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BBC news 2014-03-02

BBC News with David Austin

Ukraine's interim President Olexander Turchynov says the country's armed forces have been put on full combat alert. The announcement made in a national televised address followed the decision by the Upper House of the Russian Parliament authorizing President Putin to deploy Russian troops to Ukraine if he felt it necessary. Earlier, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said his government was convinced Moscow would not engage in military intervention as that would mean war and the end of relations between the two countries . David Stern reports from Kiev.

Mr. Turchynov and Mr. Yatsenyuk made their statements after a three-hour long meeting of Ukraine's Security and Defence heads. Mr. Yatsenyuk also said he was convinced Russia would not launch an invasion, given the repercussions. A Kremlin spokesman said Mr. Putin had decided whether to send troops into Ukraine.

In the Ukrainian Republic of Crimea, the newly installed Prime Minister Sergiy Aksyonov has brought forward a referendum on the Peninsula status to March 30th. On Thursday, the region's parliament called for a vote towards the end of May. Mark Lowen reports from Yalta in Crimea.

Crimea is lurching ever-closer towards conflict. The crisis here intensifying daily. After armed groups occupied airports and communications buildings, the Ukrainian defense minister accused Moscow of sending 6,000 troops and 30 armed vehicles to back up its Black Sea fleets. The new pro-Russian prime minister of Crimea brought forward a referendum on independence to the end of this month saying all military and security services here are now under his control. The heightened tension is not only being felt here, there have been large pro-Russia demonstrations in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Kharkiv, as crowds tried unsuccessfully to occupy the administration buildings.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council is holding another urgent meeting to discuss the crisis in Ukraine. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for an immediate restoration of calm and direct dialogue between all concerned. His comments were echoed by the European Union's Foreign Policy chief Catharine Ashton who described Moscow's decision on Russian armed force as an unwarranted escalation of tensions.

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World News from the BBC

Thousands of people have marched in the Swiss capital Bern in protest last month's referendum which approved immigration quotes for European Union citizens. Although Switzerland is not a member of the EU, it had singed up to the free movement of people as part of a series of agreements aimed at protecting its access to Europe's single market.

A senior United Nations official has broken ranks with UN and publicly called for compensation for the victims of a cholera epidemic in Haiti which killed thousands of people since it began four years ago. The UN's top Human Right officer in Haiti has called for those responsible to be punished as Mark Doyle reports.

Over 8,000 people have died from cholera in Haiti since 2010. It has been shown beyond reasonable doubt that the United Nations soldiers spread the disease by dumping infected sewage near a river. The UN has claimed diplomatic immunity . But now a senior UN Human Rights lawyer Gustavo Gallon has publicly broken ranks, saying silence is the worst response. Mr. Gallon said in a new UN report that those responsible should be punished and the victims compensated.

Reports from the northeast of Nigeria say a jet has bombed a village in Borno state. One eyewitness told the BBC that about 20 civilians were killed and 25 others were wounded in the air strike which took place on Friday night close to the border with Cameroon. It's not known who carried out the attack, but the Nigerian military has previously bombed villages that it believes sheltering members of Boko Haram, an Islamist insurgent group.

A court in the southwestern Nigerian state of Osun handed out lengthy prison sentences to two men convicted of stealing the state governor's phone and using it to defraud people in his contact list. The men had used governor Rauf Aregbesola's phone to impersonate him and persuade his acquaintances to make payments.

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