hello, everyone. you're watching "gmt" on bbc world news. i'm lucy hawkings. our top story, disaster at sea in south korea. 300 people, many of them school children, are missing after a ferry capsizes and sinks. 150 people so far have been rescued. >> translator: the announcement told us that we should stay still. but the ship was already sinking and there were lots of students who did not get out of the ship. pro-russian separatists take over ukrainian -- in the east of the country as the prime minister accuses moscow of

building a war. tightly cropped. well shaped. i'm talking about beards as they're getting more and more popular. a new study says they may be falling out of fashion. we'll tell you why later in the program. also in the program, aaron is here. always clean shaven. >> absolutely. lucy, yes. the world's second biggest economy, it continues to slow. but it's not all bad news for china. incomes continue to rise. and there's evidence that the chinese are spending more at home. which is exactly what beijing wants. and it makes the big shift from being the world's factory floor. it's 7:00 a.m. in washington. midday here in london. 8:00 p.m. on jindo island in south korea where desperate family members are gathering to find out if their loved ones are among the survivors of a sunken

ferry off the country's southwest coast. three people have been confirmed dead so far. 300 people are still missing. and many of them are high school students who'd been traveling on the ferry for a school trip. they were heading to jeju island, a popular tourist destination in south korea, when survivors say they heard a loud thud just before the ferry began to tip on its side. with the latest, here's nick childs. >> reporter: a disaster. the ferry already listing at a crazy angle, desperate efforts to rescue those aboard. a flotilla of rescue boats arrived, others are plucked to safety from the cold waters off south korea's southern coast. in the air above, coast guard helicopters hover. again, we see frightened survivors from the deck. but there were nearly 500 people aboard the stricken vessel. more than 300 of them high school students. as the ship capsized completely, divers joined the search.

the u.s. nay very warship wvy we way to join the flotilla of vessels already at the scene. the urgent question, how many people were trapped in the submerged hull. more traumatize ed survivors grately reached dry land. some spoke of a thud before the ship began to sink. and of uncertainty about what had happened. >> translator: the announcement told us we should stay still. but the ship was already sinking. and there were lots of students who did not get out of the ship. >> translator: it was very tense. the ship was tilted more than 45 degrees, and it was very tense. >> reporter: there were many injuries as those aboard struggled to get off the foundering vessel. >> translator: once the ferry lifted, water came in very quickly. i could feel the ship listing. i felt in my bones that i had to

escape when i saw water flooding along an alleyway by the cabin. >> reporter: at the high school where the students came from, anxious parents gathered for news. still coming to terms with what had happened. and desperate to clamber on buses organized by the authorities to take them to the rescue center. >> translator: i feel like my hearts stopped. i can't describe the feeling with one word. i was too shocked. i can't even talk about it. >> reporter: and as the survivors recovered, the questions mounted about what caused the disaster. there were reports of heavy fog. but the coast guard said visibility was good. the priority for now, however, the search in and around the wreck for those still missing. nick childs, bbc news. >> an nick is with me now. let's talk about that rescue effort, nick. because it's dark now, of course. but there must still be a major effort under way to find people. >> reporter: absolutely. as you say, the darkness will undoubtedly complicate matters. a huge priority because of this

very large number of people still unaccounted for. nearly 300. there must be concerns amongst the relatives now gathering on the shoreline as to what's happened to these individuals. whether it's just that they haven't been accounted for or that they genuinely are still missing. as far as we know, at best, there's very little of the ship still above water. and it's capsized. so question marks over whether there might still be people alive trapped in pockets of air within the ship. but there aren't going to be many of those given the state of the ship now. equally, are there others who've been in the water, but the water is cold and it wouldn't have taken long before hypothermia and the likes to set in. the chance of people still surviving in t water must also be pretty slim. >> hugely traumatic for everyone involved. the parents particularly waiting to find out about their kids who are onboard that boat. but those have have been rescued, what sort of stories are they telling about what happened?

>> well, we haven't had much detail. and, frankly, we haven't really heard anything to coin a phrase, people in positions of responsibility onboard the ship. senior members of the crew or anything like that. if any of those have survived. we heard talk of a thud and then the ship listing. people have talked of it being foggy at the time. could that have contributed -- >> there are parents already talking to south korean media, why did the ship set sail if it was foggy. >> yes. although the general sea conditions at least seem to have been reasonably good. there wasn't a heavy swell or anything like that. it wasn't that far from dry land, either. we also know that the ship did issue a distress signal just after 9:00 in the morning local time. and as we've seen, there were rescuers on the scene relatively quickly. although it was listing very badly at the time and clearly there would already have been

casualties, the ship was still afloat, albeit foundering. >> the rescue efforts, the u.s. navy are there. they've got dive teams as well. they're not wanting for people on the scene right now? >> no, indeed. the coast guard, the south korean coast guard was there pretty soon. the south korean navy was on the scene pretty soon. and there are divers involved. we have this very large u.s. naval ship, the bonhomme richard, a large number of helicopters and a huge number of other technical equipment and resources onboard. we're not quite sure when that will be at the scene. clearly that would be a major boost to the rescue effort. >> nick b with thank you very much for updating us. we are keeping across all media reports coming out of south korea as well and any developments, we will bring those straight to you. let's bring you up to date with some other news. a robotic mini submarine, which is helping with the search for the missing malaysian airliner in the indian ocean, has been forced to resurface for a second

time. australian officials coordinating the search haven't said why its mission was cut short. but they did say the mini sub would be redeployed. flight mh370 vanished from radar screens on march 8th with 239 people onboard. the trial of oscar pistorius continues in pretoria, south africa. defense witness and forensic expert roger dixon is being cross-examined by the prosecution. 27-year-old pistorius denies murdering his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. he says he mistook her for an intruder. the judge decided today the trial will be adjourned now until after easter. it will resume on the 5th of may. a controversial surveillance program that targets muslim communities has been abandoned by the new york police department. this program involved a special police unit. it sent plain clothes detectives to eavesdrop on conversations and monitor activity. ukraine's prime minister has

accused russia of exporting terrorism to his country. he said russia wanted to destroy ukraine's independence. he was speaking of armed men from a group opposed to the government in kiev took control of the city council building in donetsk. ukrainian forces are also on the move after the recapture of the military air base near the town of kramatorsk. they also attempted to enter the town. james reynolds now reports they were not welcomed with open arms. >> reporter: this is a very unusual situation here in kramatorsk. sz there are six ukrainian armored vehicles in a convoy. have a look over here. and they've been stopped. they can't move forward because just over there, you may be able to see a green bus. that green bus has been put here by local people. some of the people in this crowd to stop the convoy. and a very curious thing. if you come back to me here. is this.

these soldiers here. i don't want to get too close to them. these ones in the camouflage uniforms have got those orange and black bands on them. which show that they are pro-russian soldiers. so essentially you've got these men here on one side. and they are now surrounding the ukrainian soldiers. have a look up here. these are ukrainian soldiers here. so you've got two rival sets of armed forces. we're probably going to start moving back now. because these -- they're getting down from their own personnel carriers. the atmosphere has changed in the last ten minutes or so. it was quite curious to begin with. but now essentially these soldiers -- ukrainian soldiers who were happily on top of their armored personnel carriers have moved away from plain sight. effectively now they've been surrounded by pro-russian forces and blocked on either

side. james reynolds there. meanwhile, more ukrainian military vehicles are moving towards kramatorsk from the west. olga ishina from bbc's russian service is monitoring them. she has just sent us this report. >> reporter: now they're trying to move. at the same time, they are blocked by locals. just a few minutes ago, local people had a conversation with soldiers. and the soldiers told them they're not going to shoot. the situation here is quite tense. there is standoff. >> now, at this point, as olga was saying, the situation incredibly tense there. she decided to stop reporting. you can see why. look at these pictures here. local people trying to block

ukrainian troops from moving towards kramatorsk. soldiers are moving away. what we can see, soldiers don't seem to be pointing guns at anyone. as olga was just saying, these soldiers have said they would not shoot. at the same time, you can see that there are people being pushed back. the soldiers do seem to be using some force. they told olga that they were paratroopers. eventually, as you can see here, these armored vehicles are moving away. so an incredibly tense situation there just outside kramatorsk. with me now, the former british ambassador to russia to discuss all of these developments. thank you very much for being with us here on "gmt." it seems that the question that everyone is still asking is just how much is russia involved with what we're seeing now on our screens, what is happening? >> i think they're undoubtedly

russian special forces in eastern ukraine helping the demonstrators and on so. i don't think they initiated it. i think they seized the opportunity to add to the pressure on the ukrainian government to respond to some of russia's demands with regard to ukrainian neutrality and federalization and all of that. so they're involved without doubt. >> do you think russia and president putin should be saying stand back a bit? take the heat off out of this situation? >> well, i mean, the russians are maintaining pressure. what is encouraging in the shots you've just shown is that the ukrainian attempt to cover ground is obviously being done in a very cautious way. those instructions to troops not to shoot. i suspect we'll settle into another little e quill librium for a while where some of the buildings remain occupied. where troops of all sorts hang around. the main point everybody is focusing on is that tomorrow talks begin between the ukrainia ukrainians, the russians, americans and europeans. which hopefully will find a way out. which you say is very dangerous.

all you need is one bloodky confrontation. russians feel pressure to intervene with force. we're on a very sharp downward spiral. >> can we talk about concerns of the region and other countries in the region? we have just heard in the past few minutes or so from nato at a press conference in brussels, he said nato agreed on a package of military measures to reinforce its member's defense and it will do that on sea, on land and in the air. that's just been coming to us in the past few minutes or so. do you sense that those nato members, estonia, latvia, lithuania and those russian people who live there, the significant russian minorities who live there, should be concerned about president putin's ambitions? >> i can understand why they're concerned. there are large russian speak communities there. they're looking at what's going on in ukraine saying this could happen here. our nato allies need to demonstrate their support. nato allies are going to demonstrate support. i don't think the russian threat, if i can put it that way, extends actually to nato

members. >> what about trans -- >> it's different. the focus on ukraine is not accidental. for russia, ukraine is the country closest to them. slavic brother. long historic and other links. i constantly compare the ukrainian russian link to the scottish english link. they feel very special about ukraine. therefore they are determined ukraine should not slide off into nato and into membership of the eu. that's what all this is about. if in the negotiations that are coming up they can get assurances to that effect, then one rather hopes a deal can be done. >> let's talk about that deal. because this is your language as a diplomat. is there a way out of this for president putin in which he would also save face? >> there is. i don't think he really wants to occupy ukraine. crimea was very different for sort of historical reasons. if he occupies east ukraine he's faced with massive deteriorations in his relations with the west and probably very heavy sanctions.

what he wants a deal which gives him ukrainian neutrality. he can go back to his people and say, look, i've protected the russian speaking population in ukraine. slavic brothers are being looked after. his people will welcome that. >> how damaging is it to russia if we don't see an agreement? if things continue to worsen in the region and tensions continue to rise? >> very bad news in all sorts of ways. russia will suffer economically. the west will suffer economically. its sanctions are tightened. the really big loss will actually be that a russia which has been becoming a more normal european country, linking up economically, linking up politically, more travel and all of that, that process will be setback by perhaps a decade if we really get into nose to nose confrontation with them. >> thank you for coming in and sharing your thoughts with us. just to remind you of that breaking news very briefly, we've been hearing from the head of nato who says nato has just decided it will reinforce its military presence on the eastern border on sea, land and in the air. that coming to us from brussels

in the past few minutes or so. do stay with us here on bbc world news. still to come, just days after a deadly attack on the capital, around 100 schoolgirls are now thought to have been abducted from the northeast of nigeria. who is responsible for this wave of unrest? good job! still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories.

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security forces in borno state in nigeria are searching for 100 teenage girls abducted by suspected members of the islamist militant group boko haram. it's thought the girls are being forced to trek through a forest. these abductions came a day after 71 people were killed in two explosions at a bus station in abuja. that's also being blamed on boko haram. will ross has more. >> reporter: recent footage of the boko haram islamist militants moving in convoy in northeast nigeria.

this group is thought to be behind the abduction of more than 100 teenage girls from a boarding school. one girl said she managed to escape when one of the attacker's vehicles broke down. >> translator: they burnt the car with petrol and transferred us to other vehicles. ours moved on while the rest decided to go back for the other car broken down. it was then some of the girls in our truck decided to jump from the vehicle. >> reporter: a rescue operation is under way. but the girls are being held in challenging terrain. >> it's a very vast forest. trekking is not easy. as i said, as of the time i left, there's aerial surveillance going on. the ground troops are very in force. we are just hopeful. >> reporter: the islamist militants have been causing havoc. nigeria's president said they were behind monday's bomb attack in abuja. 71 people were killed and many

more were badly injured. yuhana broke his leg and was badly burned. a last minute decision saved his life. he said he was just about to join a queue for a bus ticket but changed his mind and went to buy some tea. he then heard a loud bang and said it all went dark. yuhana got out of the fire crawling on his hands and knees. during muslim prayers just a few hundred meters away from the bus park, the imam called for people to pray that such an attack should never happen again. mohammed kanafer's 23-year-old son went to work in the bus park but never came home. he searched the city's hospitals in vain. >> i concluded that he's dead. because they were standing together. >> reporter: tell me a bit about him.

>> it was my first time. >> reporter: many of the victims of the bomb attack are from this area just close to the bus park. this is a scene really of mourning here as people come to terms with the loss of their loved ones. but also there are a lot of questions being asked about why exactly any group would have carried out an attack that would have killed christians and musli muslims. from this very mixed community. his face full of grief, 15-year-old usman tells me he lost his elder brother in the blast. another life changed forever. will ross, bbc news, abuja. we have a bit of a chilling story before you now. is the end of the beard imminent? no way say fashion stylists. evolutionary biologists say it could be possible. australian scientists found as facial hair grows -- the clean

shaven look becomes more desirable to potential mates. we dispatched our bearded reporter james morgan to the beard capital of britain. >> reporter: a wave of beards has swept across the manly chins of britain. according to a study published today, these hairy humans could be doomed by evolution. scientists have found that the more beards there are, the less attractive they become. and that's because in evolution, traits which are rare or novel such as clean shavenness in this area of london, can become sexually attractive to potential mates. to see if the tide is really turning, we came to east london. home of the hirsute -- to ask the female of the species. >> the massive beards need to go. it seems like it's trending. >> there's too many. they've become common.

>> just feels like it's hiding the face. i'm always like, when the guy is going to shave, is he going to be ugly or not? >> reporter: i've been hiding under this bush for 12 years. so is it time i give my bristles the chop? >> you'd look younger. >> agree. less scary. >> i think you could keep it and let it go gray and see how that salt and pepper look works for you. >> depends on the commitment you've had to it. if you've had a journey with it and if you've got -- been through tough times and good times, whatnot. >> reporter: to the final rules on facial fashion, i took my case to an expert judge. >> i get clients now whose girlfriends actively want them to have beards. there's definitely a key change. i can't help but think it might just be at the peak at the moment. maybe we'll see a bit of a decline. >> reporter: what's the verdict? is my beard for the chop?

>> no. i think you should keep it. >> reporter: a hairy moment for me. but what does evolution have in store for artisan beard groomers like these? could they become an endangered species? if the scientists are right, barbers like this are going to go out of business. but judging by the number of bushy bristles around here, the peak beard era of fashion isn't going to go away any time soon. i don't want to lose my beard. james morgan, bbc news. >> there's a story that needs to be revisited in five years' time. do stay with us here on "gmt." plenty more coming up in the next half hour. we're returning to our top story on jindo island in south korea. desperate families there gathering to find out if their loved ones are among the survivors of a sunken ferry off the country's southwest coast. 300 people are still missing.

we'll also bring you more on another big developing story we've been covering today. the deepening crisis in ukraine. as we have told you this half hour, nato has just announced that it's agreed on more military measures to reinforce its member's security. on the border with russia and ukraine.

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only cars.com helps you get the right car i'm glad i'm with you. this weekend away, was long over-due. be a weekender at hotels like conrad and hilton. book now at hiltonweekends.com i'm lucy hawkings. in this half hour, final frontier. a european attempt to stop illegal imimmigrants. these are migrants climbing a fence from africa into europe. we have a special report from the spanish territory of malia. kate, will and baby george arrive in sydney to a huge crowd. how many australians still want to split from the monarchy? also on the program, aaron is here. aaron, we use a lot of what you've got in your hands.

>> right here in europe we use 100 billion these little devils every single year. that number is growing. here's the problem. typically, we only use them once and the majority end up in the rubbish. now the european union is going to war against the plastic bag in a bid to slash these numbers by 80%. -- needs more help from the europeandownon to control one of europe's most southern borders. in recent weeks thousands of migrants from africa have scaled the border fence that separates malia with mooar rocko. our spain correspondent tom burrish now reports. >> reporter: a home in a wood. in the mountains of north

africa. where they wait. hungry and desperate to enter a tiny piece of europe which they can see down below. he's been living in the forest for four years. he traveled all the way from cameroon. but now he's trapped. an illegal immigrant in mooar ro morocco. hiding from the police. >> i'm a prisoner. because i can't go in the street. i can't just walk in the street. i'm a prisoner. that's why i decide to come in the forest to live. >> reporter: there are thousands living here. an unwelcome community. within touching distance of their ultimate goal. europe. >> for the migrants, the mountain is the -- >> reporter: but this is what stands in their way. on this side of the border fence which stretches for 11.5

kilometers around melia. we're in spain, europe. on the other side is morocco. the tallest of the three fences is eight meters high. the migrants have developed tactics and techniques which have proved very effective. in recent weeks, hundreds at a time have scaled the fence. filmed by the police who call it a human avalanche. spain is spending more on policing its border. but the spanish government's representative in malia -- says the european union needs to take action to help the country control one of europe's most southern borders. for those that cross, there's little work. but there is somewhere to sleep. melila's overcrowded immigration center. >> life in melila is not all

that easy. you know, it's very difficult. no work. nothing for a living over here. we have just been like beggars. >> reporter: some told me they dream of life in britain. but the authorities here plan to send most back to the country where their journey began. melila manages tens of thousands of crossings from morocco every day. it's now calling on its european partners for help. to stop those on the mountain who are planning their illegal attempt to enter europe and spain. bbc news in melila. >> of course, it is not just spain which is facing an influx of migration in africa. the united nations refugee agencies say some 6,000 migrants were rescued last week alone off the coast of italy. most of these islands came from syria,s eritrea, somalia, mali,

senegal, nye jeer ja and the gambia. the travel to szwara. then acrossiterranean to the south of italy. thank you very much for joining us. incredible pictures that we saw on the report from melila. how are those receptions coping in the south of italy. >> you know, in italy, yes, as you were mentioning, almost 8,000 people arrive in the past days. it's very difficult to cope with these situations. the minister of interior is dispatching orders across all italy. and, of course, there is an -- manage and programming together

at the eu level. all these arrivals. because most of these people are refugees are people escapes for war. many syrians, many families, many young, many children that are approaching europe as their last opportunity. >> can you clarify their position? as refugees there are, therefore, entitled to protection? >> exactly. that is why italy and other eu countries are obliged to receive and to house them. and to give them the possibility to claim for asylum. lots of syrians, somalis, are reaching out to europe. really to look for -- i mean, to save their life, basically. >> what should european union member countries be doing that they're not? >> well, you know, first of all,

it's -- it's very important from the point of view the italian government put in place the rescue at sea operation. since january 20,000 people have been rescued. this is a big, big achievement. if we compare to what happened where there was a global outcry after the 600 people dying in two terrible tragedies. so this is very good. but, of course, this is a problem that should be approached in a european way. that calls for the responsibilities of many different member states. and we hope that starting italy precedents in july this will be a good push to working in a more coordinated way on the problem. the syria crisis, this is the

fourth year. we will have the stability in libya. it will also be difficult to look for preventive solutions. that's what we -- and alternative solutions. because it is very important to give to asylum seekers the possibility to claim for asylum without risking their life crossing the mediterranean. >> very, very briefly, are we also seeing an increase in the amount of children traveling on their own trying to get into europe? >> yes. that is definitely true. we are seeing almost 10% of the last arrivals this year are made of unaccompanied children. that meaning children that are traveling alone for months, sometimes for years. they are escaping and their families know that smugglers will ask for less money if they will have children. and this is very risky for them. this is risky in libya.

this is very risky in italy. because they are at risk of abuses and, yes, this is a big -- a big problem. >> okay. carlotta sami, thank you for joining us from rome. from the unhcl. let's join aaron now who is here with business. we're talking china's growth figures, aaron. >> china's growth figures. continues to slow. hello there. yes, we are talking about the world's second biggest economy. yes, i mentioned it. it continues to slow. china grew by 7.4% in the first three months of the year. slightly better than expected. i believe the expected number was around 7%. the markets were certainly relieved by the news. afterwa aft after seeing a spring of weak numbers from china over the past couple months. this whole china slowdown shouldn't come as a surprise. it's all part of a government policy in beijing to generate wealth in a more sustainable

way. let's hear from the expert. miranda karr from an investment bank focused on china. great to have you with us as always. i just mentioned, given those weaker numbers and the markets were scared by these numbers over the past month or two, 7.4% should come as a nice surprise, no? >> it was. i mean, obviously the gdp growth is very much a political message not just an economic figure. the target as a whole is 7.5%. 7.4% doesn't look too bad. doesn't look like they have to do any stimulus. it sort of keeps everything ticking over without causing too much panic. >> you mentioned gdp sort of seen as this political number. let's talk about, i guess, some other positives that we saw today and some real numbers. retail spending up in march. i think it was just over 12%. but very importantly, incomes, i believe, continue to rise. both in rural and urban incomes. doesn't that sort of play into the hand of beijing wanting to basically get more chinese

people to spend at home on the ground in china? >> yes. you've definitely got an economic rebalancing going on. because they're not going for the sort of old-fashioned stimulus which is what they did back in 2008, 2009, where they just sort of shovel money out the door in the banks and try to build more infrastructure and railways. this time it's trying to actually restructure a lot of the state-owned businesses and give more money to individuals to spend. actually looking at the retail sales figures themselves, they were actually quite positive on things like autos and things like telephones, mobile phones. whereas the slowdown came in things like food and alcohol and jewelry. which is -- which is part of the anti-corruption drive. some of the slowdown again essentially part of the reform package. >> just to sort of make this very clear for viewers around the world, we've been talking about it for some time. beijing's made it clear it wants to make this shift, this rebalance. it doesn't want to just be the world's -- it wants to grow its

middle class, et cetera. the question is how much growth do you think beijing is prepared to give up to see that rebalance? >> okay. it's been fairly clear that 7.2 is pretty much the floor. you're basically looking at 7.2 to 7.5 for the year as a whole. the big thing they've made an emphasis on this year rather than sort of the gdp growth is actually employment. so they've got a target of 10 million employment. they managed 3 million in q-1. that puts them on a fairly good record for the year. it is more about, yeah, the sort of quality, quality of growth and actually getting people into jobs rather than just the headline figure. >> indeed. the premier himself saying it's about quality, not quantity. mir randa carr. from china to plastic bags. the eu is trying to get to grips with runaway plastic bags. listen to these numbers. across the european union, we

use nearly 100 billion plastic bags every year. but they are rarely recycled. and certainly can be the worst form of litter on beaches. certainly marine life, on the sea, et cetera. the eu is voting on a plan to slash the use of plastic bags by 80% in the next five years. the plans still need approval from member states. the eu really wants to tackle big differences in how each eu country deals with its plastic bag problem. the editor of european environment and packaging law magazine, yes, is there a magazine on that, believe it or not. they explain to us just where these bags end up. >> about 50% go to landfill. the rest are incinerated. the european commission is concerned that they want to cut down the use of plastic bags which causes a huge problem, particularly in the marine environment. the commission are keen to encourage countries to do what, for example, ireland has done. this is also what the writer of

the report is saying. charging for bags, you can cut the consumption by about 90% almost overnight. the industry, on the other hand, are a bit concerned this could perhaps result in more people using other types of bags. so there is that aspect to consider. >> there you go. follow me on twitter. @bbcaaron. quickly on the plastic bags, take a lesson from the danes and fins. on average four bags per person per year. we use around 200. there you go. >> aaron, thanks so much. do stay with us here on bbc world news. still to come, we're going to return to our top story. south korea's ferry disaster. desperate family members gathering and still waiting for any news on the many who are missing. (vo) you are a business pro. maestro of project management. baron of the build-out.

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i'm lucy hawkings. our top story this our on "gmt," at least three people are reported dead, 290 remain unaccounted for after a passenger ship sank off the coast of south korea. there were more than 450 people onboard. let's stay with that story. the ferry capsized and sank. it was sailing to the resort island of jeju. what is tragic is that most of those onboard were children. there were on a school trip. let's talk now to the editor of the english programs on ytm tv channel in south korea. she joins me on the line from seoul. thank you very much for being with us. firstly, could you help us clarify some of these figures? because they've been changing throughout the day. has there been any official number given to media there about how many people have been

killed and how many people are still missing? >> well, yes. the south korean government has confirmed that a total of four people have lost their lives. after a passenger ferry sank with nearly 460 people onboard. a female employee at the ferry company and two men who are believed to be students have been found dead at the scene. while a sophomore student from the high school died during medical treatment. over 290 others are still missing. up until now, 164 people, including 78 students from a high school south of seoul have been rescued. the students aboard were on their field trip, as you mentioned, to korea's resort island of jeju, a famous tourist destination from here at home and abroad. and now hundreds of family

members of the students have arrived at an island near the accident scene to confirm the whereabouts of their children and are desperately waiting to hear from their loved ones. >> they must be incredibly worried about their children and those that are still missing. it's nighttime now. but that rescue operation is still under way. what details do we have about what efforts they're going to make during the night to try and find those who are missing? >> well, yes. the rescue operations are still under way. however, rescue experts say that there is very little chance for those missing to be alive. especially when considering the cold water temperature. and the exact cause of the accident has not yet been confirmed. many also speculate that the ship was having trouble due to dense fog. >> thank you very much for updating us. from ytn television in south korea. soon we have any more developments for you on that

story, we will bring them to you. let's update you now on what is happening in ukraine. an armed pro-russian sprit separatists have taken control of donetsk's city council building. masked men in military uniform have removed journalists from the lobby. the bbc has spoken to yulia bebanko. she says they are from the donetsk wing. opposed to the kiev government against the overthrow of vi-- nato has just announced in the past hour or so it has agreed on more military measures to reinforce its member's security. the organization's secretary-general said it will deploy more air, land and sea forces in eastern europe. >> today we agreed on a package of further military measures to

reinforce or collective defense and demonstrate the strength of ally solidarity. we will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water and more readiness on the land. for example, air police and aircraft will fly more over the baltic region. ally ships will deploy to the baltic sea, the eastern mediterranean and elsewhere as required. military staff from allied nations will deploy to enhance our preparedness, training and exercises. >> anders rasmussen speaking in

brussels. jonathan, what's that announcement all about? reassuring the nervous neighbors? >> absolutely. two things. reassuring nato's allies in the baltics and in central europe. the baltic republics, poland and so on, who are alarmed by the russian deployments on ukraine's border. it's reassuring them that the alliance is solid. that it's willing to take action to defend its members if necessary. and, of course, the second part is to send a very clear signal of the same message to moscow. what's interesting in this is that the air and the naval parts are relatively easy to do. we've already seen the nato air patrols over the baltic stepped up. mr. rasmussen said there would be more of that patrolling. he mentioned nato ships would be sent to the baltic and eastern mediterranean. interesting he didn't mention the black sea by name. that might, perhaps, be too much

of a provocation to the russians. when he talked about the land side of forces, he talked about military staffs being deployed to enhance exercises and so on. he didn't talk about the basic of nato troops, for example, in poland or in the baltic republics. i think what we're going to see is a stepped up pattern of exercises and temporary deployments. >> did he talk about any kind of numbers? >> no. we're expecting some more details later in the day. but i don't think we're going to see anything like permanent deployments. that would be seen, i think, as perhaps raising the tempo. but it is clear, and i think there are going to be continuing pressures from particularly a country like poland, to say that some of nato's infrastructure should be moved eastward. so it was amusing the other day. the polish foreign minister mentioned in all the 20 years or so they've been a member of the alliance, the only nato infrastructure they have in poland is actually a conference center. i think they might want something a little bit beefier.

>> on that point, jonathan, what about nato's defense budget? i mean, they've been dwindling over the years. do they have the muscles, might, resources to provide what these countries are looking for? >> n >> they certainly have the might and muscle to deploy what they're talking about here. t does the alliance need to spend more? does it need to look at its fundamental core business of defending the allies in different way? i think one of the problems there is that nobody at the moment seriously believes that russia is a threat to nato members. what clearly is the case is that russia is a growing threat nato perceives to countries like georgia. clearly to ukraine. what the military response should be is a matter of debate over the comes weeks and months. >> thanks so much for joining us. right across the other side of the world now. prince william and the duchess

of cambridge have arrived in australia for the second leg of their tour. more importantly as well they have prince george with them. there he is. the family greeted in sydney by the prime minister tony abbott. on a ten-day visit to australia. they've just been new zealand. following the royal tour from australia for us is tom donnison. >> they had a pretty busy start to their trip to australia. they were whisked from the airport to the center of town to the harbor and the iconic sydney opera house. there were large crowds waiting to greet them. many bearing gifts for prince george. prince george, we actually saw him a t the airport but he didn't go to the opera house. but certainly, as you'd expect with people turning out to welcome them, they were pretty enthusiastic. not all australians feel that way. certainly the people we saw today are pretty keen royalists. >> jon donnison in sydney. a reminder of our top stories on "gmt."

on south korea, the island of jindo, desperate family members have gathered to see if their loved ones are among the survivors of a sunken fairy. our big story today, the deepening crisis in the ukraine. nato has announced it has agreed on more military measures to reinforce its member's security. thanks for being with us. i've always had to keep my eye on her... but i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care, i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile, not random statistics.

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