hello. you're watching bbc world news. our top stories. a military helicopter crashes many eastern ukraine. witnesses say it exploded in the sky above the city of sloviansk. the mystery of mh 370. officials say the plane is not in the area they've been searching. australia defends it's actions. >> we concentrated on that area because the pings were the best information at the time. that's all you can do in

circumstances like this is follow the best leads. a landslide victory for the chief sisi. he has won the presidential election. >> an amphibian invasion. we meet the toad that could spell disaster for madagascar's unique environment. let's begin with breaking news from ukraine where a military helicopter has been shot down apparently by rebels in sloviansk. journalists saw the helicopter explode. a pro russian group says it's holding four that went missing. the men are safe and will be released soon.

okay. let's talk. we tried so hard to get it right. i apologize. let's talk about the military helicopter. what's happening? >> other journalists, ukrainian and russian, this is a helicopter that delivered equipment to the hot beds of tensions and strong holds of the pro russian rebels in the area. after it dislodged a group of soldiers it was going back. at that point there were two explosions. one in the air and one on impact. there was a plume of smoke rising and heavy shooting heard in the area. that's the latest we've heard. there's no official confirmation from the ukrainian defense at the moment. >> this is going to heighten tension is it not?

>> they're high as it is. ukrainian forces captured the airport at donetsk. when the pro russian rebels tried to capture it, there was a heavy loss of life on the side of rebels. now this is a pay back on their view. the fighting is going on quite heavily. the president elect basically laid out his plan clearly. there won't be negotiation with the armed groups. there will be intensifying the authorities in kiev who are anti-terrorist operation. this is part of the drive to reinforce forces in the area. >> this is a test isn't it? you've just come into office. we've got the osc observers held by a pro russian group who's admitted to holding them.

he says he's not going to take any violence against ukrainians lying down. he has to act now doesn't he? >> it is a test. the question is what he can do and what the ukrainian army can do. they've been trying to avoid civilian casualties which are quite low. fighting comes closer and closer to populated area. there have been shelling, civilian deaths in donetsk. this operation becomes dangerous for the credibility of the ukrainian army and leadership of ukraine. also, they're faced with serious infiltration across the border. there's more and more evidence for groups in other parts of russia. several citizens of the russian federation. certainly there's infiltration

of heavy weaponry. it looks like the rebels are well armed and supplies of guns, weapons, ammunition are not decreasing. >> going to keep tensions high as well. thank you very much. in other news, we're asking what happened to mh 370. three months after the airline disappeared with 239 on board, we still don't know. an unmanned submarine has finished the search without locating a single piece of debris. the prime minister says he's still confident the plane is somewhere in the indian ocean. we know the flight left kuala lumpur on the 8 of march. at 1:07 the data recorder sent the final data known as

handshakes every hour. the final signal was a partial hand shake at 8:19 a.m. local time this. led investigators to conclude the plane ended the journey far off the coast of australia. an underwater search has found nothing at all. australia prime minister has been briefing parliament about the latest developments. here's what he had to say. >> the data collected on yesterday's emission has been analyzed. as a result the joint agency coordinating center can advice no signs of aircraft debris have been found in the autonomy underwater craft. it's searched 850 square ki kilomete kilometers. the search in the area can be

considered complete. it is professional judgment the area can be discounted as the final resting place for mh 370. ocean shield is departed the area last night and will be arriving in the west on saturday. as i mentioned in earlier this month, the search for mh 370 continues, but now it has to move to a different phase. >> our sydney correspondent has been following and has details. >> this is what abbott said a few weeks ago that they had been unsuccessful in the search area where the pings were detected and basically the search was going to be expanded to a huge area, 65,000 square kilometers. now we hear the underwater automated sub has carried out

its last mission in the search. they're moving on to other areas. egypt state media is reporting al-sisi has won the election with 96% of the poll. hundreds of sisi supporters took to the streets thursday morning. they were waving egyptian flags, setting off fireworks and honking their car horns. sisi gained more than 23 million votes. the left wing candidate to grant 735,000, substantially fewer than the ballot papers brought in. al-sisi hoped a big turnout would give him more legitimacy. the muslim brother hood

boycotted the poll last july. turnout was 44% even though voting was extended into a third day. our middle east correspondent is in cairo following the events. >> i think the big issue for al-sisi is not his victory. state media say he won by as much as 93% of the total vote. we won't have official figures for a few days but there's no doubt this is a resounding endorsement from those that voted. the problem for sisi and egypt is that a large number stayed from the polls. the turnout was less than 45%. sisi himself in the final days before the vote had been appealing for 40 million egyptians to come to polls. he said he wanted a turnout of

80%. these figures are critical. it leaves sisi with a credibility gap before he even begins. he wanted the strongest possible mandate from largest number of voters to claim to be acting on behalf of all egyptians. the other critical figure is 52%, the number that came out to vote last time in 2012. at that stage they chose the president morsi. that is the leader, elected leader who removed by sisi himself. he wanted this large, strong endorsement, strong mandate to move to the world that a that action was not a coup that he was acting on behalf of the entire nation. now what he has instead is a strong but partial endorsement. >> let's talk about the muslim brother hood. it was it and other groups that boycotted the vote. the muslim brother hood, it was always agree it would remain.

>> in the campaign sisi made it clear it was banned before christmas. it has been politically decapitated. hundreds of the leaders are in jail, thousands of suspected members have been rounded up. the boycott of the brother hood were called a boycott. this lower than expected turnout say this is punishment for carrying out a coup. authorities had gone to extraordinary lengths, some say illegal lengths, to increase in turnout. suddenly tuesday was declared a bank holiday on the trains and subway. people were on television, prime minister included, begging the voters to go out. egyptians were threatened with fines if they didn't go to the polls. let's not forget we had a third

day of voting. all of that didn't manage to fill the polling stationses. it has raised questions about the process. predictably there are suggestions by the candidate in the race. also from some of the international observers including the washington based democracy international. it has said all these estranged last minute alterations raise questions about the government and legitimacy and process. that's an issue for sisi before he's sworn. >> let's talk to aaron and find out what's happening in the world. hello. good, bad, going to stay going to go? >> it's a growing market. growing substantially. let me explain. hello there. let's talk act e-cigarettes. it's fair to say they have split

the world's public community. are they a smoke screen for boosting cigarette sales? >> experts have written a plea to the world health organization asking it to drop objections to the widespread sell of the e-cigarettes. even though they contain highly addictive nicotine, they don't cause the cancer causing agents found in tobacco. they insist there's no evidence the devices are safe. research on them is thin on the ground. what we know is e-cigarettes are now big business. since being released on the consumer market in 2005 the global market has been growing rapidly. global sales reached $5 billion last year. this figure is what we're expected to hit this year.

$5 billion. it is certainly a steep rise from just $20 million. the industry made back in 2008. it's also estimated global e-cig let markets could increase to $10 billion by 2017. some analyze and think this could clip more in ten years. coming up in an hour's time. let's talk two big names in the music industry that are about to become a lot richer. take a look. andre young known as dr. dre. and on the right, producer of stars like bruce springsteen to lady gaga and mentor on american idol. the two cofounded the headphones company beats which apple confirmed it's buying for $3 billion. that's the deal. both men join apple's management team in the tech giant's biggest ever take over.

what's the logic behind the deal? will dr. dre become hip hop's first billionaire? we'll talk more about this acquisition coming up on "gmt." let me lastly finish with this. the capital where president putin signed a deal with his counter parts to create an create an economic union. it will create a shared market and help integrate economic policy and treaties signed by treaties due to come into force next year. critics of the kremlin say the project is an attempt to recreate part of the old soviet uni union. ukraine pulled out after plans after the president was ousted. we'll touch on this later today. lots going on. tweet me @bbc aaron.

>> i suggest people tweet you and find out if you're a dr. dre and beats fan. i suggest -- >> neither. >> thanks very much. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come, the race is on to tackle the toad to battle the amphibian invasion that could perhaps be stopped in time. ♪

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the british secretary has added course of condemnation following the death of a pakistani woman bludgeoned to death. she was three months pregnant when she was attacked in the center of the city. our correspondent has been following the events. we spoke about the amount of attention this story has attracted and perhaps it is about time the authorities spoke up. >> this incident on tuesday shocked people in pakistan and around the world that a woman who had married a man of her choice had gone to high court to give a statement that this was the matter she wanted. outside the high court, her family members, her father, her brothers and cousins about two dozen people came in cars and attacked her with bricks.

they killed her there. police were nearby and did nothing to save her life. there were members of public that stood by and watched this happen. these are honorable killings even though nothing is honorable about these. they're not new in pakistan. last year according to the human rights in pakistan, 800 women were killed in the name of honor. these were reported case. many more go unreported in towns and villages. this incidents is shocking because it happened in front of the high court, in presence of police and members of public. yeah, you're right, it's about time the prime minister took notice. he's asked for the report to be submitted this evening. >> the world is watching and has been shocked. this doesn't do much for pakistan's image as it tries to become an international leader conversing with the west.

>> pakistan has a lot of challenges of extremism, militantcy, governing. these incidents of human rights violations are part of the challenges the government needs to tackle. what people want to see is action against these perpetrators of crime. police have raided various areas looking for family members. they've arrested the father of this woman. they're looking for other members who have left their homes. people want to see action against those police officials who were post there had, who's job it is to save these kind of crimes. you know, all eyes on the government. the chief minister is the younger brother of the prime minister. people want to see how the government will respond. now wild life researchers

call it a potentially disaster. a relative of the toad has spread to madagascar. the island is known for the unique ecosystem which was isolated for years until humans arrived. let's talk to rebecca. why is this so dangerous? >> you wouldn't think a toad would cause that many problems. these guys have been spotted in march. there have been lots since. the main issue, they're a relative of the cane toad. it comes from the americas, from south and central america but introduced to australia in the 1930s. initially to control pests. numbers have spiralled. there are now millions of them. they cause a huge amount of problems for local wild life in australia. the idea is it could cause a similar set of problems for the wild life in madagascar.

they've got a unique set of animals there. bird, plants, mammals, things you don't find anywhere else. if these guys that are slightly venomous or toxic, animals try to eat them and drop dead. they spread disease. >> you talk about the journey, but how did this critter glet there? >> they think it might have hitchhiked on a shipping container. these toads have formed. they're hearty and can survive long journeys at sea. once open, they can hop out of the container and go about their business. that's possible. they could have been introduced on purpose. the most likely root is from the ship. >> madagascar suffered political turmoil in recent years. are authorities able to deal

with this effectively? >> this is interesting. scientists have put in a call for action in the journal. they say the government and conservationists need to act now. we have to actually we move the toads from madagascar. this is not an easy task. they're not sure how long they've been there and how far they've spread. one study suggested they're located in one area. it might be easy to go in and get them. you can physically remove them and scoop eggs out of ponds and things. they have to act now. once an invaded species beds down and starts spreading as they did in australia, it's hard to do that. >> i don't think i'd want that job. the difference between a frog and a toad? >> it's not straight forward. the easiest way to think about it, toads have dry, bumpy skin.

the asian common toad is warty. frogs are slimier with smoother skin. some toads are smooth and slimy. some frogs are warty. looking at the skin is a good way of spotting the difference. >> let's not look too closely. i like frogs and toads, apart from this of course. >> of course. thanks very much rebecca. a russian rocket has docked at space station with a three man crew. >> and lift off. the rocket lifted off in what was called a flawless launch. one from the european space agency and a russian astronaut. this is despite the friction

we've seen between the two countries about ukraine. happy crew. a military helicopter has crashed over sloviansk. witnesses say it was shot down during fighting between the two. we'll have more coming up.

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follow the very best leads. stoned to death in broad daylight. the pakistan calls the murder outside the high court totally acceptable. why the tall trees are facing a serious threat from loggers. hello. a ukrainian transport helicopter has crashed over sloviansk during heavy fighting between forces and pro russian separatists. journalists saw the aircraft explode and crash over the city 100 kilometers from the russian border. it was carrying a group of soldiers. it's not known if any of them

survived. we'll talk to our correspond end later in the program to get more details about exactly what happened. we're asking what happened to mh 370 three months after it disappeared. we still don't know. an unmanned submarine has finished the search of the seabed without locating a single piece of debris. the australian prime minister is confident the plane is somewhere in the southern indian ocean. here's what we we know about the route. flight 370 left kuala lumpur bound for beijing on the 8th of march. at 1:07 the data system sent the final data. handshakes republican sent every hour over indian ocean. the final was 8:19 local time.

this led investigators to conclude the plane ended the journey with no trace whatsoever. >> the data collected on yesterday's mission has been analyzed and as a result the joint agency coordinating center can add vievise no signs of the aircraft have been found on the underwater vehicle since it joined the search effort. since blue fin 31 has been involved in the search, it scouted out 850 square kilometers of the ocean floor looking for signs of the aircraft. the safety bureau has advised the search in the vicinity can be considered complete. it is professional judgment the area can be discounted as the final resting place for mh 370. ocean shield has departed the

area last night and will be arriving in the west on saturday. as i mentioned in earlier this month, the search for mh 370 continues, but now it has to move to a different phase. >> a short while ago i spoke to the captain, aviation expert in sydney. he spoke about the pace of the investigation from the outset saying it was much too slow. >> i think the whole thing could have been solved in the first four hours after if authorities had carried out the appropriate protocols. this is apparently the best information they had at the time. they searched the indian ocean by mathematical calculations from the single pings they believed they were receiving from the aircraft. we now find they were searching

in the wrong frequency. the pinger locater on the flight data recorder was transmitting 33 kilohertz. the actual is 37. that's a four watt difference. the water does not change that. if malaysian authorities had the correct protocols, the vietnamese authorities should have called within minutes. he failed to do that. it took him 17 minutes. apparently the military air defense officer should have spoke ton the controller. it's beyond believe the air controller watched this go across air space without doing anything about it, without asking questions. one-half trained individual or

one-half a sleep should have spoke to a military controller and said i've lost an aircraft. the military controller should have said i've found own aircraft. common logic is they should have talked about that more and could have tracked it. we wouldn't be months down the track trying to find out where it had gone. they could have sent out a fighter to detect it. no intentions of shooting it down. why would i shoot it down? he said of course not. the pilot could open his eyes and look at it and say this is a malaysian airlines 777. let's follow it and see where it's going. it's common logic and not that hard. that is how the system work. >> captain ross there. it may have been a two horse race, but the result was never in doubt. egypt media is reporting al-sisi

has won with more than 96% of the poll. hundreds of sisi supporters took to the streets in cairo in the early morning hours. they were waving flag, setting off fireworks, honking car horns. let's look at figures. al-sisi gained 23 million votes. the left wing politician was the only other candidate. he took 735,000. substantially fewer than the number of ballot papers ruled in inadmissible. while sisi's victory was never in doubt, he hoped the big turnout would give added legitimacy. the ousted president morsi was remove ed from the office last july. turnout was just 44%. voting had been extended to a third day. that was well below the election which brought morsi to power in 2012. our correspondent is following

events in cairo. >> the big issue for al-sisi is not the victory which was never in doubt. state media says he won by 95% of the vote. we won't have official figures for a few days. there's no doubt this is a resounding endorsement from those that voted. that's the key point. the problem for sisi and indeed for egypt is that a large number of voters stayed away from the polls. the estimates we're getting at the moment is turnout was less than 45%. sisi himself in the final days before the vote had been appealing for 40 million egyptians to come to polls. he said he wanted a turnout of 80%. these figures are critical because it leaves sisi with a credibility gap before he even begins. he wanted the strongest possible mandate from the large ersz numbest

number of voters so he could claim to act on behalf of all egyptians. >> let's talk about the muslim brother hood. it was always agreed it would remain. >> it was made clear there's no political future for this organization. it was banned before christmas. it's been politically decapitated. hundreds of senior leadership are in jail, thousands of members are rounded up. the brother hood boycott of the election, they called a blood boycott. naturally enough they have been taking sol lis saying it's punishment for a coup. some have gone to extraordinary lengths, some say illegal lengths, to increase the turnout. tuesday was declared a bank holiday on the trains and

subway. people were on television including the prime minister begging people to go and out vote. let's not forget we suddenly had a third day of voting. all that didn't manage to fill the polling stations. it's raised credibility of the process. the only other candidate in the race, the left winger, and also some of the international observers including the washington base international which has said these last minute alterations raise questions about the impartial alty of the government and legitimacy of the whole election process. that's another problem for sisi before he's sworn in. >> we've been reporting a helicopter has been shot down over sloviansk in ukraine. we get more now from our correspondent. new news is coming through.

mark, tell us more. >> in the last few minutes the ukrainian president has been speaking in parliament in kiev. he has confirm had the 14 people have been killed as a result of this ukrainian helicopter being downed here the town of sloviansk. among the 14 we understand a ukrainian general is one of those. this held continuer, we're not sure whether it was transporting personnel, food. there are reports of both of those. this has been the center of heavy fighting in the last few weeks. it is held by rebel insurgents. it's not the first time helicopters have been shot down in this region. in may, two were also shot down by the rebel fighters. a significant loss of life for the ukrainian military this time. >> the president elect has been made clear he's going to stand

if i were. he's willing to negotiate and talk to west and russia. he's going to defend ukraine's interest as he sees fit. what does this latest incident do to that statement? >> reporter: i think it will em bold in him more. he's given a press conference talking about the rebel fighters being terrorists comparing them to pirates. and saying the antiterrorism clause must be completed in a few hours rather than weeks and months. rebels have different positions in this region. they control check points, patches of land. you can see from what happened today what they're capable of doing. there's no sense of the ukrainian government have been the upper hand in all this. clearly in kiev, they want to dismantle rebel groups and bring this lawless area back under

ukrainian control. >> this comes on the way of the back of the ukrainian forces gaining that control of the airport donetsk. this doesn't seem to be finishing any time soon? >> reporter: both sides digging in. that battle for the control of the airport was fierce. at least 37 people dead in that, rebel fighters. some say up to 100 killed as ukrainians sent in efforts to regain the control when rebels tried to seize it. both sides are sticking to their positions. another development i should bring you, the osce that lost contact with staff monitoring missions now saying they believe that group is being held by a group aligned to rebel group in

sloviansk. we have the leader in sloviansk saying this morning they are detained, not arrested. they could soon be freed. that's the first word we've had on observers since they went missing monday morning. want to update our viewers. ukraine's acting president says 14 ukrainians including an army general are dead after a helicopter was shot down. mark just reporting on that. as we get more information, we'll bring it to you. human rights activists in pakistan say they plan to protest against the killing of a pregnant woman by her family outside a courthouse in the city. parveen was three months pregnant when she was bludgeoned to death for marrying a man she loved. the prime minister said the act was totally unacceptable. the british foreign secretary is

shocked and a palled. amber joins me. good to see you. it seems to be late. yesterday's newspapers had the picture of this woman on the front pages. we hadn't heard from authorities then. >> this story made headlines around the world. people are shocked at the way that this lady was killed within court premises, in front of police. there's also been questions asked about why the police couldn't do anything. we tried to get a hold of police today. parveen's lawyer hasn't been able to get in touch with police. it seems after the attention, finally the prime minister has taken notice of the incident and asked for a report of it and to hold whoever is responsible accountability. >> what good does that do? does it change the culture of

honor killings? that's the message we're getting when we look at the response. >> when you think about it, human rights commission of pakistan, one of the leading organizations in pakistan, said that last year there were 900 cases of honor killing in pakistan. the problem with the law is that obviously the families can settle the dispute amongst themselves. there's little conviction. people are not caught. in fact there was a large group of men that were involved in her killing. only the father was able to be arrested and detained. they're looking for others that were probably her cousins etc. >> horrific story. thank you for speaking to me. stay with us on bbc news. still to come. tough words from the u.s.

secretary of state john kerry. he says edward snowden should man up and face american justice. [ male announcer ] applebee's believes better choices for lunch,

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at applebee's. you're watching bbc world news. here are the headlines. a ukrainian military helicopter has been shot down in the east of the country by pro russian separatists. 14 are said dead including a general. authorities no longer believe the missing malaysian plane is in the area they've been searching the past two months. the japanese prime minister abe said north will reopen the investigation into the abducted citizens. north korea admitted 12 years ago it kidnapped japanese citizens to help train spies.

five abduck tees and families were allowed to return to japan. eight others have died. japan pushes for more information. man up, come back to the u.s. to face justice. that's the secretary of state john kerry's message to the former contractor edward snowden. he called the former analyst a traitor and coward for refusing to return to the u.s. we have this report from washington. >> a year ago, no one had heard of him. last june, snowden gained notoriety after leaking secrets from the u.s. surveillance programs. headline after headline followed. regulations the national security agency had been spying on the phone and internet use of millions of americans and on other countries including germany's angela merkel and brazil. snowden fled the u.s., first to

hong kong then russia where he's granted temporary asylum. in the first american tv interview with the nbc network, he explained why he shared the classified information. >> this needed to be told to the public. the constitution of the united states has been violated on a massive scale. now, had that a not happened, had the government not gone too far and overreached, we wouldn't be in a situation where whistle blowers were necessary. >> the 30-year-old said he previously worked as a spy for the cia. he denied he was a traitor and said he misses america. >> i don't think there's ever been any question i'd like to go home frch home. from day one i said i'm doing this to serve my country. amnesty is not for me to say. if i could go anywhere in the

word, that place would be home. >> u.s. wants him on home soil to face charges. the government has reacted angry to his public comments. >> this man has disobeyed his country, sitting in russia where he's taking refuge. he should man and come back to united states. if he has a complaint with american surveillance, come back in u.s. and make his case. >> the leaks revealed information to terror groups. he says he's standing up for freedom and libber t eertlibert. the interview restarted the debate that began last year. some of the tallest trees in the world are under threat in

california. poachers are selling them for thousands of as table tops. we went to the town to find out more. >> reporter: some of the world's tallest trees survive as curiosity in california. others are protected in national parks after millions were taken down by log. >> it's critical for the survival of the tree and redwood forest. >> reporter: this is a growth on a redwood trunk poachers want to get their hands on. >> a burrow is dorment. a thousand-year-old tree may have a bureau. by removing the thick bark, you

ex popose the tree to insects, rots, threat of fire danger. >> this is a coffee table. >> a unique grain is polished up. >> there's a problem. it's not as big as they say. this has gone viral, way out of proportion. >> james says none of the wood is illegally taken from the parks. >> last year this time i sold eight to nine tables. this year i've sold one. i think maybe a lot of this propaganda with this park has hurt me quite a bit. >> james build shop is one of five. once a thriving logging town, now a run down place people pass through with no jobs and a big crystal meth drug problem. many blame the national park for the decline. we're going to bring you up to date on events in ukraine.

a helicopter has been shot down. we have more news. >> i think the initial reports have been confirmed. the acting president told that 14 soldiers had been killed including the army general. it's a bad day. the army was in good spirits after it described defeat of separatists near the airport. now it shows this is another element of escalation. there's heavy fighting reported on the ground. there's fighting near the town. the two pockets of resistance are in the region. the situation doesn't show any signs of cooling down. >> the president elect has to prove himself now doesn't he? >> he has promised the operation will be completed quickly. he said he will not talk to armed groups.

he will talk to peaceful representatives. the dilemma is what do you do in these circumstances when rebels clearly show they have the capacity to fight. they have the capacity to inflict heavy damage on the ukrainian army. how do you detain it and isolate groups? >> it's clear when you look at groups they're being serviced or supplied. >> the russian federation denies that. there are denies from the czech leaders. there's evidence of people on the ground. among the dead, quite a few were citizens of the russian federation. the official line from moscow is they may be volunteer, local, military leaders. they're saying they have volunteers from across the country and across the former soviet union. the reality is from the

perspective, this is all infiltration and trespassing through the border, bringing in weapons and fighters who basically want separation of regions and regions ultimately joining russia. >> thanks for keeping us up to date. that was it from bbc world news. ahh, nothing like the peace and quiet of a beach escape. funny, there was no mention of hail in the weather report. go & smell the roses.

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hello. you're watching "gmt" on bbc world news. i'm tim willcox. our top stories. the president said the operation to retake eastern ukraine would take just hours. almost a week later t bloody battle continues. today 14 people are killed after rebels shoot down a military helicopter. back to square one as the underwater search for mh 370 reveals nothing. >> no signs of aircraft debris has been found in the