BBC News:蘇門答臘島火山噴發(fā)導(dǎo)致多人喪生
Leaders from Russia and the West have had angryexchanges over the future of Ukraine at aninternational Security Conference in Germany.Ukraine has seen weeks of protests since PresidentYanukovych rejected the partnership deal with European Union in favor of closer ties withRussia. The United States said it stood with the people of Ukraine in their fight for democracy.But the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused EU of defending violent streetprotests in the name of democracy. From Munich Lyse Doucet.
In the bits of this diplomatic duel, Opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk told the media therewas a very real risk of even greater tension on the streets of Kiev including possible militaryaction. What he called in an unconstitutional coup.That threat has also met condemnationfrom NATO's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Here in Munich, this war of wordsover Ukriane's deep crisis is taking place in public sessions and behind close doors, but it'sescalating battles on the streets of Kiev that are causing the greatest alarm.
The United Nations says an estimated 3.7m people in South Sudan are in acute need of food asa result of the fighting between government forces and rebels loyal to the deposed vicepresident. The UN's Humanitarian Co-ordinator in South Sudan told the BBC that the conflicthad created a humanitarian emergency for 1/3 of the population.
There has been explosions and gunfire in the Thai capital Bangkok, as government supportersand their opponents clash hours before polls are due to open in a general election. The mainopposition party is boycotting the election. John Sudworth reports from Bangkok.
The protesters camped outside a government building to stop the ballot paper inside frombeing delivered, insisted to me that they were non-violent. So did a group of governmentsupporters gathering nearby. But soon after, the two sides were exchanging gunfire, sendingjournalists and bystanders running for cover. The protesters accused the government ofrigging the vote with the kickbacks it pays to poor northern farmers. The government accusesthe protesters of being an anti-democratic urban elite.
A volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has killed at least 14 people, MountSinaburg ejected gas and lava thousands of meters into the air. Here's Charles Scanlon.
The volcano tower is over a fertile agricultural region in northern Sumatra, it has been emittingclouds of ash and gas in recent months, but a scale of today's eruption appears to have takenlocal communities by surprise. Many villagers had returned home after an earlier evacuation.The poisons avalanche of gas and lava engulfed settlements on the slopes, officials fear thatmay have been more casualties, but they can't get closer because of the lethal heat from theeruption.
BBC News
Thousands of people have demonstrated in the Spanish capital Madrid against the proposednew law that will tighten restrictions on abortion. Activists from all-over Spain and abroad joinedthe march to demand women be allowed the right to choose. They held banners reading “Wedecide”and “deciding makes us free”. The protesters called on Spain's justice minister whodrafted the law to resign.
The police and army in northern Serbia have rescued about 1,000 people whose vehicles werestranded in deep snow. The government said that several hundred other motorists weretrapped on the road which leads to the border with Hungary. The main border crossing hasclosed as winds reach nearly 170km/hr, creating snowdrifts more than 4 meters high. Shippingon the River Danube has been suspended because of high winds.
Janet Yellen has taken over as head of the Federal Reserve, the first woman to lead the UScentral bank in its 100-year history. More from our business correspondent *
Janet Yellen takes the top job at the American central bank after 3 years working as a deputyto the outgoing chairman Ben Bernanke. His time in office was nominated by the financial crisisand the introduction of highly unorthodox policies to counter its effects. Now the USeconomic recovery appears to be gathering momentum so for Mrs. Yellen, the priority is likelyto be the unwinding of those policies while attempting to avoid causing turbulence in theglobal financial markets.
The Austrian actor Maximilian Schell, has died at the age of 83. Schell was one of the best-known foreign actors in Hollywood and won an Oscar for his role as a German lawyer in the1961 film Judgement at Nureberg. A son of a play writer and an actress, Maximilian Schell wasbrought up in Switzerland after his family fled the Nazi takeover of Austria. As well as an actor,he was also an accomplished producer and director and a successful concert pianist andconductor.
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