Ferry students 'floated from cabins'

28 July 2014 Last updated at 08:50

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Students who survived the Sewol disaster described being "swept off their feet" as the ship began to sink, reports Lucy Williamson

Students who survived South Korea's ferry disaster have described escaping from flooded cabins as the ship sank.

The students had obeyed the crew's orders to stay put, even as water started coming in as the Sewol listed.

Students floated up to cabin doors - by now overhead - and were pulled out by their classmates.

The Sewol ferry sank on 16 April off Jeju island, killing 304 people. The students were testifying at the trial of the ship's crew.

"We were waiting and, when the water started coming in, the class rep told everyone to put on the life vests," Reuters news agency quoted one student as saying.

"The door was above our heads, so she said, 'We'll float and go through the door' and that's how we came out.

"Other kids who got out before us pulled us out."

Most of those who died on the Sewol were teenagers from the same high school who were on a school trip.

The crew are charged with negligence and abandoning ship. The captain and three officers are also charged with "homicide through wilful negligence".

Investigators say the ferry had been illegally modified to carry more passengers and cargo, and was overloaded.

But prosecutors say the actions of the captain and crew - including instructing passengers to stay in their cabins as the ship listed - led to more deaths.

Swept back

Monday marked the first time students had given evidence at the trial.

They are testifying at a district court near their homes near Seoul, rather than at the actual trial in the southern city of Gwangju.

One witness told the court passengers received multiple instructions to stay put.

"They kept saying the same thing over and over," AFP quoted the student as saying.

Another student described escaping through a stairwell to a hatch and jumping into the sea, as a swell hit.

"There were many classmates in the corridor and most of them were swept back into the ship," she said.

The disaster caused shock and outrage in South Korea, including harsh criticism of both bureaucrats and business officials whose alleged failings or corruption led to the tragedy.

Officials from ferry operator Chonghaejin Marine are also the subject of separate legal proceedings.

Earlier this month, police identified a body found on 12 June as company owner Yoo Byung-eun, who had been the subject of a man-hunt since the disaster.

His son, Yoo Dae-kyun, was arrested on Friday.

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MH17 downing 'may be war crime'

28 July 2014 Last updated at 12:26

The downing of the Malaysia Airlines jet in eastern Ukraine may constitute a "war crime," the UN's Navi Pillay says.

Pro-Russia Ukrainian rebels and the Ukrainian authorities have accused each other of shooting down flight MH17.

A Ukrainian official said on Monday that MH17's data recorders show it came down due to "massive explosive decompression" caused by a rocket.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting has again prevented an international police force from reaching the crash site.

The Ukrainian military said it was battling separatists for control of several towns near the site in eastern Ukraine.

All 298 people on board the airliner - mostly Dutch - died on 17 July.

'War crime'

International police want to help secure the huge site so that plane wreckage and human remains can be examined by international crash experts.

Most of the bodies have been removed, many of them repatriated to the Netherlands.

"This violation of international law, given the prevailing circumstances, may amount to a war crime," Ms Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said of the downing of MH17.

"Every effort will be made to ensure that anyone committing serious violations of international law including war crimes will be brought to justice, no matter who they are," Ms Pillay said.

Ms Pillay spoke as the latest UN report on Ukraine suggested at least 1,129 people have been killed and 3,442 wounded in the Ukraine conflict since mid-April.

The conflict has displaced more than 200,000 people, many of whom have fled east to neighbouring Russia.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian security spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters on Monday that recovered flight data showed the aircraft crashed due to a massive, explosive loss of pressure after being punctured multiple times by shrapnel.

Flight MH17's two black boxes are currently being analysed by aviation experts in the UK.

Shelling

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he hoped monitors from the OSCE international security body would be able to deploy on the Ukraine-Russia border in the next few days.

In a statement on Monday, the Ukrainian military said it had "entered" the towns of Shakhtarsk and Torez and was working to seize control of Pervomaysk and Snizhne - all close to the crash site of MH17.

A team of Australian and Dutch police and forensic experts abandoned attempts to reach the site on Monday due to the security situation in the area. It was the second failed attempt in as many days.

The army is also trying to take control of two main roads in eastern Ukraine, which the government in Kiev believes to be vital supply lines from Russia for rebel forces in Donetsk.

In the past 24 hours there has been heavy artillery fire at the city of Horlivka, where several civilians were killed.

In the city of Donetsk at least three people died in shelling too, the municipal authorities say. And there are reports of civilian casualties as a result of the shelling of Luhansk, which is also held by the rebels.

Last week, the US-based Human Rights Watch said both sides in the conflict were using unguided Grad rockets against civilian areas, in violation of human rights norms, and urged them to stop doing so. It documented several attacks in which, it said, the rockets were apparently fired by government forces.

The US has produced what it calls satellite evidence that rockets have been fired at Ukrainian forces from Russian soil.

Russia denies that any of its forces are helping the rebels.

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Aruba frees top Venezuela official

28 July 2014 Last updated at 01:19

Top Venezuelan official Gen Hugo Carvajal has been released by the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, after being detained over US accusations of drug-trafficking activities.

The US Treasury said he had been protecting drug shipments by Colombian Farc rebels.

But a judge on the island said Gen Carvajal had a diplomatic passport and that his arrest was illegal.

He had been appointed by Venezuela as its consul in Aruba.

Aruba, which is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is located 27km (17 miles) north of Venezuela.

In a statement, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said Gen Carvajal would be brought home.

"A plane is taking off at this moment ... to go and pick up our comrade Hugo Carvajal," he said.

Gen Carvajal was head of Venezuela's military intelligence between 2004 and 2009.

He was a close ally of the late president, Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer last year.

In 2008, the US Treasury accused him and another senior Venezuelan official of "materially assisting the narcotics trafficking activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc)".

Mr Chavez rejected the allegations at the time.

The US Treasury announcement came a day after Venezuela expelled the American ambassador to Caracas for allegedly backing an aborted right-wing plot against Mr Chavez.

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Lightning kills man on US beach

28 July 2014 Last updated at 10:05

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Lightning struck people on Venice Beach, as Wendy Urquhart reports

One man has been killed and several people have been hurt after lightning strikes on crowded Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California.

The lightning struck amid a rare summer thunderstorm, spreading panic among bathers and visitors.

Lifeguards fanned out across the beach and the water to attend to the injured, many of whom were treated at the scene.

Elsewhere in California, emergency crews are battling to contain wildfires that are threatening hundreds of homes.

At least 14 homes have reportedly been destroyed in the fires, which have blazed across drought-stricken grassland and forest.

A fire in the Sacramento region has spread to cover an area of about 4,000 acres, while another blaze has been threatening homes around Yosemite National Park.

'Big flash of light'

The man killed at Venice Beach is said to have been 20 years old. The exact cause of his death is not yet known, and it is unclear if he was struck directly.

Witnesses say the sky darkened suddenly and screams filled the air as the storm hit the beach on Sunday afternoon. Eight people were admitted to hospital.

One of the injured is said to be in a critical condition. Several people received treatment for milder symptoms, including anxiety.

Stuart Acher told KABC-TV he was hit by lightning while playing volleyball.

"All of a sudden there was a big flash of light and a boom, and it felt like someone punched me in the back of my head," he told the station.

"It went down the whole side of my right body, and my calves sort of locked up, and I fell over. And I looked up and everybody else was, you know, falling over."

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Footage shows the flames engulf huge parts of the Californian countryside

Steve Christensen told Associated Press news agency that his friend had tried to help lifeguards searching for a missing swimmer.

"He went out to the water to find him and walked right into him," he said. "He was face down on the bottom."

Lightning also hit Catalina Island, near Los Angeles.

A 57-year-old man who was playing golf was injured in the strike. His condition is said to be stable.

Until the latest strike, at least 15 people had been killed this year by lightning in the US, according to the National Weather Service.

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Fears over massive Libya fuel fire

28 July 2014 Last updated at 10:18

Libya has requested international assistance to put out a fire at a large fuel storage site in Tripoli that was hit by a rocket during militia clashes.

The huge blaze could cause a "humanitarian and environmental disaster," the government has warned.

It is the largest facility in Tripoli, containing 6.6 million litres of fuel.

At least 97 people have been killed in fighting between rival militia groups battling for control of Tripoli's main airport in the past week.

Fighting in the eastern city of Benghazi has also intensified, with at least 38 people killed in clashes between troops loyal to the Libyan government and Islamist fighters on Sunday.

Calls for evacuation

A statement by the prime minister's office said it had requested international assistance "as a precaution".

"Several countries have expressed their willingness to send planes and a team of experts who specialise in putting out the flames," it continues.

Residents within 3-5km (2-3 miles) of the area have been urged to evacuate, amid fears of a massive explosion if tanks are breached.

But evacuations could be difficult, warns the BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli, due to the precarious security situation.

The fuel storage site, which belongs to the Brega oil and gas company, is the main hub for distribution of petrol in the city.

It is located on the main airport road, where much of the fighting of the past two weeks between rival militias has been taking place.

Officials have called on rival militias to cease fire in order to allow firefighters to do their job.

Militias controlling large parts of the country are behind Libya's worst violence since the 2011 uprising that toppled Col Muammar Gaddafi.

On Sunday, France and Germany joined the US and UK in advising their nationals in Libya to leave immediately.

It comes after the UN, US and Turkey announced they were withdrawing staff from Libya due to the surge in violence.

Libyan government officials have warned of the possibility of a break-up of the country if clashes over Tripoli airport continue.

Members of the Islamist Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (LROR) are trying to seize control of the airport, which has been in the hands of the Zintan militia since the overthrow of Col Gaddafi.

The government has been unable to disarm the numerous armed groups that took part in the 2011 uprising and which have divided the country.

In Benghazi, a coalition of forces including the army have been led by a rogue former general Khalifa Haftar for months.

They say they aim to dislodge Islamist militants from the city.

Are you in Libya? Are you in Tripoli or Benghazi? Do you have friends and family in the country? Please share your experiences, photos and videos by contacting haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject 'Libya fighting'. Please include contact details if you feel it is safe to do so.

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Yukos shareholders win $50bn payout

28 July 2014 Last updated at 12:08

A court in the Hague has awarded shareholders in the defunct Russian oil company Yukos the largest compensation package to date.

The Court of Arbitration said Russia should pay $50bn (£29.5bn) in damages.

It said Russian officials, under President Putin, had manipulated the legal system to bankrupt Yukos, and jail its boss, Mikhail Khodorkovsky for fraud and tax evasion.

Russia's Foreign Minister said Russia would most likely appeal the decision.

Yukos was once the country's largest oil producer.

'Major step'

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "The Russian side, those agencies which represent Russia in this process, will no doubt use all available legal possibilities to defend its position."

The claim was filed by a subsidiary for the financial holding company GML, once the biggest shareholder in Yukos Oil Co.

GML Executive Director Tim Osborne said: "The majority shareholders of Yukos Oil were left without compensation for the loss of their investment when Russia illegally expropriated Yukos."

"It is a major step forward for the majority shareholders, who have been battling for over 10 years for this decision."

'Historic'

In addition to forcing the company into bankruptcy, Russia also sold Yukos' assets to state-owned businesses for political purposes, according to the claimant's lawyer Emmanuel Gaillard.

Mr Gaillard said: "This is an historic award. It is now judicially established that the Russian Federation's actions were not a legitimate exercise in tax collection but, rather, were aimed at destroying Yukos and illegally expropriating its assets for the benefit of State instrumentalities Rosneft and Gazprom."

Yukos was disbanded in 2007 after filing for bankruptcy in 2006.

The company was formerly controlled by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was at one point Russia's richest man. Responding to the news, Mr Khordorkovsky said it was "fantastic" that shareholders were "being given chance to recover assets".

Mr Khodorkovsky built Yukos into Russia's largest investor-owned oil company after the fall of the Soviet Union.

He was arrested in 2003 and spent ten years in jail after being convicted of fraud and tax evasion but was pardoned last December.

The state-owned Rosneft bought the bulk of Yukos assets though auctions after the company was declared bankrupt. It says all the deals were legal.

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Liberia shuts borders to curb Ebola

28 July 2014 Last updated at 12:12

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Ebola has no vaccine and no cure as Emily Thomas reports.

Most border crossings in Liberia have been closed and communities hit by an Ebola outbreak face quarantine to try to halt the spread of the virus.

Screening centres are also being set up at the few major entry points that will remain open, such as the main airport.

Meanwhile, Nigeria largest's airline, Arik Air, has suspended all flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone after a man with Ebola flew to Nigeria last week.

The virus has killed at least 660 people in West Africa since February.

The outbreak began in southern Guinea and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. It is the world's deadliest so far.

Nigeria has put all its entry points on red alert after confirming that a Liberian man died of Ebola after arriving at Lagos airport on Tuesday.

Ebola since 1976

Latest WHO update on West Africa outbreak

Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected, but patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.

It spreads through contact with an infected person's bodily fluids.

Arik Air said it took the decision to halt flights as a precautionary measure.

"We feel especially compelled to take the business decision to immediately suspend flight services into the two Ebola affected countries due to our interest in the well-being of Nigerians," the airline, which operates routes across West Africa, said in a statement.

"We humbly suggest that as a first step, all inbound flights into Nigeria which originate from any of the Ebola affected countries, be immediately suspended," it added.

In a statement on Sunday night, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said the special Ebola task force she was heading would ensure that "communities that are seriously affected will be quarantined and travels in and out of such communities restricted".

The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in the capital, Monrovia, says her new orders include strict observation at the international airport of all outgoing and incoming passengers, who are now liable for inspection and testing.

All government facilities and public places are to install public access for washing of hands and all hotels, restaurants, and film centres are to play five-minute information clips on Ebola awareness and prevention.

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The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the world's largest

Over the weekend prominent Liberian doctor Samuel Brisbane died after a three-week battle with the virus.

President Johnson Sirleaf urged people to co-operate with health workers and Ebola awareness campaigners.

Last month she warned that anyone caught hiding suspected Ebola patients would be prosecuted.

Experts say the disease creates fear within communities and sick people are often stigmatised.

Liberian Senator Peter Coleman, a doctor and former health minister, told the BBC authorities needed to approach religious leaders to spread the message about Ebola as "people don't seem to believe anything the government now says".

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Fatality rate can reach 90%
• Incubation period is two to 21 days
• There is no vaccine or cure
• Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
• Fruit bats are considered to be virus' natural host

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Uneasy calm in Gaza after UN call

28 July 2014 Last updated at 12:45

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Martin Patience in Gaza: "Many Palestinians will think there isn't a great deal to celebrate"

Sporadic attacks by both Israel and Palestinian militants have punctuated a lull in fighting after the quietest night in the 21-day conflict.

There were no Israeli air strikes overnight though they resumed in the morning after a rocket hit the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Earlier the UN Security Council urged a halt to hostilities to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Israel launched its offensive three weeks ago after a surge in rocket fire.

More than 1,030 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 43 Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians have been killed. A Thai national in Israel has also died.

The Security Council called on Sunday night for an "immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza over and beyond the holiday period.

Both the Palestinian and Israeli envoys to the UN criticised the statement, for different reasons.

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Ian Pannell reports on the intense bombardment in Gaza

At the scene: Martin Patience, BBC News, Gaza

I think the big hope here is that the patchwork of ceasefires we have seen in the past couple of days will become more sustainable and durable, that through international pressure we will see the ceasefires hold and hostilities end.

This was perhaps the quietest night in the Gaza Strip that we've seen in the three weeks since this operation began. Today marks the start of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, and it is a festival which is supposed to last three days, so people here will certainly welcome the quiet.

But the reality is that there is not a great deal to celebrate in Gaza. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, most of them civilians. More than 100,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes. So people will welcome this respite but there is still uncertainty.

'Night of prayers'

Israel's military launched three air strikes on rocket sites after the rocket attack on Ashkelon.

A boy aged four was killed in one of the strikes, Gaza's health ministry said.

Rockets were also fired at the Sdot Negev and Eshkol districts of Israel, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reports.

An Israeli soldier was wounded in northern Gaza where the military wing of Hamas, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said it had "clashed" with Israeli infantry.

Gazans have been praying and visiting the graves of relatives and friends killed during the 21-day conflict.

"Eid here is limited to religious activities, some of the displaced people have returned to inspect their destroyed homes," the BBC's Rushdi Abualouf in Gaza said in a tweet. On a normal Eid, he added, "Palestinians visit their relatives, kids play in the streets".

Traffic on Gaza's roads and foot traffic in its markets was sparse, Haaretz reports. "Those that weren't hit and still left their homes only looked for basic needs, perhaps for their children, all we did tonight was pray for a lull in the fighting and pray for better days," a Gaza resident told the paper.

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Orla Guerin reports on Israel's response to rocket attacks

"The situation now is an unlimited truce," Israel's chief military spokesman, Brig Gen Motti Almoz, told Israel Radio. "The IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] is free to attack after any fire if there is any."

The UN Security Council called for a "durable" truce based on an Egyptian initiative, under which a pause in hostilities would lead to substantive talks on the future of Gaza, including the opening of Gaza's border crossings.

The Palestinian representative at the UN, Riyad Mansour, said the statement did not go far enough and that a formal resolution was needed demanding that Israel withdraw its forces from Gaza.

Israel's ambassador Ron Prosor accused the Security Council statement of bias for not mentioning Hamas and the firing of rockets at Israel.

Opinion polls published at the weekend suggest there is still widespread support among Israelis for the military operation.

At the scene: Bethany Bell, BBC News, Jerusalem

While Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing increasing international pressure for a long-term ceasefire with Hamas, at home there is strong public support for the army's offensive in Gaza. A poll published by Israel's Channel 10 television on Sunday suggested 87% of Israelis were in favour of continuing the Gaza operation - and just 7% wanted a full ceasefire.

There are concerns about the rising number of casualties among Israeli soldiers but people here want the rocket fire on Israel to stop. The sound of sirens over central and southern Israel has become part of everyday life. And many are very concerned about the new threat posed by the network of cross-border tunnels from Gaza.

At her home on a kibbutz close to the Gaza border, one woman said she was afraid. Rockets can be intercepted by Iron Dome, she told me, referring to Israel's missile defence system. "But there's no Iron Dome protection against Hamas fighters coming up through the tunnels to kidnap and kill us," she added.

Pressure on Obama

US President Barack Obama called for an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

A long-term solution, he added, would have to allow "Palestinians in Gaza to lead normal lives" and "must ensure the disarmament of terrorist groups and the demilitarisation of Gaza".

Israel launched its military offensive on 8 July with the declared objective of stopping Hamas, the Islamist group which controls Gaza, firing rockets from Gaza into Israel.

On 18 July, it extended operations with a ground offensive, saying it was necessary to destroy tunnels dug by militants to infiltrate Israel.

Are you in Israel or Gaza? How are you affected by the situation? Email your experiences to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject 'Israel Gaza'.

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Operatic tenor Bergonzi dies aged 90

27 July 2014 Last updated at 12:13

Italian opera singer Carlo Bergonzi, considered a leading performer of Verdi's work, has died aged 90.

During a career spanning 40 years, Bergonzi performed a string of stage roles, making his debut as a tenor at Milan's La Scala in 1953.

His voice was captured on numerous recordings, including one of every major Verdi operatic aria, which was made in 1976.

After his retirement, he continued to work as a teacher.

He also ran a Verdi singing competition and managed a hotel.

He was regularly performing well into his 60s, and at the age of 75 undertook the demanding title role in Verdi's Othello at New York's Carnegie Hall, amongst a roster of stars including Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras.

But the role was too challenging and Bergonzi withdrew part way into the performance and was replaced by his understudy.

Gramophone magazine praised the performer's "power and longevity" but added it was "never at the expense of a sweet legato line, near-perfect diction and beauty of sound".

His vocal prowess extended across a whole range of recorded operatic material, including La Boheme, Madame Butterfly and Lucia di Lammermoor.

However, he made his debut in 1948 as a baritone but soon came to realise that he was more suited to tenor roles. No recordings of his brief spell in that range exist.

He was careful not to push his voice beyond its natural confines, which extended his performing career.

Bergonzi was the first to admit that his physique and stage presence were less than ideal for the operatic stage, telling the New York Times in 1981: "I know I don't look like Rudolph Valentino."

He added: "I know what a proper physique should be for the parts I sing, but I have tried to learn to act through the voice. The proper, pure expression of the line is the most important thing."

During World War Two, Bergonzi was held in a Nazi prisoner of war camp for three years, and returned to resume his singing career which had begun as a youth in the church choir.

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Naked body art enlivens New York

27 July 2014 Last updated at 11:05

A group of artists in New York have painted a group of 40 nude models in public to celebrate the human form.

The bodypainting session in Central Park was followed by a march along Broadway and a photo shoot in the city's Times Square.

Artist Andy Golub claimed New York was the only US city where the bodypainting day would be allowed.

However, he and a model were arrested in 2011 after a naked body art session in the city.

The brush with the authorities led model Zoe West to take legal action which led to the payment of a $15,000 (£8,835) settlement.

Public nudity as part of a performance or a show is permitted in New York. As the organiser, Golub was granted a licence to hold Saturday's event which had the agreement of police.

Golub says on his website that "art shouldn't be limited to canvases or bound to be in only indoor spaces. To me, art is about self-discovery and sharing it with people".

Organisers also offered members of the public a chance to have their bodies painted at an evening event to celebrate the day of nude body art.

Earlier this month, the World Bodypainting Festival was held in the Austrian town of Poertschach am Woerthersee, which was a display of vibrant designs created by artists from 47 countries.

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