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BBC news 2014-02-23

BBC News with John Jason

Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, freed by parliament after more than two years in prison has addressed thousands of opposition demonstrators in the heart of the capital Kiev. Sitting in a wheelchair, wiping away tears, she prays the demonstrators who lost their lives in the street violence.

“I arrived in Kiev which I did not recognize. Burned cars, barricades, flowers, but this is a different Ukraine, this is a Ukraine of free people, and you gave each of us, each of us who lives today and tomorrow a new country. Therefore, the people who are on the Maidan and died on the Maidan will be here with us forever. These are our liberators.”

Earlier, the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office. His spokeswoman said Mr. Yanukovych did not recognize the decision. Our correspondent David Stern is on Independence Square in Kiev. He's been watching today's tumultuous events unfold.

It all started with news in which Yanukovych was no longer in Kiev. The government area was taken over by the protesters, here the resident was vacated. And then things will very quickly with a call for his impeachment. And there was a rumor that he was going to resign, then he went on television, there was a recorded statement where he said that he was not resigning, he was not going anywhere, and everything that was happening was the only goal, it was a coup d'etat. Nevertheless, the parliament took the decision to impeach him and to release Mrs Yymoshenko, and that's what I've been just to right now.

Washington said today's developments could move Ukraine closer to constitutional change, and the people of Ukraine must determine their own future. The German foreign minister urged both sides in the crisis to begin building a relationship of trust. But the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine's opposition had failed to live up to promises made in a deal with Mr. Yanukovych on Friday, which paved the way for earlier elections.

One of the world's most wanted drug barons Joaquin Guzman known as EI Chapo or Shorty has been arrested in northwest Mexico. The former leader of the Sinaloa cartel was paraded before the media to military compound. With more from Mexico city, Will Grant.

Joaquin EI Chapo Guzman has evaded arrest since he escaped from prison in 2001. Since then, he's been able to run the biggest and most powerful drug cartel in Latin America, the Sinaloa cartel with complete impunity. It's been reported that Guzman was finally up handed in a hotel in the city of Maztlan in his home state of Sinaloa, in what is being called a joint operation between US and Mexican forces. Not only has Guzman been one of the most wanted drug lords in the world, he's also one of the wealthiest, amassing a personal fortune thought to be an excess of a billion dollars.

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The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a revolution to boost access for those delivering humanitarian aid in Syria. The resolution states that the Syrian government has allowed aid for civilians throughout the country. From New York, Nick Bryant.

This was a rare moment of unanimity from the United Nations Security Council on Syria. This one focuses on much-needed humanitarian aid and demands immediate access for aid convoy to enter Syria from neighboring countries like Turkey and Iraq and also to cross the war's frontlines. It demands a lifting of the sieges that have trapped 250,000 people, condemns starvation as a strategy of war, and singles out the barbarity of the barrel bombs dropped on civilian populations by the Assad regime.

A car bomb has exploded at an army checkpoint in the town of Hermel in northeast Lebanon killing at least two soldiers. Hermel is a stronghold of the Shiite movement Hezbollah and has seen a number of attacks in recent months.

A Saudi archaeologist Dr.Irfan al-Alawi has warned that what many Islamist scholars believe to be the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad Mecca is in danger of being destroyed. Plans for further multi-billion dollar redevelopment in Mecca could see the site obliterated. Here's Sebastian Usher.

The prophet Mohamed's birthplace is believed by many scholars to be in the shadow of the Great Mosque in Mecca. A small library stands over the unexcavated site. Dr. al-Alawi says that maps and documents dating back hundreds of years confirm the spot as the Prophet's first home. The Saudi authorities say it isn't put site up telling pilgrims not to visit, as followers of the Wahabi form of Islam the Saudi government is opposed in any case to shrines, condemning the practice as idolatry.

A diamond worth more than $6m has been discovered in eastern Sierra Leone, the 153 carat gem is one of the most precious finds over the past decade.

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