17:05.had direct connections to those events. This man jumped in memory of
:17:06. > :17:11.his grandfather. My grandfather fought in the battle. He was one of
:17:12. > :17:19.the 20 survivors of the 100 that started the battle. There are fewer
:17:20. > :17:23.to tell their stories now but the sights and sounds remember by the
:17:24. > :17:24.veterans of the brotherhood who wear to tell their stories now but the
:17:25. > :17:27.sights and sounds remember by the red array. It is an honour to be
:17:28. > :17:31.here. sights and sounds remember by the
:17:32. > :17:38.red array. It is an I am 91 now. I feel like I want to cry. Tomorrow,
:17:39. > :17:43.veterans will hold their last formal parade. Some have already promised
:17:44. > :17:56.that as long as they are able, they will return here and they will
:17:57. > :18:01.remember. Our correspondent joins us now. What
:18:02. > :18:15.is going on in your neck of the woods? Commemorations get underway
:18:16. > :18:20.tomorrow. A flag will be put up tomorrow morning perhaps for the
:18:21. > :18:24.last time. The numbers of veterans have dwindled and we are down to the
:18:25. > :18:29.final moment where that flag can fly over this part of the beach. A
:18:30. > :18:35.ceremony has just been undertaken. It has been a remarkable day. Where
:18:36. > :18:41.we are, to the right of me are the beaches of Utah and Omaha, the
:18:42. > :18:47.American beaches. And to my left of the British and Canadian beaches.
:18:48. > :18:53.Tomorrow, it is 70 years since 155,000 Allied troops stormed these
:18:54. > :19:02.beaches and change the course of the Second World War. It became known as
:19:03. > :19:06.The Longest Day. You will see a lot of re-enactments of those 70 years.
:19:07. > :19:16.But members of the Royal family will be here tomorrow for a more sombre
:19:17. > :19:20.occasion. The focus will be on the veterans themselves and about 100 of
:19:21. > :19:32.them will be taking the salute. The US President, Barack Obama,
:19:33. > :19:34.has signalled his unease at the prospect of Scottish independence.
:19:35. > :19:37.Asked about the referendum which is only three months away, the
:19:38. > :19:44.President said the issue is one for the Scottish people but he felt that
:19:45. > :19:46.the UK works pretty well as it is. Our correspondent Lorna Gordon is
:19:47. > :20:00.in Glasgow. It has been dubbed the special
:20:01. > :20:07.relationship. A decades-old military and diplomatic relationship between
:20:08. > :20:12.the US and the UK. So any contributions about Scotland and its
:20:13. > :20:18.future, none have been as significant as this. The United
:20:19. > :20:20.Kingdom has been an extraordinary partner to us. From the outside at
:20:21. > :20:29.least, it looks like things have worked pretty well. We obviously
:20:30. > :20:38.have a deep interest in making sure that one of the closest allies that
:20:39. > :20:43.we will ever have remains strong, robust United and an effective
:20:44. > :20:49.partner. The US will be watching closely what happens in Scotland.
:20:50. > :20:53.Faslane on the Clyde is home to Trident, the UK's nuclear weapons
:20:54. > :20:59.system and the US maintains the missiles. The US have said if
:21:00. > :21:09.Scotland were independent, there would be no nuclear weapons on
:21:10. > :21:13.Scottish soil. I think his remarks are well judged. This is a matter
:21:14. > :21:20.for Scottish people, it is our democratic choice. We are aware we
:21:21. > :21:28.are in a position to make the democratic choice as a nation. But
:21:29. > :21:32.also welcoming his comments, those campaigning to keep the union in
:21:33. > :21:34.place. I wasn't surprised, but they will be seen as a significant
:21:35. > :21:38.intervention in the referendum debate because they reflect what so
:21:39. > :21:44.many of us in Scotland believe. The impact of the comments is yet
:21:45. > :21:48.unclear. It is not obvious how this intervention will be viewed by those
:21:49. > :21:53.deciding on how they will vote in a little over 100 days.
:21:54. > :21:57.in Glasgow. As we reported on Wednesday, the
:21:58. > :22:02.Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction has been won by Eimear McBride for
:22:03. > :22:06.her debut novel 'A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing?. The prize is
:22:07. > :22:09.awarded to any woman writing in English whatever her nationality,
:22:10. > :22:13.age or subject matter. Eimear McBride received the award at the
:22:14. > :22:16.Royal Festival Hall in London and joins an impressive list of winners
:22:17. > :22:23.including Rose Tremain, Zadie Smith and Lionel Shriver.
:22:24. > :22:28.I'm pleased to say Eimear McBride is with me.
:22:29. > :22:44.Congratulations. You were very surprised? I was, I wasn't expect
:22:45. > :22:48.ting it. It is a gritty novel based on a young woman's relationship with
:22:49. > :22:53.her brother who has a brain tumour? It is close to my own heart and I
:22:54. > :22:57.was interested in those themes of struggle and what it is like for
:22:58. > :23:06.people in a closed society to deal with problems that can't be spoken
:23:07. > :23:13.about. Why close to your own heart? I lost a brother to a brain tumour.
:23:14. > :23:17.It was the beginning of the story and then I explored it in a
:23:18. > :23:25.different way. But it is totally fiction? It is, yes. You were
:23:26. > :23:27.praised by the judges to have a novel that stood out. What kind of
:23:28. > :23:38.message did you want to relate to people? Part of the inventiveness of
:23:39. > :23:41.the book is about its language and linguistic structure. What I was
:23:42. > :23:48.interested in as a writer is create a different reading experience, so
:23:49. > :23:55.the reader would have an unmediated experience between the protagonist
:23:56. > :24:01.and the reader and the author would disappear from that relationship
:24:02. > :24:05.altogether. Your fellow Irish novelist has described you as a
:24:06. > :24:11.genius. But there are some reviews who say it is a difficult book at
:24:12. > :24:17.the beginning to read. Are you there to please everybody or is it just
:24:18. > :24:23.for a certain kind of reader? I would contest it is very difficult.
:24:24. > :24:27.It is unusual on the page when you look at it, there are short
:24:28. > :24:39.sentences and there isn't a lot of actuation beyond a full stop. But
:24:40. > :24:45.people soon forget about the style and don't find it difficult. It took
:24:46. > :24:52.you six months to write but nearly a decade to get published. It was
:24:53. > :24:58.rejected a lot. There is a moral to other budding novelists, persevere?
:24:59. > :25:01.! Publishers were possibly cynical about their readers and the ability
:25:02. > :25:07.of their readers to be interested in challenging subjects and books
:25:08. > :25:11.written in a challenging style. I think the success of this will
:25:12. > :25:16.provide an incentive for publishers to be a bit more adventurous in the
:25:17. > :25:21.future. You did remarkably well with your Debian novel, are you working
:25:22. > :25:28.on a second one? I have been working on the second one for about five
:25:29. > :25:34.years. It has similar themes but taken from a different. I am still
:25:35. > :25:39.interested in language and what that can be made to do. I am evolving the
:25:40. > :25:45.style I discovered and hopefully taking it further. You have gone
:25:46. > :25:49.from being an actress to now becoming a novelist and clearly a
:25:50. > :25:58.successful one. I shall go and read your book. Thank you very much.
:25:59. > :26:03.A reminder of our main story. Leaders of the G-7 group of
:26:04. > :26:06.industrialised nations have warned Russia to do more to end the crisis
:26:07. > :26:14.in Ukraine or face further sanctions. President Obama said they
:26:15. > :26:17.should recognise the newly elected President of Ukraine and Russia
:26:18. > :26:21.should stop the backing for the separatists in eastern Ukraine.
:26:22. > :26:26.President Putin is in Paris where he has been holding talks with G7
:26:27. > :26:32.leaders. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the US defence
:26:33. > :26:41.secretary has said Vladimir Putin's actions had united Europe and NATO
:26:42. > :26:44.and given them common purpose. He was speaking about this as well as
:26:45. > :26:49.the recent release of the US soldier from Afghanistan. That is it for
:26:50. > :27:03.now, next is the weather. Good night.
:27:04. > :27:10.Thursday turned out to be a disappointing day. For many it will
:27:11. > :27:11.feel a little bit warmer and for