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BBC news 2014-02-21

BBC News with Jerry Smit.

The European Union has agreed to impose sanctions on those responsible for the mounting violence in Ukraine. The decision is taken after dozens of people were killed in the capital Kiev on the bloodiest day since protests against President Viktor Yanukovych began in November. He's been holding talks with three EU Ministers. With details, here is Matthew Price in Brussels. “Galvanized into action by the violence on the ground, ministers went further. They will freeze the assets of those they deem to be responsible for human rights violations and restrict their travel to the EU. Exactly who will be on that list will be worked out in the coming days, but it will focus on Ukrainian government officials. Meanwhile in Kiev, the German, French and Polish foreign ministers held lengthy meetings with both the President and opposition officials. It is clear they are working on some kind of settlement that would see both sides pull back.”

Violence erupted in Kiev this morning following a brief overnight truce. Three hours of fierce fighting in the city's Independence Square left bodies strewn on the ground. Wounded people were given first aid in the Ukraine Hotel where many foreign correspondents are based including the BBC's Duncan Crawford. “Every now and again, you hear loud bangs, the odd explosion, possibly odd, shot being fired. So we have just moved to a different position just for precaution. Earlier on, bodies were taken out of the lobby of our hotel which has become a makeshift hospital and they were paraded into Independence Square, where people were shouting out hero. We know there have been a large number of fatalities today, we know that the protesters blamed the riot police for those deaths.” Duncan Crawford in Kiev.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says an extra 3,000 police and troops are needed in the Central African Republic to protect civilians from the ongoing violence. Thousands of French and African Union troops are already on the ground in an effort to stem the fighting between mostly Muslim Seleka rebels and Christian militia known as anti-Balaka.

The UN nuclear watchdog says that Iran is meeting its commitments under an interim deal on its nuclear program. But the EU said that there remained a lot to do. Here's Bethany Bell. “No one expects the negotiations between Iran and six world powers to be easy. But the mood in Vienna after two days of talks seemed upbeat. The EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said they'd made a good start. And the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA says Iran is sticking to the deal to cut back its sensitive nuclear work for six months in exchange for some easing of sanctions.”

World News from the BBC.

The Indian parliament has approved a controversial plan to split the southern state of Andhra Pradesh and create a new state Telangana. The Upper House of the parliament on Thursday passed the bill and made huge uproar and chaotic scenes. Many politicians from Andhra Pradesh strongly opposed the move. The separation provoked several days of heated debate.

German police have arrested three old men who are thought to have been guards in the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The men, aged 88, 92 and 94, were detained at a prison hospital in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg accused of being accessories to murder. Raids were also carried out to the homes of six other elderly men. Stephen Evans has more. “Two years ago, a court trying the former death camp guard John Demjanjuk decided that he was guilty of being an accessory to murder simply by being a worker at a camp. This meant that the courts didn't have to prove an active participation in killing to find someone guilty of murder. That open the way for more prosecutions and today's raids are the result. At least three of those arrested were alleged to have been guards at Auschwitz between 1942 and 1945 when 1.5 million people were killed in what amounted to an industrial system of murder.”

Tensions were remaining high in Venezuela after days’ street protests. The leader of the opposition Henrique Capriles has called a fresh anti-government march for Saturday. At a news conference, Mr. Capriles said he was ready for dialogue, but the government was not willing to listen.

The senior bishop from the Bulgarian Orthodox church has been dismissed after an online video has emerged of him apparently having sex with four women at an orgy. Bishop Boris was head of the Batchkovo Monastery, the second biggest in Bulgaria. The church supreme body, the Holy Synod found him guilty of acts unworthy of his post.

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