BBC News:联大通过决议宣布克里米亚公投为非法
The United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution, declaring that theRussian-backed referendum in Crimea was illegal, and supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity.One hundred nations in the UN chamber approved the revolution with 11 against and 58abstentions. The BBC correspondent at the UN Nick Bryant says the resolution will have littlepractical effect.
It's a non-binding resolution, so really is a symbolic value more than anything meaningful.There is nothing in it that can be enforced to legally, that it is really a key decision-makingbody, the United Nations Security Council. And Russia always uses its veto to protect itself andsome of its allies from punitive measures from UN and it's done that already in an insistence toserve Ukraine.
An angry crowd of about 2,000 far-right protesters have marched on the Ukrainian parliament,demanding the resignation of the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. The protesters from thenationalist group Right Sector blamed Mr. Avakov for the death of one of their senior membersearlier this week. A BBC correspondent at the scenes says the crowd's mood as aggressivewith shouts of “shame! shame! ”
Turkey has blocked access to the video-sharing website Youtube after the posting of an allegedaudio recording of senior ministers discussing a possible military operation in Syria. TheTurkish foreign ministry described the video as an attack on national security, and said somesections of it had been manipulated. James Reynolds reports from Istanbul.
In recent months in Turkey, an anonymous internet user with apparent high-level access hasposted online a series of wiretap recordings. The recordings include private phone calls made bythis country's most senior officials. This afternoon, the user posted on Youtube a recordingwhich appeared to show National Security officials recently discussing their options inneighbouring Syria. Almost as soon as the recording was posted, the Turkish government wona court order to block Youbute.
And purports are coming in that the ban on Youtube has just been removed.
The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva has voted in favor of a resolution tolaunch an international inquiry into alleged war crimes committed during the Sri Lankan CivilWar. The Sri Lankan president rejected the resolution , saying it would hurt the government'sown reconciliation efforts. Charles Haviland reports.
The document expresses serious concern as things alleged to be still going on in Sri Lanka,including the intimidation of the civil society, disappearances and torture. But the call forconcrete action comes in a request to the office of Navi Pillay, the UN's Human Rights chief.The resolution asks it to conduct an investigation into what it calls alleged serious violationsand abuses of human rights by both the government and the Tamil Tigers in the seven yearsthat led up to the end of the war. It also refers to related crimes, an apparent reference toalleged war crimes. The Sri Lankan representative called the resolution biased.
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A British court has recorded an open verdict to the inquest into the death of the formerRussian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. The coroner said that contradictory evidence meant hewas unable to conclude whether the businessman took his own life or was killed. Mr.Berezovsky was found dead near London a year ago. A friend expert hired by Mr. Berezovsky'sfamily said marks on his neck and face suggested he was murdered.
The main opposition party in EI Salvador has said it accepts defeat in a tightly-foughtpresidential election held earlier this month after losing several appeals to get a vote recount.The opposition candidate Norman Quijano narrowly lost the vote by less than one percentagepoint. He alleged that the votes to his rival, the former Mexist rebel Salvador Sanchez Cerenhad been counted twice.
The health authorities in Guinea have for the first time confirmed four cases of the deadlyEbola virus in the capital Conakry. Until now, the 62 confirmed deaths from Ebola have onlybeen in rural areas. There have also been suspected cases in neighbouring Liberia and SierraLeone. Thomas Fessy reports from the region.
These latest cases mean the deadly virus has reached Conakry for the first time. The newscomes a day after health authorities in Guinea suggested that the deadly fever had beenconfirmed to a southern region. But the spread to Conakry highlights how difficult it can be tofind such a virus when there is so much human movement around the country. Neighbouringstates have all put their health services on high alert, and say they've reinforced health checkson border points.
A new study of data from Europe and North America has linked the banning of smoking in publicplaces with the 10% fall in premature birth. The number of children admitted to hospital withasthma also dropped by the same amount in places with the smoking ban according toscientists from Scotland. Anti-smoking legislation currently effects less than 1/6 of the world'spopulation.
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