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BBC news 2014-06-07

BBC News with Sue Montgomery.

An emotional day of events commemorating the success of the D-Day landings in northern France in 1944 has ended with a banquet for 19 visiting heads of state at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Queen Elizabeth said the deeds of the allied forces would be remembered for hundreds of years.

The true measure of all our actions is how long the good in them lasts. Each year has compounded in the Europe for the benefits of our victory in the second world war since it enabled our subsequent successes and our achievements. Seeing in that light, those heroic deeds will stand out as much in 700 years as they do after 70. In an age of instant news and instantaneous judgment, it reminds us we should weigh our actions not by immediate acclaim but by the benefit for future generations.

Earlier, at a ceremony in Normandy, President Francois Hollande called for the beaches where the landings took place to be preserved as UNESCO world heritage site. Mr. Hollande paid tribute to the bravery and selflessness of those who fought to liberate France from Nazi occupation.

These young men in the middle of this hell of fire and steel did not hesitate for a second. They move forward, move forward on French soil defying bullets and shells. They move forward risking their lives, to destroy a diabolical regime. They move forward to defend a noble course. They move forward, kept moving forward to free us to free us at last.

On the eve of his inauguration, the newly elected Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has met President Putin during brief and formal talks on the sidelines of the D-Day commemorations. The Russian leader called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. This report from James Robins.

Chancellor Merkel shepherded the 2 leaders. They shook hands and talked for about a quarter of an hour just before the lunch for world leaders. French officials said a potential ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists were discussed. President Putin's spokesman said the two men had called for the earliest possible end to bloodshed and to military operations on both sides. Agreeing the terms could still be very hard, but the fact President Putin has all but accepted the legitimacy of Ukraine's new president by meeting him is seen by other leaders as highly significant. D-Day 2014 has certainly lodged a dialogue about ending present day efforts to redraw the map of Europe.

World News from the BBC.

Pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine are reported to have shot down a government transport plane over the city of Slavyansk where there has been another day of fighting. A Ukrainian army spokesman told local media the plane was carrying aid supplies but this could not be independently verified. Earlier there were reports of tanks or heavy artillery fire outside the city which the BBC correspondent in the region says has been encircled by government forces.

A court in Switzerland has sentenced a former Guatemalan national police chief to life imprisonment for murdering 7 prisoners in the central American country. Erwin Sperisen's lawyer called the conviction shocking and said his client who holds joint Swiss-Guatemalan nationality would appeal. Here is Imogen Foulkes.

The Swiss court found Erwin Sperisen guilty of ordering the execution of 3 Guatemalan prisoners who had tried to escape in 2005 and of then trying to disguise the murderers' deaths which occurred during clashes with prison officers. He was also convicted of involvement in the deaths of 4 further inmates in 2006. In one of the cases, the court found he carried out the killing himself.

A United States citizen has been arrested in North Korea. State media said the as yet unnamed man was carrying out activities inconsistent with the status as a tourist. He's said to have entered North Korea in April, 29th and is the third US citizen to be detained by Pyongyong in the past 18 months.

Thousands of mourners in northern Nigeria have attended the funeral of the Emir of Kano, one of the country's most revered traditional leaders, Al-Haji Ado Bayero died earlier on Friday at the age of 83. He was the second highest the Islamic authority after the Sultan of Sokoto. the Emir was an outspoken critic of the Islamist group Boko Haram.

BBC News.