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BBC news 2014-04-03

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Ukraine's deposed President Viktor Yanukoych has called Russia's annexation of Crimea a tragedy. In his first interview since fleeing to Russia, Mr. Yanukoych said he would try to persuade President Putin to return Crimea to Ukraine. David Stern reports from Kiev.

Mr. Yanukoych said he hoped to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to return Crimea to Ukraine. Moscow annexed Crimea after a majority of the peninsula’s residents voted to join Russia in a controversial referendum. Many members of the international community including the United States and the European Union have called Russia's actions illegal. Mr. Yanukoych said it had remained in power, he would have tried to prevent the referendum, calling it a form of a protest against Ukraine's new pro-Western leaders.

The United States Supreme Court has issued a ruling which potentially give big political donors more scope to fund Federal election campaigns. From Washington, Jane O'Brien.

The 2012 presidential election cost more than two billion dollars and was the most expensive in US history. Individual donations to candidates are still capped but there is no longer any limit to how many candidates the same individual can support. That has the potential to influence congressional elections in which Republicans and Democrats are in a close battle for the Senate and the House. For years, reformers have tried to limit how much individuals can spend, but this is the latest ruling by the Supreme Court that says such restrictions are unconstitutional.

A top aide to Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has resigned following a leaked recording, in which he alleged the minister’s influence to investigate against the extreme right-wing Golden Dawn party. Panayiotis Baltakos was secretly filmed telling a Golden Dawn spokesman that there is no proof for criminal charges against the party. From Athens, Mark Lowen reports.

In a video posted online, Panayiotis Baltakos, the prime minister's aide appears to rubbish the criminal investigation against Golden Dawn. He tells a senior party MP that there was no proof of criminal charges against Golden Dawn but the two ministers called prosecutors to ensure the MPs were detained. He suggests the Prime Minister influence the investigation to stop votes going to the neo-Nazis. This is at the very least an embarrassment for the government but will also be seen as a further evidence that Greece's judiciary is not independent and that the case against Golden Dawn is on shaky ground.

The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has unveiled his new government bringing in Segolene Royal, the former partner of President Francois Hollande, who also run for president. She will be the new environment minister in a major shakeup after the governing Socialist party suffered heavy losses in municipal elections. In the new small cabinet, eight out the 16 ministers are women.

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The United States has told Iran it has deep misgiving about the diplomat Tehran's chosen as its next ambassador to the United Nations. The State Department said he was linked to taking of US hostages in Tehran in 1979. From Washington Rajini Vaidyanathan.

It's Hamid Aboutalebi past which concerns many here in the US. It’s his time as a member of a Muslim student organization which remains controversial. The group was behind the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. It's not known what Mr. Aboutalebi's involvement was, he says he was merely a translator. The US State Department says it has serious concerns about Tehran's decision to nominate him as UN ambassador and says it’s raised this with Iranian officials.

A survey in South Africa has revealed that the use of condom is declining despite high levels of HIV/AIDS. The Human Sciences Research Council said that South Africans under the age of 50 were having more sexual partners and using condoms less. It warned of the dangers of complacency. It said that three quarters of those surveyed believed they were at low risk of contracting HIV, but that when tested, some 10% of those people were actually found to be already HIV positive.

Fourteen soldiers have appeared before a military tribunal in Sierra Leone to face charges of attempting to kidnap the country's President Ernest Bai Koroma. They were arrested in August last year in the president's hometown of Makeni. Human rights organization have complained that the accused have been detained since then without charge.

A new prison to house pirates has opened in Somalia's semiautonomous region of Puntland. The six-million-dollar state-of-art complex has been founded by Norway and the European Union. Some critics have described it as too luxurious for prisoners, saying it looks more like a hotel than a prison.

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