Slave and Gravity share Oscar spoils

3 March 2014 Last updated at 02:22 ET

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All the best bits of the Oscars in three minutes

Historical drama 12 Years a Slave has won best picture at the 86th Academy Awards, while space drama Gravity won the lion's share of awards.

Gravity's Alfonso Cuaron became the first Latin American to win the best director award, adding to the film's six Oscars for technical achievement.

Cate Blanchett was named best actress for her portrayal of the heroine in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.

Matthew McConaughey won the best actor Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club.

It is the second consecutive year the best director and best picture prize have been awarded to different films.

Cuaron praised the "transformative" power of film and singled out the film's star Sandra Bullock as "the soul, the heart of Gravity".

The film - which took five years to complete, and owes much to the technical prowess of British visual effects specialists - also won Oscars for film editing, sound mixing, sound editing, cinematography, visual effects and original score.

Continue reading the main story

Gravity - 7 awards

12 Years a Slave - 3 awards

Dallas Buyers Club - 3 awards

Frozen - 2 awards

The Great Gatsby - 2 awards

Blue Jasmine - 1 award

Her - 1 award

Steve McQueen, the British director of 12 Years a Slave, dedicated the best picture Oscar to "all those people who have endured slavery".

"Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live," he said. "This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup."

Based on a true story, it follows the life of a free black man - Northup - who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana.

Producer Brad Pitt praised "the indomitable Mr McQueen" - a Turner Prize winning artist-turned-director - for "bringing them all together" to tell Northup's story.

Newcomer Lupita Nyong'o won the best supporting actress award for her film debut as slave worker Patsey.

The Kenyan actress paid tribute to her character and thanked her for her "guidance": "It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's," said the star, who turned 31 this weekend.

The film won a third Oscar for John Ridley's adapted screenplay. "All the praise goes to Northup," Ridley said, "these are his words".

Spike Jonze collected the best original screenplay for Her. Jonze's first film as sole writer and director stars Joaquin Phoenix as a man who falls in love with a computer operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

As predicted, McConaughey took the best actor prize for his role as real life rodeo cowboy Ron Woodroof, who smuggled HIV drugs into the US.

The 44-year-old actor, formerly a rom-com regular whose roles centred on his good looks, lost 50lbs (23kg) to play Woodroof in the low budget indie drama.

During his speech, he thanked God "because that's who I look up to".

"He's graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand," he added.

Best actress winner Blanchett paid tribute to her rivals, including Dame Judi Dench - who was not at the ceremony - acknowledging "the random and subjective" nature of awards ceremonies.

McConaughey's co-star Jared Leto won the first Oscar of the night, picking up best supporting actor for his role as transgender woman who becomes Woodruff's business partner and unlikely friend.

In an emotional speech Leto thanked his mother, who accompanied him to the awards, "for teaching me to dream" and dedicated his award to "those who have ever felt injustice because of who they are, or who you love".

"This is for the 36 million people out there who have lost the battle to Aids," said the 30 Seconds to Mars frontman, whose last film was six years ago.

Dallas Buyers Club also picked up a third award for make up and hairstyling - with the transformation of Leto and his co-star, Matthew McConaughey, rumoured to have been achieved on a budget of $250 (£150).

Frozen, which recently tipped $1bn (£600m) at the global box office, scored two Oscars.

The 3D film about an icy princess and her sister was named best animated feature film, with its song, Let It Go - performed by star Idina Menzel - winning best original song. It is loosely based on The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.

The Great Gatsby also picked up two Oscars, for costume design and production design. The awards were picked up by Baz Luhrmann's partner Catherine Martin.

But there were no awards for David O Russell's American Hustle, which had 10 nominations, including nods in all the acting categories. Nor were there any awards for Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street.

The first British win of the night came for Tim Webber and his team from London-based company Framestore for their visual effects work on Gravity.

Webber paid tribute to his team, Gravity actors George Clooney and Bullock and director Cuaron "for having the vision to create this breath-taking film and the audacity to make it happen".

The second British win of the night went to director Malcolm Clarke, who won an Oscar for his documentary short The Lady in Number Six: Music Saved My Life.

The film follows Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest known survivor of the Nazi Holocaust and an accomplished pianist. Paying tribute to Herz-Sommer, who died last week at the age of 110, he praised "her extraordinary capacity for joy and amazing capacity for forgiveness".

"She taught everyone on my crew to be a little bit more optimistic," he added, dedicating his award to her.

Ellen DeGeneres hosted the ceremony, for the second time, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

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Deadly attack on Pakistan court

3 March 2014 Last updated at 03:41 ET

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Eyewitness and lawyer Mohammad Bilal describes what he saw

At least 11 people have been killed in an attack at a court in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, officials say.

Gunmen burst into the court complex and opened fire before at least two suicide bombers detonated explosives at a time of the morning when crowds gather.

A judge and several lawyers are reported to be among those killed and at least 24 people were wounded.

No group has said it carried out the attack - one of the deadliest assaults on the capital for years.

It comes after a weekend in which the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) pledged a month-long ceasefire and the government said it would suspend air strikes against militants.

Both are moves aimed at reviving the stalled peace process.

The TTP have reportedly denied having anything to do with this attack, but the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad points out that it sits at the helm of a loose network of territorially independent militant groups who have different agendas. Not all of them will favour peace talks.

Police officials have described this as a complex attack.

Officials say an unknown number of gunmen, thought to be armed with grenades as well as AK47 assault rifles, stormed the area where judges' chambers and lawyers' offices are located, a convoluted maze of corridors and walkways.

Islamabad police chief Sikandar Hayat told reporters that two of the attackers blew themselves up when surrounded by police.

Schools evacuated

Pakistani TV showed footage of the area with windows blown out, walls broken and people carrying the dead and wounded from the buildings.

Policemen with weapons raised were seen running into the area. It is unclear if any of the attackers have been captured by police.

The area has been cordoned off and local schools evacuated.

Correspondents say the attack has shocked many in the city, which has not seen violence on this scale since 2008 when an attack on the Marriott hotel left 40 dead.

Islamabad has largely been spared the militancy that has beset other areas of Pakistan in recent years.

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Russia tightens grip on Crimea

3 March 2014 Last updated at 06:18 ET

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World Affairs Editor John Simpson: "Without, apparently, a shot being fired, Russia has taken control of the Crimean peninsula"

Russia has vowed its troops will remain in Ukraine to protect Russian interests and citizens until the political situation has been "normalised".

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was defending human rights against "ultra-nationalist threats".

Russia is now in de facto military control of the Crimea region, despite Western condemnation of a "violation of Ukraine's sovereignty".

Ukraine has ordered full mobilisation to counter the military intervention.

Continue reading the main story

At the scene

No shots have been fired and no treaties signed but Crimea is now de facto under Russian armed control.

Two large Ukrainian military bases are surrounded, with Russian troops standing alongside local self-defence groups, who demand that the Ukrainian soldiers inside defect from Kiev to Crimea's new pro-Russia government.

The naval headquarters remains blockaded and key installations like airports are still occupied. Thousands of newly-arrived Russian elite troops far outnumber Ukraine's military presence here. Crimea has in effect been cut off by roadblocks, where vehicles are being denied access to the peninsula.

At countless pro-Russia demonstrations, Moscow's intervention is warmly welcomed. But away from the nationalist fervour, Crimeans from all sides are profoundly fearful of what comes next.

Mr Lavrov said in Geneva on Monday that Russian troops were needed in Ukraine "until the normalisation of the political situation".

Russia's parliament authorised the use of troops on Saturday, in the wake of the ousting of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych last month.

Mr Lavrov said: "The victors intend to make use of the fruits of their victory to attack human rights and fundamental freedoms of minorities.

He said the "violence of ultra-nationalists threatens the lives and the regional interests of Russians and the Russian speaking population".

Mr Lavrov, who will meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Geneva later, also condemned Western threats of sanctions and boycotts.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Geneva, says the comments were in stark contrast to those in a text previously distributed to journalists, in which Mr Lavrov said that "military interventions on the pretext of civilian protection produce the opposite effect".

The crisis has hit Russian stock markets, with Moscow's main MICEX index dropping 9% in early trading. The rouble fell to a fresh all-time low against the US dollar and Russia's central bank raised its key lending rate to 7% from 5.5%.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

This is a critical test of Obama's leadership, one that will demonstrate how much clout the US has in the world"

End Quote

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Sevastopol says Crimea is now under de facto Russian armed control although no shots have been fired.

He says two large Ukrainian military bases are surrounded and key installations like airports are occupied.

Thousands of newly arrived Russian elite troops far outnumber Ukraine's military presence, he says, with roadblocks cutting off Crimea.

Ukrainian border guards have reported a build-up of armoured vehicles on the Russian side of the sea channel dividing Russia and Crimea.

Pro-Russian troops have taken over the ferry terminal in far-eastern Crimea that operates services to Russia.

Ukrainian navy commanders on Monday confirmed their loyalty to Kiev, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported, despite an attempt by pro-Russian personnel to enter the navy HQ in Simferopol and force them to switch allegiance.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Kiev says Ukraine's interim government has called for more international support to force Russian troops to leave.

Men across Ukraine have been receiving call-up papers and will start reporting for 10 days training from Monday.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

All weekend the drumbeat of alarm has grown stronger; the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War"

End Quote

Our correspondent says there is widespread anger at Russia's actions - and many Ukrainians say they are prepared to fight to defend their territory, although militarily Ukraine is no match for its powerful neighbour.

Late on Sunday, the G7 of major industrialised powers condemned Moscow's military build-up.

In a statement released from the White House, the grouping said it condemned "the Russian Federation's clear violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine".

It added: "We have decided for the time being to suspend our participation in activities associated with the preparation of the scheduled G8 Summit in Sochi in June."

Diplomatic moves are continuing, however, to try to find a solution.

European Union foreign ministers are due to meet in emergency session in Brussels.

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A Russian activist scaled an administrative building in Kharkiv and flew the Russian flag

UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson is travelling to Ukraine to be "personally apprised of the facts on the ground".

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, who is in Kiev, said the crisis in Ukraine was the biggest that Europe had faced this century.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is to travel to Ukraine on Tuesday. President Barack Obama has called Russia's actions a breach of international law and a threat to peace and security.

Ukraine's Interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has warned that his country is "on the brink of disaster".

Moscow has not recognised the government that took power in Kiev last month after ousting Mr Yanukovych.

Mr Yanukovych's decision in November to abandon closer ties with the EU in favour of Russia sparked massive protests in Kiev, which ended in a bloodbath, as dozens of protesters were shot dead in clashes with police.

Are you in Ukraine? What is your reaction to this news of Russian troop deployment? Email us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk adding 'Ukraine' in the subject heading and including your contact details.

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

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Pistorius pleads not guilty in court

3 March 2014 Last updated at 05:35 ET

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LIVE: BBC coverage of Oscar Pistorius murder trial

South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Mr Pistorius shot Ms Steenkamp, 29, a model and reality TV star, at his home in Pretoria on 14 February 2013.

State prosecutors allege the killing was premeditated, but he claims he mistook her for an intruder.

For the first time in South Africa, parts of the trial will be televised live. Media interest is high.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The state's case - and the memorably hapless performance of now ex-lead detective Hilton Botha - took a battering at [Mr Pistorius's bail] hearing. Did the state have more compelling evidence that it chose not to reveal?"

End Quote

The arrest of the national sporting hero astounded South Africa.

The 27-year-old double amputee won gold at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and also competed at the Olympics.

'Heard screaming'

Mr Pistorius pleaded not guilty to all charges, including the "wilful and intentional murder of Reeva Steenkamp" as the trial began.

His lawyer read out a statement from the athlete, giving his version of events of how Ms Steenkamp died, saying he believed his girlfriend was in bed when he shot at the toilet door in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year.

The start to proceedings at the court in the capital were delayed by 90 minutes as a Afrikaans translator was absent.

The BBC's Andrew Harding in the courtroom says Mr Pistorius looked calm, or at least neutral as he arrived in court - a far cry from the emotional wreck he seemed at the bail hearing last year.

Mr Pistorius's uncle, brother and sister are also in court; next to them on the relatives' bench is the family of Ms Steenkamp, including her mother June, our correspondent says.

Gerrie Nel, who is leading the prosecution team, read out the indictment and has called the first witness, Michelle Burger, a neighbour of Mr Pistorius who has requested that her testimony not be televised.

She says she awoke hearing a woman's screams and heard a call for help.

Continue reading the main story

Clickable 3D model of Oscar Pistorius' house

Our correspondent says Mr Nel, who has begun to lay out the state's case, is a quiet, determined figure - "fox-like", according to a friend and fellow-lawyer.

State prosecutors say Mr Pistorius planned the killing and shot Ms Steenkamp after a row.

But Mr Pistorius says he shot his girlfriend through the bathroom door of his home in Pretoria after mistaking her for a burglar.

If found guilty of premeditated murder, he could face life imprisonment.

He has also been charged with illegally possessing ammunition.

There are no juries at trials in South Africa, and his fate will ultimately be decided by Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa.

Much of the case will depend on ballistic evidence from the scene of the shooting, correspondents say.

On the anniversary of the shooting, Mr Pistorius released a rare statement in which he said: "The loss of Reeva and the complete trauma of that day, I will carry with me for the rest of my life."

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Reeva Steenkamp's friend Gwyn Guscott: "We just need to know what happened"

Last week, a judge ruled that an audio feed of the whole trial could be broadcast. Some parts will also be televised, including opening arguments, evidence of experts, police witnesses and closing arguments.

The testimony of the accused and his witnesses is exempt.

One South African TV station, MultiChoice, has set up a dedicated Oscar Pistorius Trial channel to provide 24-hour coverage. It is due to begin broadcasting on Sunday.

Defence lawyers had said it would prejudice proceedings.

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Stunning whale graveyard explained

25 February 2014 Last updated at 20:32 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

It is one of the most astonishing fossil discoveries of recent years - a graveyard of whales found beside the Pan-American Highway in Chile.

And now scientists think they can explain how so many of the animals came to be preserved in one location more than five million years ago.

It was the result of not one but four separate mass strandings, they report in a Royal Society journal.

The evidence strongly suggests the whales all ingested toxic algae.

The dead and dying mammals were then washed into an estuary and on to flat sands where they became buried over time.

Continue reading the main story

We managed to sample all the superstars of the fossil marine-mammal world in South America in the Late Miocene"

End Quote Nicholas Pyenson Smithsonian Institution

It was well known that this area in Chile's Atacama Desert preserved whale fossils.

Their bones could be seen sticking out of rock faces, and the spot acquired the name Cerro Ballena ("whale hill") as a result.

But it was only when a cutting was made to widen the Pan-American Highway that US and Chilean researchers got an opportunity to fully study the fossil beds.

They were given just two weeks to complete their field work before the heavy plant returned to complete construction of the new road.

The team set about recording as much detail as possible, including making 3D digital models of the skeletal remains in situ and then removing bones for further study in the lab.

Identified in the beds were over 40 individual rorquals - the type of large cetacean that includes the modern blue, fin and minke whales.

Among them were other important marine predators and grazers.

"We found extinct creatures such as walrus whales - dolphins that evolved a walrus-like face. And then there were these bizarre aquatic sloths," recalls Nicholas Pyenson, a palaeontologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

"To me, it's amazing that in 240m of road-cut, we managed to sample all the superstars of the fossil marine-mammal world in South America in the Late Miocene. Just an incredibly dense accumulation of species," he told BBC News.

The team immediately noticed that the skeletons were nearly all complete, and that their death poses had clear commonalities. Many had come to rest facing in the same direction and upside down, for example.

This all pointed to the creatures succumbing to the same, sudden catastrophe; only, the different fossils levels indicated it was not one event but four separate episodes spread over a period of several thousand years.

The best explanation is that these animals were all poisoned by the toxins that can be generated in some algal blooms.

Such blooms are one of the prevalent causes for repeated mass strandings seen in today's marine animals.

If large quantities of contaminated prey are consumed, or the algae are simply inhaled - death can be rapid.

"All the creatures we found - whether whales, seals or billfishes - fed high up in marine food webs and that would have made them very susceptible to harmful algal blooms," said Dr Pyenson.

The researchers believe the then configuration of the coastline at Cerro Ballena in the late Miocene Epoch worked to funnel carcases into a restricted area where they were lifted on to sand flats just above high tide, perhaps by storm waves.

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The finds were a media sensation in 2011

This would have put the bodies beyond marine scavengers. And, being a desert region, there would have been very few land creatures about to steal bones either.

A lot of the fossils at Cerro Ballena are perfect but for a few nicks inflicted by foraging crabs.

The researchers are not in a position to say for sure that harmful algal blooms were responsible for the mass strandings. There were no distinct algal cell fragments in the sediments; such a presence could have amounted to a "smoking gun". What the team did find, however, were multiple grains encrusted in iron oxides that could hint at past algal activity.

"There are tiny spheres about 20 microns across - that's exactly the right size to be dinoflagellate cysts," said Dr Pyenson.

"They're found in algal-like mats all around the site. We can't say whether those were the killer algae, but they do not falsify the argument for harmful algal blooms being the cause in the way that the sedimentology falsifies tsunami being a potential cause."

Cerro Ballena is now regarded as one of the densest fossil sites in the world - certainly for whales and other extinct marine mammals. The scientists calculate there could be hundreds of specimens in the area still waiting to be unearthed and investigated.

The University of Chile in Santiago is currently working to establish a research station to carry this into effect.

To coincide with the publication of a scholarly paper in Proceedings B of the Royal Society, the Smithsonian has put much of its digital data, including 3D scans and maps, online at cerroballena.si.edu.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

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Credit Suisse 'aided' US tax evaders

25 February 2014 Last updated at 20:56 ET

Credit Suisse "helped its US customers conceal their Swiss accounts" and avoid billions of dollars in American taxes, a report has alleged.

It claims the bank opened Swiss accounts for more than 22,000 US customers, with assets totalling $12bn (£7.2bn) at their peak.

The report alleges bankers helped clients create offshore shell entities and design transactions to avoid arousing suspicion.

Credit Suisse declined to comment.

"From at least 2001 to 2008, Credit Suisse employed banking practices that facilitated tax evasion by US customers," the report by a US congressional committee said.

It said the practices included "opening undeclared Swiss accounts" or accounts to "mask their US ownership", as well as sending Swiss bankers to the US to recruit new customers and "service existing Swiss accounts without creating paper trails".

US prosecutors are chasing 14 Swiss banks for allegedly helping wealthy Americans dodge US taxes.

Continue reading the main story

As federal regulators begin to crack down on these banks' illicit practices, it is imperative that they use every legal tool at their disposal to hold these banks fully accountable for wilfully deceiving the US government"

End Quote John McCain US Senator

Credit Suisse's private banking and wealth management division has already put aside 175m Swiss francs (£118m) to fight a US investigation into hidden offshore accounts in Switzerland.

Secretive methods?

The bank has said it was "working towards a resolution" with US authorities but has not given a time-frame of when that resolution might be reached.

The report has also published details of the way, it alleges, the bank worked to keep the accounts concealed from the US authorities.

It said some bankers even applied for US visa waivers, claiming they planned to visit the country for "tourism" instead of "business" purposes.

The report listed one incident where a client was handed bank statements hidden in a Sports Illustrated magazine.

It said the bank also used sponsored events, including the annual "Swiss Ball" in New York and golf tournaments in Florida, to recruit more customers.

Strict action

The committee has called upon US regulators to take strict action against banks that help US customers avoid taxes.

"For too long, international financial institutions like Credit Suisse have profited from their offshore tax haven schemes while depriving the US economy of billions of dollars in tax revenues by facilitating US tax evasion," said Senator John McCain, a member of the subcommittee.

"As federal regulators begin to crack down on these banks' illicit practices, it is imperative that they use every legal tool at their disposal to hold these banks fully accountable for wilfully deceiving the US government and seek penalties that will deter similar misconduct in the future."

The US Justice Department issued a statement saying it was investigating various Swiss banks over the issue.

"We won't hesitate to indict if and when circumstances merit," it said.

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HK news editor wounded in attack

26 February 2014 Last updated at 03:21 ET

The former chief editor of prominent Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao is in a critical condition after being attacked with a cleaver, officials say.

Kevin Lau was attacked in Hong Kong by two men on Wednesday morning, police said. He suffered three wounds.

The attackers reportedly fled by motorbike.

Mr Lau was recently replaced by a Malaysian editor viewed as pro-Beijing, sparking fears among staff that the paper's independence was under threat.

Ming Pao is a popular, credible Chinese-language newspaper, the BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong reports.

Mr Lau's colleagues called the move to replace him an attempt to muzzle independent-thinking journalists, our correspondent adds.

'Growing attacks'

Police are searching for two men in connection with the attack.

"One of them alighted from the motorcycle and used a chopper to attack the victim," police spokesman Simon Kwan told reporters.

"He suffered three wounds, one in his back and two in his legs," Mr Kwan said, adding that the back wound was deep.

In a statement, Ming Pao said it "strongly condemned the savage act".

It added: "We are deeply angry that the assailants dared to conduct an attack in broad daylight."

Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung said he was "extremely concerned" and "outraged" by the attack.

"Hong Kong is a society ruled by law, and we will not allow this kind of violence," he said, adding that the police would conduct a full investigation.

The attacked was condemned by the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC).

"The growing number of attacks against members of the press in Hong Kong needs to be taken seriously by the local administration," the FCC said in a statement.

"Hong Kong's reputation as a free and international city will suffer if such crimes go unsolved and unpunished," it added.

Since being replaced, Mr Lau has been working in an online subsidiary of Ming Pao's parent company.

On Sunday, thousands in the city marched on the streets calling for press freedom.

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Ukraine elite police 'disbanded'

26 February 2014 Last updated at 05:17 ET

Ukraine's acting interior minister has said the elite Berkut police unit, blamed for the deaths of protesters, has been disbanded.

It is unclear what will happen to Berkut officers but Arsen Avakov said more details would be given in a briefing on Wednesday.

The unit had 4,000-5,000 members stationed across Ukraine.

Meanwhile, there are reports that that a new cabinet may be announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Parliament had officially delayed the formation of a unity government until Thursday.

The delay was to allow further consultations, interim President Oleksandr Turchynov said, adding that "a coalition of national faith must be elected".

Also on Wednesday Mr Turchynov announced that he had assumed the duties of the head of the armed forces.

Ousted President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev at the weekend and his whereabouts are still unknown.

Interim authorities have issued a warrant for his arrest, and on Tuesday parliament voted in favour of trying him at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The fugitive president is accused of being behind the deaths of more than 100 protesters at the hands of riot police.

International divisions

Also on Wednesday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on other countries to condemn "nationalist and neo-fascist" sentiment in western Ukraine.

Mr Lavrov called on the OSCE to condemn "calls to ban the Russian language, to turn the Russian-speaking population into 'non-citizens' and to restrict freedom of expression".

Russia has portrayed the ousting of Mr Yanukovych as a violent seizure of power by the opposition, and has expressed concern about the role of far-right parties in the protests against him.

Many Russian-speaking residents in the south and east of Ukraine have protested against the actions of the interim authorities.

In the Crimean port city Sevastopol on Tuesday, some people replaced the Ukrainian flag on a local government building with a Russian flag.

Mr Lavrov has said Russia's "policy of non-intervention" would continue.

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John Kerry, and William Hague discussed support for Ukraine's new leaders

Separatist 'threat'

Mr Lavrov's comments came a day after Secretary of State John Kerry said Ukraine was not caught in a battle between East and West.

"This is not a zero-sum game. It is not Russia or the United States, this is about the people of Ukraine and Ukrainians making their choices about the future - and we want to work with Russia and other countries, with everybody available, to make sure this is peaceful from this day forward," he said.

The US and EU countries have broadly backed the takeover of power by the opposition.

The new administration in Kiev is facing continuing opposition from Ukraine's Russian-speaking regions.

Earlier, Ukraine's Mr Turchynov expressed concern about what he called the serious threat of separatism following the ousting of Mr Yanukovych.

Addressing parliament, he said he would meet law enforcement agencies to discuss the risk of separatism in regions with large ethnic Russian populations. Separatism was a "serious threat", he said.

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Protester Sergey Prohor returns to the scene of the violence

Mr Yanukovych fled Kiev at the weekend and his whereabouts are still unknown.

Interim authorities have issued a warrant for his arrest, and on Tuesday parliament voted in favour of trying him at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The fugitive president is accused of being behind the deaths of more than 100 protesters at the hands of riot police.

Unrest in Ukraine began in November when Mr Yanukovych rejected a landmark association and trade deal with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia.

Ukraine is close to bankruptcy and with promised loans from Russia looking increasingly unlikely, interim leaders are looking to the West to bail the country out.

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton held talks in Kiev on Tuesday to discuss financial and political support for Ukraine's new leaders.

She urged the provisional authorities to include Yanukovych supporters in any new government, adding: "Everyone I've spoken to here recognises the importance of this country sticking together. But we also know that there are big financial and economic challenges in the days, weeks and months ahead."

Continue reading the main story

• 21 Feb: leaves Kiev for Kharkiv on helicopter; stays overnight in state residence
• 22 Feb: flies by helicopter to Donetsk airport; tries to leave on private jet but stopped by border guards; leaves by car for Crimea
• 23 Feb: arrives in Balaklava, Crimea, and stays briefly in a private spa before making aborted attempt to reach Belbek airport
• Dismisses most of his security detail; leaves Balaklava in a three-car convoy with some guards and presidential administration head Andriy Kliuyev
• Source: Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov

Are you in Ukraine? What is your reaction to the recent events? Email us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk adding 'Ukraine' in the subject heading and including your contact details.

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

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Tycoon's daughter defends sexuality

29 January 2014 Last updated at 02:52 ET

The daughter of a Hong Kong tycoon has urged her father in an open letter to accept she is a lesbian, after he offered millions to find her a husband.

Gigi Chao says Cecil Chao should accept her partner and "treat her like a normal, dignified human being".

Ms Chao, 33, who married her long-term partner Sean Eav in France in 2012, also emphasised: "There are plenty of good men, they are just not for me."

Mr Chao last week reportedly offered to double his 2012 offer of $65m (£40m).

Hong Kong does not recognise same-sex unions, although homosexuality was decriminalised in 1991.

Mr Chao, a property and shipping tycoon who himself has never married, told the BBC last year that his daughter needed a "good husband".

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He said at the time that his monetary offer for any man to woo his daughter had generated many replies from potential suitors.

The letter by Ms Chao, a socialite and businesswoman, was published in at least two Hong Kong newspapers, including the South China Morning Post newspaper on Tuesday.

In it she said she was sorry that people had been saying "insensitive things" about her father.

"The truth is, they don't understand that I will always forgive you for thinking the way you do, because I know you think you are acting in my best interests," she said.

"As your daughter, I would want nothing more than to make you happy. But in terms of relationships, your expectations of me and the reality of who I am, are not coherent."

She added that she did not expect her father and her partner "to be best of friends". But she said "it would mean the world to me if you could just not be so terrified of her, and treat her like a normal, dignified human being".

"I'm sorry to mislead you to think I was only in a lesbian relationship because there was a shortage of good, suitable men in Hong Kong," she went on.

Ms Chao ended her letter by signing it: "Patiently yours."

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The 70-year wait for primary school

28 January 2014 Last updated at 19:09 ET By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent

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Aleem Maqbool reports from a school in Pakistan's Sindh province where there are children but no teachers

It will be more than 70 years before all children have access to primary school, says a report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

World leaders had pledged that this would be achieved by 2015.

The report says 57 million remain without schools and at the current rate it will be 2086 before access is reached for poor, rural African girls.

Report author Pauline Rose describes these as "shocking figures".

The lack of education for all and the poor quality of many schools in poorer countries is described as a "global learning crisis".

In poor countries, one in four young people is unable to read a single sentence.

Greatest need

The study from Unesco, published on Wednesday in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, is an annual monitoring report on the millennium pledges for education made by the international community.

But it warns that promises such as providing a primary school place for all children and increasing the adult literacy rate by 50% are increasingly unlikely be kept.

Continue reading the main story

MOST CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL

• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Ethiopia
• India
• Philippines
• Burkina Faso
• Kenya
• Niger
• Yemen
• Mali

Source: Unesco

It also warns that aid for education is declining rather than increasing and is not being targeted at the poorest countries with the greatest need.

It reveals that the single biggest recipient of aid for education is China - which receives aid worth a value 77 times greater than Chad.

The report, based on the latest data which is from 2011, shows that there are still 57 million children who do not even get the first basics of schooling.

More optimistically, this represents an almost 50% drop in out-of-school children since 2000.

The report shows that if the early momentum had been sustained the goal could have been achieved. But since 2008, progress has "all but ground to a halt".

Conflict zones

Countries such as India, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Tanzania have made considerable progress in expanding the reach of education.

There are also improvements in quality, with Vietnam now among the most impressive performers in the OECD's Pisa tests, overtaking the United States.

The greatest problems are in sub-Saharan Africa, with particular weaknesses in parts of west Africa.

Nigeria has the single greatest number of children without a primary school place - a higher figure now than when the pledges were made at the beginning of the century.

About half of the lack of access to school is the result of violence and conflict.

But Afghanistan, which has faced 35 years of conflict, is managing to reopen schools and the country's education minister told the BBC that a grassroots campaign will see all children having primary school places by 2020.

Gender gap

The report, produced by the Paris-based educational arm of the United Nations, highlights the inequalities in access to places.

Girls are more likely to miss out on school than boys and this is accentuated more among disadvantaged, rural families.

As such, poor, rural girls are forecast to be the slowest to have school places, with Unesco projecting it will take until 2086.

It means that the five-year-olds who are now missing out on beginning school will be grandmothers before universal primary education is achieved.

It will not be until the next century, 2111, before poor rural girls will all have places in secondary school, at the current levels of progress.

Continue reading the main story

LEAST LEARNING IN SCHOOL

• Niger
• Mauritania
• Madagascar
• Chad
• Benin
• Mali
• Cote d'Ivoire
• Burkina Faso
• Congo
• Senegal

Source: Unesco

Within countries there are big differences in access to schools.

And the ability to provide places for better-off children and for boys shows what should also be achievable for girls and the poor, says Dr Rose.

"It shows the importance of focusing on the marginalised," says Dr Rose, director of the global monitoring report team.

The study also raises concerns about the quality of education in many poorer countries.

There are 130 million children who remain illiterate and innumerate despite having been in school.

It means that a quarter of young people in poorer countries are illiterate, which has far-reaching implications for economic prospects and political stability.

Wasted spending

The report estimates that in some countries the equivalent of half the education spending is wasted because of low standards, which it calculates as a global loss of $129bn (£78bn) per year.

There are practical barriers to learning. In Tanzania, only 3.5% of children have textbooks and there are overcrowded class sizes of up to 130 pupils in Malawi.

The study calls for more support in raising the quality of teaching. In west Africa, it warns of too many teachers who are on low pay, temporary contracts and with little training.

The quantity of teachers would also need to be increased, with an extra 1.6 million needed to provide enough primary school places.

The report says to reach the goal of universal primary education would require an extra $26bn (£16bn) per year.

But aid to education has declined at a greater rate than overall aid budgets, says the report.

"One of the things that we found shocking was that low income countries faced the biggest losses in aid," says report author, Dr Rose.

The biggest recipient, China, gains from support for scholarships, mostly from Germany and Japan.

Moves are already underway for setting post-2015 targets.

The report says that the next goals must include an awareness of the quality of education and teaching.

"We must also make sure that there is an explicit commitment to equity in new global education goals set after 2015, with indicators tracking the progress of the marginalised so that no-one is left behind," said Unesco director-general Irina Bokova.

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