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BBC news 2013-04-05

BBC News with Nick Kelley.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged North Korea to turn down its nuclear threats. Speaking at a news conference in Madrid, Mr Ban said that nuclear threats were not a game. From Spanish capital here is Tom Burridge.

Reacting to the latest threats from North Korea towards both South Korea and the United States, the United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said the situation had become really alarming and troubling. He said that North Korea had gone too far and warned that any miscalculation could lead to a very grave outcome. Earlier a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry said North Korea's decision to pursue nuclear status radically complicated efforts to restart the so-called six-party talks.

The United Nations is suspending all its food distribution centers in the Gaza Strip after demonstrators angry at a budget cut stormed one of its compounds. It follows a series of violent protests throughout the week. From the UN Nada Tawfik reports.

The UN relief agency distributes food for 25,000 Palestinian refugees every day, it also runs schools, medical clinics and a job creation program, but financial support for these programs hasn't kept up with the overwhelming need and deepening poverty of refugees. The UN agency is grappling with a deficit of over $65m. Over the past week, many have protested against the UN suspension of cash systems. But UN officials have called Thursday's incident a dramatic escalation that was preplanned and uNPRecedented. The agency's director Robert Turner said all relief and distribution centers would remain closed until guarantees are given by relevant groups that their operations can continue unhindered.

A French court has found Air France guilty of discrimination for removing of a pro-Palestinian activist from a flight to Israel. The activist was not allowed to board the plane because she wasn't Israeli or Jewish. Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.

The incident happened during, what was dubbed by the media, the flytilla when hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists sought to fly to Tel Aviv airport and then to make their way to the occupied West Bank. Horia Ankour was one who try to fly from Nice, but shortly before takeoff, she was asked by a member of the aircrew if she was a Jewish or Israeli and when she said no, she was asked to leave the plane. The prosecution said it was a clear-cut case of racial discrimination and the judge agreed finding Air France guilty and fine it 10,000 Euros or $13,000.

The new President of the Central African Republic says he accepts the conclusion of an emergency summit in Chad while recently has said would not recognize his new government. The meeting called on Michel Djotodia to organize a national transitional council and fresh elections within 18 months. Mr Djotodia had initially said he would only hand over power after three years.

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An American observer group, the Carter Center says the will of the Kenyan people was respected in last month's presidential elections despite some problems relating to technology and transparency. Kenyan's election commission declared Uhuru Kenyatta the winner with 50.7% of the vote, the result was challenged by his main opponent Raila Odinga, but upheld by the Supreme Court.

Facebook has released a new piece of software that it hopes will put the social network the center of Smartphones that run Google's Android operating system. It's designed to make Facebook the home screen of mobile phone rather than one of many apps you have to click on. Mark Gregory reports.

Facebook has unveiled what is essentially and easily downloaded software upgrade called home designed to make its services more prominent on any phone and later tablet that runs on Google's Android operating system. Facebook updates in messages will appear on the home screen immediately the phone is turned on with that they need to open the separate app. It's seen as a key plan could keep the social networking service's efforts to grab users' attention in an air while people increasingly do their computing on mobile devices not personal computers.

Chinese tourists have overtaken Germans and Americans as the world's biggest spending travelers. New figures from the World Tourism Organization showed that the Chinese spent more than $100bn on foreign trips last year, a 41% rise on the year before. Russian tourism is also growing fast, Russians are another fifth highest spending tourists.

An influential US film critic Roger Ebert has died of cancer at the age 70. He started reviewing films with the Chicago sometime in 1967, and became the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize. Roger Ebert was also known for his television reviews in which his thumbs-up or down influence to American filmgoers.

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