LIVE: Ukraine crisis
March 2, 2014 17:56
Key points
- Ukraine puts its army on full combat alert after Russia approves the deployment of its troops
- US President Barack Obama tells his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Russia has flouted international law by sending troops to Ukraine
- Nato is to hold an emergency meeting at 12:00 GMT to discuss the escalating conflict in Crimea
- The Ukrainian parliament is to meet in emergency session
- All times GMT
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LIVE TEXT
By Alix Kroeger, Nina Lamparski and Jeremy Gahagan
09:52
US President Barack Obama says Russia is in breach of international law, having clearly violated Ukraine's sovereignty. Watch our short report on the earlier phone conversation between Mr Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
09:49
Ukraine's armed forces are in a state of full combat readiness to protect key energy and nuclear sites, officials say.
09:48 Breaking News
Ukraine is to call up all its military reservists, the government has announced.
09:46
The latest is the mysterious "Russian sniper" in Belgorod allegedly hired by Praviy Sector. Now their site, hosted by VKontakte (the Russian Facebook) has been blocked after a demand from the Russian regulator Roskomnadzor.
09:45
The BBC's Ukraine analyst Olexiy Solohubenko says it appears that the far-right paramilitary movement Right Sector is becoming the target of all sorts of dodgy accusations. Their appeal to the Chechen warlord Doku Umarov seems to be a fake, and Right Sector press secretary Andriy Skoropadsky says the account was hacked at the time the appeal was allegedly sent.
09:43
Duncan Crawford - BBC News
US options being discussed v weak: cancel Obama Russia trip in June, shelve pos trade deal, kick Moscow out of G8, etc.
09:35
Syria, Edward Snowden and now Ukraine: the past 12 months are the worst year of Washington-Moscow relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union, writes Edward-Isaac Dovere in Politico.
09:34
Andrey in Donetsk, Ukraine
emails: I live in Donetsk and I am Russian-speaking Ukrainian. From Friday Donetsk is overcrowded with outsiders whose job is to pretend to be us (locals). On Saturday they staged the protest meeting with Russian flags, and even announced a people's governor, right on the square - a person who no one had heard about before. I do not know what is happened in other eastern Ukrainian cities, but it looks like the same scenario as in Donetsk.
09:32
"Pull over and get out": Journalists report being stopped at Crimean checkpoints and having their bulletproof vests confiscated by militia armed with Kalashnikovs.
09:31
Kevin Bishop - BBC News, Moscow
tweets: Ukraine is a state but not yet a nation - from Jack Matlock, former US Ambassador to USSR
09:26
Why is Putin doing this? Because he can, writes Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) of The New Republic. Western logic does not apply to Russia, she says. "All you really need to do to seem clairvoyant about the place is to be an utter pessimist." And the US or Nato will not do much.
09:25
The Russian Orthodox Church described Russia's decision to send troops as a "peace-keeping mission".
"We hope that the mission of the Russian warriors aimed at defending the freedom and the cultural originality of [Ukrainians] will not meet with the sort of violent resistance which can lead to big-scale military engagements," the church said in a statement.
09:21
Richard Galpin - BBC News, Moscow
tweets: #Russia media reporting "provocations" by #Ukraine ultra-nationalists on border - "attempt to block Moscow-Crimea road".
09:16
UK Foreign Minister William Hague is due to visit Kiev on Sunday. He has said he is "deeply concerned" and will "reiterate support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine".
Oleksandr Buryan in Poltava, Ukraine
emails: I am partly Russian, my first language is Russian and no one here is suppressing my right to speak in Russian. Putin's reasons for protecting the Russian speaking population in Ukraine are a complete nonsense.
09:14
Is this the most dangerous moment in Europe since the end of the Cold War? The head of the Carnegie Moscow Center, Dmitri Trenin, certainly thinks so. In this commentary for the Guardian newspaper, he says: "Even if there is no war, the Crimea crisis is likely to alter fundamentally relations between Russia and the west and lead to changes in the global power balance."
09:10
Crimea has at times been under the control of the ancient Greeks, the Romans, Gothic tribes, the Kievan Rus' state, the Byzantine empire and the Mongols, among others. It was a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-1400s to 1783, when it was annexed by Russia. This is a good summary of the peninsula's complicated history from the Washington Post.
09:09
Heavily armed troops wearing no identifying insignia guard a local government building in the Crimean capital, Simferopol. Some 6,000 extra Russian troops and 30 additional armoured vehicles are now in Crimea, the Ukrainian Defence Minister said on Saturday.
09:04
The Ukrainian Supreme Council is holding an emergency closed-door session to discuss Russia's decision to authorise military intervention, reports the Ukrainian Espresso TV channel. The council will hear reports by Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh, security service chief Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, and the chief of the Border Service, Mykola Lytvyn.
09:02
The BBC's Daniel Sandford, who is at the Ukrainian naval headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, says pro-Russian activists are blocking sailors from coming to work. There appears to be great nervousness inside the base, with at least one machine-gunner stationed on a roof. Other armed troops are peering through windows and off rooftops.
08:55
Welcome to our coverage of events in Ukraine, where the army is on full combat alert and high-level diplomacy will be taking place in Kiev, Moscow, Brussels and elsewhere.
2 China separatists blamed for attack
Updated 26 minutes ago
Hospitals in Kunming were inundated with the wounded
Chinese officials have blamed separatists from the north-western Xinjiang region for a mass knife attack at a railway station that left 29 people dead and at least 130 wounded.
A group of attackers, dressed in black, burst into the station in the south-west city of Kunming and began stabbing people at random.
Images from the scene posted online showed bodies lying in pools of blood.
State news agency Xinhua said police shot at least four suspects dead.
A female suspect was arrested and is being treated in hospital for unspecified injuries while a search continues for others who fled the scene, the BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing reports.
Authorities described the incident as an "organised, premeditated, violent terrorist attack".
There were scenes of shock and anguish after the attack
Evidence of the panic that ensued is scattered across the concourse
The Kunming city government later said that evidence from the scene pointed to separatists from Xinjiang as being behind the attack.
It gave no details and the claim could not be verified.
Some of Xinjiang's minority Uighur Muslims want autonomy from Chinese rule and an end to state suppression of their religion.
Witnesses in Kunming said those who couldn't run quickly were cut down by the attackers' knives.
A survivor named Yang Haifei, who was wounded in the back and chest, told Xinhua he had been buying a train ticket when the attackers rushed into the station.
"I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone," he said.
First reports said the attackers were only men, but witnesses and police later said the group also included women.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang sent condolences to the victims and their families.
President Xi urged "all-out efforts" to investigate the attack.
"Severely punish in accordance with the law the violent terrorists and resolutely crack down on those who have been swollen with arrogance," Xinhua quoted the president as saying.
The incident comes a few days before the opening of China's annual parliamentary session, the National People's Congress.
Our correspondent says domestic security is expected to top the agenda.
Last October China blamed Xinjiang separatists when a car was driven into a crowd of people on the edge of Beijing's Tiananamen Square, leaving five dead.
3 Taliban fighters freed by jail trick
March 2, 2014 11:33
Prison officials in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar have been tricked into releasing a dozen Taliban fighters.
The chief of security for Kandahar, Rahmatullah Atrafi, said a letter was sent to the prison on Tuesday requesting the release of 28 prisoners.
Sixteen were due for release but the other 12 were not.
The deception was only discovered after the inmates had been freed. Officials say two have since been recaptured.
The search for the others continues.
So far no group has said it was behind the deception although correspondents say the Taliban have carried out several jail breaks in recent years.
Mr Atrafi said an investigation was being set up.
"In this letter they added 12 prisoners, and that was fake," he said.
"A committee has been set up to look into the matter. In this delegation we have prison officials, prosecutors and security officials.
"They are going to look into this and find out who was behind it. Whoever it is, they will be tried and punished."
The release of Taliban prisoners is a contentious issue in Afghanistan.
In January, President Hamid Karzai's office said scores of prisoners previously held by US forces at Bagram jail would be released.
Washington expressed concern over the planned releases, saying it regarded them as "dangerous criminals".
Hundreds of prisoners at Bagram have been freed since the Afghan government took over the running of the prison in March 2013.
4 Gravity eyes Oscar prizes
March 2, 2014 14:56
By Tim Masters
Entertainment correspondent, BBC News, in Los Angeles
The final countdown to the Oscars has begun, with space thriller Gravity expected to scoop multiple awards at Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles.
The 3D film is likely to dominate the technical categories, with Alfonso Cuaron tipped for best director.
But Oscar watchers have predicted British director Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave to win best picture.
The 86th Academy Awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, take place at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre.
Outside the venue, a section of Hollywood Boulevard has been sealed off and the red carpet is covered over to protect it from an unusual spell of wet weather.
The final round of voting by the Academy's 6,028 members ended on Tuesday.
Many of the nominees have been attending a flurry of pre-Oscar events and screenings in and around Los Angeles.
In what is considered to be the strongest field for many years there are nine contenders for best picture.
Gravity and David O Russell's crime caper American Hustle lead with 10 nominations each. 12 Years a Slave has nine.
Ellen DeGeneres is hosting the Oscars for the second time
Predicting the best picture winner, The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg said: "In a very close contest, 12 Years a Slave, though difficult to watch, gets the edge because, like many winners before it, it's an adaptation of revered material, based on a true story about historical events that remain socially relevant."
He said that, while the preferential ballot system could boost the prospects of American Hustle and Gravity, 12 Years a Slave felt more "important" than 3D science-fiction.
12 Years a Slave's nine nominations include best director for McQueen.
The historical drama, about a free black man in New York kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana, is in a strong position, having already won a Golden Globe and a Bafta.
Its stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong'o have been nominated in the best actor, supporting actor and supporting actress categories.
American Hustle has nods in all four acting categories for its stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.
Russell pulled off the same feat with with Silver Linings Playbook last year. Lawrence went on to win best actress.
British film Philomena, based on the true story of an Irish woman trying to find the son she was forced to give up for adoption, is up for four awards, including best picture and best actress for Dame Judi Dench.
Captain Phillips, 12 Years a Slave, Nebraska, The Wolf of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club and Her are also among the nine best picture nominees.
There are several clear favourites in the major acting categories.
Cate Blanchett, who plays a fallen New York socialite in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, has been the runaway favourite for best actress for months.
But she faces strong competition from Dame Judi, American Hustle's Adams, Gravity's Sandra Bullock, and Meryl Streep - who has her 18th Oscar nomination - for August: Osage County.
Having both missed out on Bafta nominations, Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto - from Aids drama Dallas Buyers Club - are favourites for best actor and supporting actor respectively.
The tightest race seems to be for best supporting actress, where 12 Years A Slave's Nyong'o - making her movie debut - is up against Jennifer Lawrence who won a Bafta for her American Hustle role.
Also in the running are British actress Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine, Julia Roberts for August: Osage County and June Squibb for Nebraska.
"Usually a couple of the big awards are quite close but this year, there is just the one with best supporting actress looking set to go down to the wire," said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.
In the best director category, David O Russell faces competition from McQueen, Cuaron, Nebraska's Alexander Payne and Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street.
Amid all the speculation, the ceremony does promise some certainties.
On the musical front, all four contenders for best original song will perform. U2 will play Ordinary Love, which they wrote for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
Pharrell Williams will sing Happy from Despicable Me 2, Idina Menzel will sing Let it Go from the animated film Frozen, and Karen O will perform The Moon Song, from the Spike Jonze film Her.
Singer and actress Pink and Bette Midler are also to perform.
This year's ceremony will celebrate movie heroes and a special section will mark the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz.
Ellen DeGeneres is back for a second stint as host. She hosted the 79th Academy Awards in 2007, watched by a TV audience of 39.9 million.
"She'll be great, she's money in the bank. She's one of the funniest people and she'll do an incredible job," US talk show host Conan O'Brien told the BBC on Thursday at a pre-Oscar party.
Earlier, DeGeneres tweeted: "I think we can all agree; if Meryl Streep doesn't win this year, her career is in real trouble."
4 MSF allowed to resume Myanmar work
March 2, 2014 16:45
Buddhists in Rakhine state staged protests against Medecins Sans Frontieres in February
Myanmar has allowed the aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres to reopen its clinics in most of the country, two days after suspending the organisation.
The agency said it remained "extremely concerned" that it had not been authorised to resume work in Rakhine, a state plagued by sectarian violence.
A presidential spokesman earlier alleged MSF was biased in favour of Rakhine's Muslim Rohingya minority.
The medical body is one of the biggest providers of healthcare in Rakhine.
It provides emergency assistance to tens of thousands of Rohingya people displaced by recent violence.
The United Nations has described the Rohingya as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. They are considered stateless and are rejected by both Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh.
The Rohingya have faced widespread public hostility in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, also known as Burma.
There have been several outbreaks of mass violence against them since June 2012, with tens of thousands fleeing their homes for temporary camps.
'Humanitarian crisis'
MSF said it had been allowed to resume operations in Kachin and Shan states, as well as in the Yangon region, also known as Rangoon.
"Whilst we are encouraged by this and will resume these activities for now, MSF remains extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of vulnerable people in Rakhine state who currently face a humanitarian medical crisis," the agency said in a statement.
MSF provides healthcare to tens of thousands of people in Myanmar
The agency runs treatment centres for HIV/AIDS, one of the biggest diseases in Rakhine state
People in Rakhine are particularly in need of treatment for HIV/ AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
The BBC's Jonah Fisher, in Yangon, says MSF is one of the few agencies providing care for Rohingya who would otherwise be turned away from clinics and hospitals.
Authorities ordered MSF to cease its Myanmar operations on Friday.
The government has accused the organisation of prioritising the treatment of the Rohingya community over local Buddhists.
The final straw may well have been MSF's statement a month ago that they had treated people after an alleged massacre of Muslims by Buddhists near the border with Bangladesh, our correspondent says.
The government's own investigation found there had been no casualties.
MSF earlier insisted that that its actions were always "guided by medical ethics and the principles of neutrality and impartiality".
The non-profit, self-governed organisation was founded in France in 1971 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
4 'Many dead' in twin Nigeria blasts
March 2, 2014 07:16
Two explosions targeting a busy market in the town of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria have left several people dead.
Eyewitnesses told the Reuters news agency that that 10 people had been killed and that more were feared trapped under rubble.
Maiduguri is the headquarters of a military force fighting against the Boko Haram Islamist group, which has stepped up its attacks in the area.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Eyewitnesses said that the attack was carried out using a car bomb at a crowded market near the airport.
The second bomb went off two minutes later as neighbours arrived to help the victims.
Eyewitnesses described seeing people blown apart and body parts in the street.
Airstrike
In a separate incident, eyewitnesses told the BBC that 20 people were killed in a government airstrike in the village of Daglun on Friday.
Military jets have been bombing the area for weeks as part of a campaign against the Boko Haram group.
An army spokesman told the Associated Press that he was unaware of the death of any civilians in an airstrike.
President Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states last year in an attempt to curb the insurgency.
His critics say the state of emergency has been ineffective, with Boko Haram stepping up attacks in the region.
The group is thought to have killed at least 37 people during an assault on a town and nearby villages Adamawa state on Thursday.
It was also blamed for killing at least 29 people in an attack on Monday night on a rural boarding school in Yobe state.
Boko Haram has been conducting a four-year campaign of violence to push for Islamic rule in northern Nigeria.
Boko Haram has been blamed for a spate of attacks in recent weeks, such as this one on a school in Buni Yadi
4 Voting resumes in Thai elections
Updated 50 minutes ago
Protesters marched through central Bangkok on Sunday but there were no reports of disruptions
Voting has begun in five provinces in Thailand that were unable to hold polls in last month's general election because of anti-government protests.
No disturbances have so far been reported in Sunday's ballot.
But the election commission said the situation was still too tense in many areas for polls to re-open.
Thailand has been in a political crisis since mass rallies began in November, with protesters calling for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to resign.
They want her government to be replaced by an unelected "people's council" to reform the political system.
The opposition alleges that money politics have corrupted Thailand's democracy and that Ms Yingluck is controlled by her brother, ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives in self-imposed exile.
Signs of flexibility
Protesters marched through Bangkok on Sunday, but there were no signs of voters being prevented from attending polling stations, as had been the case in early February.
City cleaners get to work after anti-government protests left some protest sites around the capital
"The polls are going peacefully - everything is under control and there are no problems, " a spokesman for the election commissioner said on Sunday.
However, the ballot will still leave too many parliamentary seats unfilled for a new government to be elected, the BBC's Jonathan Head, in the capital, Bangkok, reports.
PM Yingluck is therefore stuck in a caretaker role, giving her cabinet very limited powers to govern, our correspondent adds.
On Friday, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban announced that demonstrators would end their occupation of central Bangkok in what was seen as a first sign of flexibility from the prime minister's opponents.
Talks are also planned next week between representatives from both sides.
Ms Yingluck leads a government that won elections in 2011 with broad support from rural areas. In response to the protests, she called snap elections on 2 February, which her government was widely expected to win.
However, the polls were boycotted by the opposition, and voting was disrupted by protesters at around 10% of polling stations.
5 Campbell in England captain race claim
Updated 6 minutes ago
Campbell scored his one and only England goal against Sweden at the 2002 World Cup
Sol Campbell has claimed he would have been "England captain for more than 10 years" had he been born white.
The former England defender makes the claims in an authorised biography serialised by the Sunday Times.
"I believe if I was white, I would have been England captain for more than 10 years - it's as simple as that," said the 39-year-old, who won 73 full caps, including three as captain.
The Football Association is aware of the claims but declined to comment.
Campbell, who made 646 senior appearances for Tottenham, Arsenal, Portsmouth, Notts County and Newcastle United before retiring in 2012, claimed: "I think the FA wished I was white. I had the credibility, performance-wise, to be captain.
"I was consistently in the heart of the defence and I was a club captain early in my career."
He added: "I don't think it will change because they don't want it to and probably the majority of fans don't want it either.
"It's alright to have black captains and mixed race in the Under-18s and Under-21s but not for the full national side - there is a ceiling and although no-one has ever said it, I believe it's made of glass."
Campbell's three games as England captain were in three friendlies - against Belgium and the Czech Republic in 1998 under Glenn Hoddle's management, and against the United States in 2005 when Sven-Goran Eriksson was in charge.
The England captains during the centre-back's international career were David Platt, Tony Adams, Alan Shearer, Paul Ince, Stuart Pearce, David Seaman, Martin Keown, David Beckham, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and John Terry.
"Owen was a fantastic forward but nowhere near being a captain," said Campbell. "It was embarrassing. I kept asking myself, 'what have I done?'
"I've asked myself many times why I wasn't [made captain]. I keep coming up with the same answer. It was the colour of my skin."
The various managers, both permanently and on a temporary basis, in charge of England during Campbell's playing days for the national team between May 1996 and November 2007 were Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle, Howard Wilkinson, Kevin Keegan, Peter Taylor, Eriksson and Steve McClaren.
Former FA executive director David Davies says the responsibility of selecting the England captain lay with the manager of the team at the time, rather than English football's governing body.
"I was a great fan of Sol Campbell as a player and a person. He made a huge contribution to the England team," Davies told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek programme.
"I am perplexed by this because the reality is the England coach in my time selected the captain.
"He clearly is upset about that time and perhaps feels he should have been more seriously considered.
"The reality is Tony Adams was made captain by Terry Venables when most people expected David Platt to be captain.
"I wasn't surprised when Tony Adams was made captain or when David Beckham was made captain first by Peter Taylor, and then Sven-Goran Eriksson."
6 US man found alive in body bag
March 1, 2014 04:57
Brad Soroka, from WJTV News Channel 12, said everybody wants to hear from "the man who came back from the dead"
A Mississippi man has been found literally alive and kicking in a body bag at a funeral home after being declared dead.
Workers at Porter and Sons Funeral Home were preparing to embalm Walter Williams on Thursday when he moved.
A coroner pronounced the 78-year-old dead after finding no pulse when he was called to Mr Williams' home in the city of Lexington on the previous evening.
It is thought that his pacemaker may have temporarily stopped working.
Holmes County coroner Dexter Howard told the BBC he was called to Mr Williams' home by a hospice nurse, who said the man had passed away.
Mr Howard said he went through the "normal procedure" of checking for Mr Williams' vital signs, but found none.
'A miracle'
Mr Williams was taken to Porter and Sons Funeral Home and was being prepared for embalming when "we noticed there was some kicking and moving going on", Mr Howard said.
"He began to breathe," he added. "It was a miracle."
The farmer and school board employee was taken to a hospital for treatment, where Mr Howard visited him.
"He's still holding on," he said.
Walter Williams awoke inside Porter and Sons Funeral Home in Lexington, Mississippi
The coroner said Mr Williams' family were rejoicing and "just in a state of shock" after learning of his recovery.
Mr Howard said he had never seen anything like this in more than two decades as a coroner.
"It's an unusual case," he said. "I hope he keeps on keeping on."
Williams' nephew, Eddie Hester, told ABC affiliate WAPT: "I don't know how long he's going to be here.
"But I know he's back right now. That's all that matters.
6 Mixed drugs overdose killed Hoffman
March 1, 2014 06:32
Hoffman, shown in 2006 after winning a Golden Globe award for his role in Capote, had struggled with addiction
Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of an accidental overdose of a mixture of drugs including heroin, cocaine, amphetamine, and benzodiazepine, officials have said.
The Oscar winner, 46, was found dead at his home in New York City on 2 February with a syringe in his arm.
He had struggled with drug addiction and had recently acknowledged he had relapsed after being clean for years.
The New York medical examiner revealed the post-mortem results on Friday.
He was survived by his partner of 15 years, Mimi O'Donnell, and their three children.
After 23 years of sobriety, he reportedly checked himself into a drug treatment programme for 10 days last year after relapsing in 2012.
After a playwright and friend found his body in his flat in Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighbourhood, police arrived and discovered dozens of bags of heroin.
One of the most admired actors of his generation, Hoffman won an Academy Award in 2006 for his role as Truman Capote in Capote.
He was also nominated for Charlie Wilson's War, Doubt and The Master.
7 Kennedy scion cleared of drug-drive
March 1, 2014 01:22
Kerry Kennedy is a member of the Kennedy political dynasty
Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of late Senator Robert Kennedy, has been acquitted of drug-driving in New York.
Ms Kennedy, 54, could have faced up to a year in jail if convicted of the misdemeanour offence.
The human-rights activist was arrested after her car swerved into a truck on a highway in July 2012, an incident she said she could not remember.
She accidentally took a sleeping pill before the journey, her lawyers said, mistaking it for other medication.
Failed sobriety tests
"I'm happy justice was done," Ms Kennedy, who is the ex-wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, said following Friday's verdict.
Ms Kennedy took a sleeping drug unintentionally - mistaking it for her daily thyroid medication - before driving to a local gym, her defence team told the court.
Ms Kennedy's Lexus blew one of its tyres as it hit a truck. She was found disoriented and slumped at the steering wheel, witnesses said.
Police have said she failed several sobriety tests at the scene, but she passed tests at a police station a few hours later.
Prosecutors argued that Ms Kennedy had realised she was impaired and should have stopped driving.
They said she was "responsible for the chain of events".
Ms Kennedy's lawyers said it had been an accident, not a crime.
"If I realised I was impaired, I would have pulled over," she testified during her trial.
Ms Kennedy's lawyer told reporters after the verdict: "The [district attorney] never should have brought this case in the first place."
"Kerry Kennedy has the resources [to defend herself]," he added. "What about the person who doesn't?"
Ms Kennedy is one of 11 children of Senator Kennedy, who was assassinated in Los Angeles during his campaign for US president in 1968.
5 The unpredictability of revolution
March 2, 2014 09:33
By Kevin Connolly
BBC News, Cairo
Chocolate frames with portraits of al-Sisi laser printed onto a chocolate canvas have appeared
Three years after the start of the Arab Spring, Egypt's capital city is feeling the impact of the revolution in some surprising ways.
At the chaotic height of Egypt's revolution against the brilliantined autocrat Hosni Mubarak, every single member of the uniformed security forces suddenly disappeared from the streets.
It felt like the last word in disorder - a police state without actual policemen.
They are long since back of course, not bringing order exactly, but presiding pompously over a reduced level of chaos.
You can watch as officers allow a teenager balancing a huge wooden tray of fresh flatbreads on his head to cycle the wrong way down a one way street with his hands in his pockets.
Then a motorcyclist will follow - presumably on the grounds that a motorcycle is just a cycle with a motor on it.
A motorist will then attempt the same manoeuvre - what after all is a car but two motorbikes connected in parallel? Only then will an officer officiously intervene - the police have their limits.
The seething streets of Cairo are clogged and chaotic, and pedestrians and mopeds swarm dangerously around the larger, slower moving vehicles like electrons in a chemistry diagram.
The signs of renewed life are everywhere.
Flatbed carts drawn by wiry little donkeys can be seen plodding along in the downtown traffic. They were banned under Hosni Mubarak, presumably because they reminded him of Egypt's wretched rural poverty. Well, that and the donkey droppings everywhere.
Big-bottomed sheep carcasses hang outside butchers' shops in more prosperous suburbs, sporting the long, broad, pink stripes of the slaughterhouses where they were processed.
They look as though they died wearing cheerful winceyette pyjamas, but they are a sign that, for well-off Egyptians at least, a sense of prosperity has replaced the uncertainty. This time three years ago the banks were shut and the cash-dispensing machines were empty.
There are suddenly more foreign tourists about too - a sprightly group of middle-aged American women stopped me in the garden of our hotel. Would I mind taking a photo of them?
Egypt feels as though it has lived through endless ages of political change since the fall of Mubarak, but it really has only been three years.
There have been three constitutional referendums for a start - the latest of which produced a document so comprehensive and so inclusive that it contains a pledge to protect the employment rights of people of restricted growth.
And there have been countless rounds of parliamentary voting - the results of which have been annulled - and a presidential election which produced the first elected leader in Egyptian history, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.
He was removed from the presidential palace and installed in prison by the army last year. And after a fierce crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist organisations, a kind of stability has been established.
Most Egyptians give the credit for that stability to the armed forces and in particular to their leader, Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.
He is credited with restoring national pride and with vanquishing lots of vague but sinister conspiracies in which Egyptians believed the Islamists were going to carve up this vast and ancient country and join the pieces willy nilly to neighbouring Muslim states.
Hardly anyone in Egypt had heard of the Field Marshal until two years ago - and even now very little is known of his early life or of his views on how to tackle Egypt's suffocating problems of poverty, overcrowding and unemployment. And yet he is now widely celebrated as a saviour of the nation.
That says something about Egyptian political culture, of course, and the underlying hankering for a strong leader, preferably in a high-ranking officer's uniform.
But you can already buy chocolate frames with portraits of al-Sisi laser printed on to a chocolate canvas within, and you do not get to that point without having a degree of charisma. He is delicious, by the way.
The problem is that very few of the demonstrators who first bravely took to the streets to topple Mubarak would have hoped or guessed that three years on, Egypt would be back where it started - and indeed where it has always been in modern times - with the Army in control of national life and a senior officer poised for high office.
Revolutions, of course, are notoriously unpredictable.
It used to be fashionable to quote the Chinese leader Zhou Enlai saying in 1972 that the events of the French Revolution of 1789 were too recent to be properly interpreted.
In fact that was a misunderstanding and he was actually talking about the Paris riots of the time, and thus offering a commonplace observation of the news rather than a slice of mystical Chinese sagacity.
But if he had said what everyone thought he said, he would have been right. Revolutions can be a very long game.
Egyptians, like the rest of us, watched this week as Ukraine took the first steps down a road that Egypt has already travelled, and no-one knows how that will turn out either.
What we do know from Egypt is that revolutions sometimes have a way of surprising the revolutionary.
March 2, 2014 17:56
Key points
- Ukraine puts its army on full combat alert after Russia approves the deployment of its troops
- US President Barack Obama tells his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Russia has flouted international law by sending troops to Ukraine
- Nato is to hold an emergency meeting at 12:00 GMT to discuss the escalating conflict in Crimea
- The Ukrainian parliament is to meet in emergency session
- All times GMT
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LIVE TEXT
By Alix Kroeger, Nina Lamparski and Jeremy Gahagan
09:52
US President Barack Obama says Russia is in breach of international law, having clearly violated Ukraine's sovereignty. Watch our short report on the earlier phone conversation between Mr Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
09:49
Ukraine's armed forces are in a state of full combat readiness to protect key energy and nuclear sites, officials say.
09:48 Breaking News
Ukraine is to call up all its military reservists, the government has announced.
09:46
The latest is the mysterious "Russian sniper" in Belgorod allegedly hired by Praviy Sector. Now their site, hosted by VKontakte (the Russian Facebook) has been blocked after a demand from the Russian regulator Roskomnadzor.
09:45
The BBC's Ukraine analyst Olexiy Solohubenko says it appears that the far-right paramilitary movement Right Sector is becoming the target of all sorts of dodgy accusations. Their appeal to the Chechen warlord Doku Umarov seems to be a fake, and Right Sector press secretary Andriy Skoropadsky says the account was hacked at the time the appeal was allegedly sent.
09:43
Duncan Crawford - BBC News
US options being discussed v weak: cancel Obama Russia trip in June, shelve pos trade deal, kick Moscow out of G8, etc.
09:35
Syria, Edward Snowden and now Ukraine: the past 12 months are the worst year of Washington-Moscow relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union, writes Edward-Isaac Dovere in Politico.
09:34
Andrey in Donetsk, Ukraine
emails: I live in Donetsk and I am Russian-speaking Ukrainian. From Friday Donetsk is overcrowded with outsiders whose job is to pretend to be us (locals). On Saturday they staged the protest meeting with Russian flags, and even announced a people's governor, right on the square - a person who no one had heard about before. I do not know what is happened in other eastern Ukrainian cities, but it looks like the same scenario as in Donetsk.
09:32
"Pull over and get out": Journalists report being stopped at Crimean checkpoints and having their bulletproof vests confiscated by militia armed with Kalashnikovs.
09:31
Kevin Bishop - BBC News, Moscow
tweets: Ukraine is a state but not yet a nation - from Jack Matlock, former US Ambassador to USSR
09:26
Why is Putin doing this? Because he can, writes Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) of The New Republic. Western logic does not apply to Russia, she says. "All you really need to do to seem clairvoyant about the place is to be an utter pessimist." And the US or Nato will not do much.
09:25
The Russian Orthodox Church described Russia's decision to send troops as a "peace-keeping mission".
"We hope that the mission of the Russian warriors aimed at defending the freedom and the cultural originality of [Ukrainians] will not meet with the sort of violent resistance which can lead to big-scale military engagements," the church said in a statement.
09:21
Richard Galpin - BBC News, Moscow
tweets: #Russia media reporting "provocations" by #Ukraine ultra-nationalists on border - "attempt to block Moscow-Crimea road".
09:16
UK Foreign Minister William Hague is due to visit Kiev on Sunday. He has said he is "deeply concerned" and will "reiterate support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine".
Oleksandr Buryan in Poltava, Ukraine
emails: I am partly Russian, my first language is Russian and no one here is suppressing my right to speak in Russian. Putin's reasons for protecting the Russian speaking population in Ukraine are a complete nonsense.
09:14
Is this the most dangerous moment in Europe since the end of the Cold War? The head of the Carnegie Moscow Center, Dmitri Trenin, certainly thinks so. In this commentary for the Guardian newspaper, he says: "Even if there is no war, the Crimea crisis is likely to alter fundamentally relations between Russia and the west and lead to changes in the global power balance."
09:10
Crimea has at times been under the control of the ancient Greeks, the Romans, Gothic tribes, the Kievan Rus' state, the Byzantine empire and the Mongols, among others. It was a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-1400s to 1783, when it was annexed by Russia. This is a good summary of the peninsula's complicated history from the Washington Post.
09:09
Heavily armed troops wearing no identifying insignia guard a local government building in the Crimean capital, Simferopol. Some 6,000 extra Russian troops and 30 additional armoured vehicles are now in Crimea, the Ukrainian Defence Minister said on Saturday.
09:04
The Ukrainian Supreme Council is holding an emergency closed-door session to discuss Russia's decision to authorise military intervention, reports the Ukrainian Espresso TV channel. The council will hear reports by Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh, security service chief Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, and the chief of the Border Service, Mykola Lytvyn.
09:02
The BBC's Daniel Sandford, who is at the Ukrainian naval headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, says pro-Russian activists are blocking sailors from coming to work. There appears to be great nervousness inside the base, with at least one machine-gunner stationed on a roof. Other armed troops are peering through windows and off rooftops.
08:55
Welcome to our coverage of events in Ukraine, where the army is on full combat alert and high-level diplomacy will be taking place in Kiev, Moscow, Brussels and elsewhere.
2 China separatists blamed for attack
Updated 26 minutes ago
Hospitals in Kunming were inundated with the wounded
Chinese officials have blamed separatists from the north-western Xinjiang region for a mass knife attack at a railway station that left 29 people dead and at least 130 wounded.
A group of attackers, dressed in black, burst into the station in the south-west city of Kunming and began stabbing people at random.
Images from the scene posted online showed bodies lying in pools of blood.
State news agency Xinhua said police shot at least four suspects dead.
A female suspect was arrested and is being treated in hospital for unspecified injuries while a search continues for others who fled the scene, the BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing reports.
Authorities described the incident as an "organised, premeditated, violent terrorist attack".
There were scenes of shock and anguish after the attack
Evidence of the panic that ensued is scattered across the concourse
The Kunming city government later said that evidence from the scene pointed to separatists from Xinjiang as being behind the attack.
It gave no details and the claim could not be verified.
Some of Xinjiang's minority Uighur Muslims want autonomy from Chinese rule and an end to state suppression of their religion.
Witnesses in Kunming said those who couldn't run quickly were cut down by the attackers' knives.
A survivor named Yang Haifei, who was wounded in the back and chest, told Xinhua he had been buying a train ticket when the attackers rushed into the station.
"I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone," he said.
First reports said the attackers were only men, but witnesses and police later said the group also included women.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang sent condolences to the victims and their families.
President Xi urged "all-out efforts" to investigate the attack.
"Severely punish in accordance with the law the violent terrorists and resolutely crack down on those who have been swollen with arrogance," Xinhua quoted the president as saying.
The incident comes a few days before the opening of China's annual parliamentary session, the National People's Congress.
Our correspondent says domestic security is expected to top the agenda.
Last October China blamed Xinjiang separatists when a car was driven into a crowd of people on the edge of Beijing's Tiananamen Square, leaving five dead.
3 Taliban fighters freed by jail trick
March 2, 2014 11:33
Prison officials in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar have been tricked into releasing a dozen Taliban fighters.
The chief of security for Kandahar, Rahmatullah Atrafi, said a letter was sent to the prison on Tuesday requesting the release of 28 prisoners.
Sixteen were due for release but the other 12 were not.
The deception was only discovered after the inmates had been freed. Officials say two have since been recaptured.
The search for the others continues.
So far no group has said it was behind the deception although correspondents say the Taliban have carried out several jail breaks in recent years.
Mr Atrafi said an investigation was being set up.
"In this letter they added 12 prisoners, and that was fake," he said.
"A committee has been set up to look into the matter. In this delegation we have prison officials, prosecutors and security officials.
"They are going to look into this and find out who was behind it. Whoever it is, they will be tried and punished."
The release of Taliban prisoners is a contentious issue in Afghanistan.
In January, President Hamid Karzai's office said scores of prisoners previously held by US forces at Bagram jail would be released.
Washington expressed concern over the planned releases, saying it regarded them as "dangerous criminals".
Hundreds of prisoners at Bagram have been freed since the Afghan government took over the running of the prison in March 2013.
4 Gravity eyes Oscar prizes
March 2, 2014 14:56
By Tim Masters
Entertainment correspondent, BBC News, in Los Angeles
The final countdown to the Oscars has begun, with space thriller Gravity expected to scoop multiple awards at Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles.
The 3D film is likely to dominate the technical categories, with Alfonso Cuaron tipped for best director.
But Oscar watchers have predicted British director Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave to win best picture.
The 86th Academy Awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, take place at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre.
Outside the venue, a section of Hollywood Boulevard has been sealed off and the red carpet is covered over to protect it from an unusual spell of wet weather.
The final round of voting by the Academy's 6,028 members ended on Tuesday.
Many of the nominees have been attending a flurry of pre-Oscar events and screenings in and around Los Angeles.
In what is considered to be the strongest field for many years there are nine contenders for best picture.
Gravity and David O Russell's crime caper American Hustle lead with 10 nominations each. 12 Years a Slave has nine.
Ellen DeGeneres is hosting the Oscars for the second time
Predicting the best picture winner, The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg said: "In a very close contest, 12 Years a Slave, though difficult to watch, gets the edge because, like many winners before it, it's an adaptation of revered material, based on a true story about historical events that remain socially relevant."
He said that, while the preferential ballot system could boost the prospects of American Hustle and Gravity, 12 Years a Slave felt more "important" than 3D science-fiction.
12 Years a Slave's nine nominations include best director for McQueen.
The historical drama, about a free black man in New York kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana, is in a strong position, having already won a Golden Globe and a Bafta.
Its stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong'o have been nominated in the best actor, supporting actor and supporting actress categories.
American Hustle has nods in all four acting categories for its stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.
Russell pulled off the same feat with with Silver Linings Playbook last year. Lawrence went on to win best actress.
British film Philomena, based on the true story of an Irish woman trying to find the son she was forced to give up for adoption, is up for four awards, including best picture and best actress for Dame Judi Dench.
Captain Phillips, 12 Years a Slave, Nebraska, The Wolf of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club and Her are also among the nine best picture nominees.
There are several clear favourites in the major acting categories.
Cate Blanchett, who plays a fallen New York socialite in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, has been the runaway favourite for best actress for months.
But she faces strong competition from Dame Judi, American Hustle's Adams, Gravity's Sandra Bullock, and Meryl Streep - who has her 18th Oscar nomination - for August: Osage County.
Having both missed out on Bafta nominations, Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto - from Aids drama Dallas Buyers Club - are favourites for best actor and supporting actor respectively.
The tightest race seems to be for best supporting actress, where 12 Years A Slave's Nyong'o - making her movie debut - is up against Jennifer Lawrence who won a Bafta for her American Hustle role.
Also in the running are British actress Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine, Julia Roberts for August: Osage County and June Squibb for Nebraska.
"Usually a couple of the big awards are quite close but this year, there is just the one with best supporting actress looking set to go down to the wire," said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.
In the best director category, David O Russell faces competition from McQueen, Cuaron, Nebraska's Alexander Payne and Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street.
Amid all the speculation, the ceremony does promise some certainties.
On the musical front, all four contenders for best original song will perform. U2 will play Ordinary Love, which they wrote for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
Pharrell Williams will sing Happy from Despicable Me 2, Idina Menzel will sing Let it Go from the animated film Frozen, and Karen O will perform The Moon Song, from the Spike Jonze film Her.
Singer and actress Pink and Bette Midler are also to perform.
This year's ceremony will celebrate movie heroes and a special section will mark the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz.
Ellen DeGeneres is back for a second stint as host. She hosted the 79th Academy Awards in 2007, watched by a TV audience of 39.9 million.
"She'll be great, she's money in the bank. She's one of the funniest people and she'll do an incredible job," US talk show host Conan O'Brien told the BBC on Thursday at a pre-Oscar party.
Earlier, DeGeneres tweeted: "I think we can all agree; if Meryl Streep doesn't win this year, her career is in real trouble."
4 MSF allowed to resume Myanmar work
March 2, 2014 16:45
Buddhists in Rakhine state staged protests against Medecins Sans Frontieres in February
Myanmar has allowed the aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres to reopen its clinics in most of the country, two days after suspending the organisation.
The agency said it remained "extremely concerned" that it had not been authorised to resume work in Rakhine, a state plagued by sectarian violence.
A presidential spokesman earlier alleged MSF was biased in favour of Rakhine's Muslim Rohingya minority.
The medical body is one of the biggest providers of healthcare in Rakhine.
It provides emergency assistance to tens of thousands of Rohingya people displaced by recent violence.
The United Nations has described the Rohingya as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. They are considered stateless and are rejected by both Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh.
The Rohingya have faced widespread public hostility in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, also known as Burma.
There have been several outbreaks of mass violence against them since June 2012, with tens of thousands fleeing their homes for temporary camps.
'Humanitarian crisis'
MSF said it had been allowed to resume operations in Kachin and Shan states, as well as in the Yangon region, also known as Rangoon.
"Whilst we are encouraged by this and will resume these activities for now, MSF remains extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of vulnerable people in Rakhine state who currently face a humanitarian medical crisis," the agency said in a statement.
MSF provides healthcare to tens of thousands of people in Myanmar
The agency runs treatment centres for HIV/AIDS, one of the biggest diseases in Rakhine state
People in Rakhine are particularly in need of treatment for HIV/ AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
The BBC's Jonah Fisher, in Yangon, says MSF is one of the few agencies providing care for Rohingya who would otherwise be turned away from clinics and hospitals.
Authorities ordered MSF to cease its Myanmar operations on Friday.
The government has accused the organisation of prioritising the treatment of the Rohingya community over local Buddhists.
The final straw may well have been MSF's statement a month ago that they had treated people after an alleged massacre of Muslims by Buddhists near the border with Bangladesh, our correspondent says.
The government's own investigation found there had been no casualties.
MSF earlier insisted that that its actions were always "guided by medical ethics and the principles of neutrality and impartiality".
The non-profit, self-governed organisation was founded in France in 1971 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
4 'Many dead' in twin Nigeria blasts
March 2, 2014 07:16
Two explosions targeting a busy market in the town of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria have left several people dead.
Eyewitnesses told the Reuters news agency that that 10 people had been killed and that more were feared trapped under rubble.
Maiduguri is the headquarters of a military force fighting against the Boko Haram Islamist group, which has stepped up its attacks in the area.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Eyewitnesses said that the attack was carried out using a car bomb at a crowded market near the airport.
The second bomb went off two minutes later as neighbours arrived to help the victims.
Eyewitnesses described seeing people blown apart and body parts in the street.
Airstrike
In a separate incident, eyewitnesses told the BBC that 20 people were killed in a government airstrike in the village of Daglun on Friday.
Military jets have been bombing the area for weeks as part of a campaign against the Boko Haram group.
An army spokesman told the Associated Press that he was unaware of the death of any civilians in an airstrike.
President Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states last year in an attempt to curb the insurgency.
His critics say the state of emergency has been ineffective, with Boko Haram stepping up attacks in the region.
The group is thought to have killed at least 37 people during an assault on a town and nearby villages Adamawa state on Thursday.
It was also blamed for killing at least 29 people in an attack on Monday night on a rural boarding school in Yobe state.
Boko Haram has been conducting a four-year campaign of violence to push for Islamic rule in northern Nigeria.
Boko Haram has been blamed for a spate of attacks in recent weeks, such as this one on a school in Buni Yadi
4 Voting resumes in Thai elections
Updated 50 minutes ago
Protesters marched through central Bangkok on Sunday but there were no reports of disruptions
Voting has begun in five provinces in Thailand that were unable to hold polls in last month's general election because of anti-government protests.
No disturbances have so far been reported in Sunday's ballot.
But the election commission said the situation was still too tense in many areas for polls to re-open.
Thailand has been in a political crisis since mass rallies began in November, with protesters calling for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to resign.
They want her government to be replaced by an unelected "people's council" to reform the political system.
The opposition alleges that money politics have corrupted Thailand's democracy and that Ms Yingluck is controlled by her brother, ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives in self-imposed exile.
Signs of flexibility
Protesters marched through Bangkok on Sunday, but there were no signs of voters being prevented from attending polling stations, as had been the case in early February.
City cleaners get to work after anti-government protests left some protest sites around the capital
"The polls are going peacefully - everything is under control and there are no problems, " a spokesman for the election commissioner said on Sunday.
However, the ballot will still leave too many parliamentary seats unfilled for a new government to be elected, the BBC's Jonathan Head, in the capital, Bangkok, reports.
PM Yingluck is therefore stuck in a caretaker role, giving her cabinet very limited powers to govern, our correspondent adds.
On Friday, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban announced that demonstrators would end their occupation of central Bangkok in what was seen as a first sign of flexibility from the prime minister's opponents.
Talks are also planned next week between representatives from both sides.
Ms Yingluck leads a government that won elections in 2011 with broad support from rural areas. In response to the protests, she called snap elections on 2 February, which her government was widely expected to win.
However, the polls were boycotted by the opposition, and voting was disrupted by protesters at around 10% of polling stations.
5 Campbell in England captain race claim
Updated 6 minutes ago
Campbell scored his one and only England goal against Sweden at the 2002 World Cup
Sol Campbell has claimed he would have been "England captain for more than 10 years" had he been born white.
The former England defender makes the claims in an authorised biography serialised by the Sunday Times.
"I believe if I was white, I would have been England captain for more than 10 years - it's as simple as that," said the 39-year-old, who won 73 full caps, including three as captain.
The Football Association is aware of the claims but declined to comment.
Campbell, who made 646 senior appearances for Tottenham, Arsenal, Portsmouth, Notts County and Newcastle United before retiring in 2012, claimed: "I think the FA wished I was white. I had the credibility, performance-wise, to be captain.
"I was consistently in the heart of the defence and I was a club captain early in my career."
He added: "I don't think it will change because they don't want it to and probably the majority of fans don't want it either.
"It's alright to have black captains and mixed race in the Under-18s and Under-21s but not for the full national side - there is a ceiling and although no-one has ever said it, I believe it's made of glass."
Campbell's three games as England captain were in three friendlies - against Belgium and the Czech Republic in 1998 under Glenn Hoddle's management, and against the United States in 2005 when Sven-Goran Eriksson was in charge.
The England captains during the centre-back's international career were David Platt, Tony Adams, Alan Shearer, Paul Ince, Stuart Pearce, David Seaman, Martin Keown, David Beckham, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and John Terry.
"Owen was a fantastic forward but nowhere near being a captain," said Campbell. "It was embarrassing. I kept asking myself, 'what have I done?'
"I've asked myself many times why I wasn't [made captain]. I keep coming up with the same answer. It was the colour of my skin."
The various managers, both permanently and on a temporary basis, in charge of England during Campbell's playing days for the national team between May 1996 and November 2007 were Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle, Howard Wilkinson, Kevin Keegan, Peter Taylor, Eriksson and Steve McClaren.
Former FA executive director David Davies says the responsibility of selecting the England captain lay with the manager of the team at the time, rather than English football's governing body.
"I was a great fan of Sol Campbell as a player and a person. He made a huge contribution to the England team," Davies told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek programme.
"I am perplexed by this because the reality is the England coach in my time selected the captain.
"He clearly is upset about that time and perhaps feels he should have been more seriously considered.
"The reality is Tony Adams was made captain by Terry Venables when most people expected David Platt to be captain.
"I wasn't surprised when Tony Adams was made captain or when David Beckham was made captain first by Peter Taylor, and then Sven-Goran Eriksson."
6 US man found alive in body bag
March 1, 2014 04:57
Brad Soroka, from WJTV News Channel 12, said everybody wants to hear from "the man who came back from the dead"
A Mississippi man has been found literally alive and kicking in a body bag at a funeral home after being declared dead.
Workers at Porter and Sons Funeral Home were preparing to embalm Walter Williams on Thursday when he moved.
A coroner pronounced the 78-year-old dead after finding no pulse when he was called to Mr Williams' home in the city of Lexington on the previous evening.
It is thought that his pacemaker may have temporarily stopped working.
Holmes County coroner Dexter Howard told the BBC he was called to Mr Williams' home by a hospice nurse, who said the man had passed away.
Mr Howard said he went through the "normal procedure" of checking for Mr Williams' vital signs, but found none.
'A miracle'
Mr Williams was taken to Porter and Sons Funeral Home and was being prepared for embalming when "we noticed there was some kicking and moving going on", Mr Howard said.
"He began to breathe," he added. "It was a miracle."
The farmer and school board employee was taken to a hospital for treatment, where Mr Howard visited him.
"He's still holding on," he said.
Walter Williams awoke inside Porter and Sons Funeral Home in Lexington, Mississippi
The coroner said Mr Williams' family were rejoicing and "just in a state of shock" after learning of his recovery.
Mr Howard said he had never seen anything like this in more than two decades as a coroner.
"It's an unusual case," he said. "I hope he keeps on keeping on."
Williams' nephew, Eddie Hester, told ABC affiliate WAPT: "I don't know how long he's going to be here.
"But I know he's back right now. That's all that matters.
6 Mixed drugs overdose killed Hoffman
March 1, 2014 06:32
Hoffman, shown in 2006 after winning a Golden Globe award for his role in Capote, had struggled with addiction
Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of an accidental overdose of a mixture of drugs including heroin, cocaine, amphetamine, and benzodiazepine, officials have said.
The Oscar winner, 46, was found dead at his home in New York City on 2 February with a syringe in his arm.
He had struggled with drug addiction and had recently acknowledged he had relapsed after being clean for years.
The New York medical examiner revealed the post-mortem results on Friday.
He was survived by his partner of 15 years, Mimi O'Donnell, and their three children.
After 23 years of sobriety, he reportedly checked himself into a drug treatment programme for 10 days last year after relapsing in 2012.
After a playwright and friend found his body in his flat in Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighbourhood, police arrived and discovered dozens of bags of heroin.
One of the most admired actors of his generation, Hoffman won an Academy Award in 2006 for his role as Truman Capote in Capote.
He was also nominated for Charlie Wilson's War, Doubt and The Master.
7 Kennedy scion cleared of drug-drive
March 1, 2014 01:22
Kerry Kennedy is a member of the Kennedy political dynasty
Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of late Senator Robert Kennedy, has been acquitted of drug-driving in New York.
Ms Kennedy, 54, could have faced up to a year in jail if convicted of the misdemeanour offence.
The human-rights activist was arrested after her car swerved into a truck on a highway in July 2012, an incident she said she could not remember.
She accidentally took a sleeping pill before the journey, her lawyers said, mistaking it for other medication.
Failed sobriety tests
"I'm happy justice was done," Ms Kennedy, who is the ex-wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, said following Friday's verdict.
Ms Kennedy took a sleeping drug unintentionally - mistaking it for her daily thyroid medication - before driving to a local gym, her defence team told the court.
Ms Kennedy's Lexus blew one of its tyres as it hit a truck. She was found disoriented and slumped at the steering wheel, witnesses said.
Police have said she failed several sobriety tests at the scene, but she passed tests at a police station a few hours later.
Prosecutors argued that Ms Kennedy had realised she was impaired and should have stopped driving.
They said she was "responsible for the chain of events".
Ms Kennedy's lawyers said it had been an accident, not a crime.
"If I realised I was impaired, I would have pulled over," she testified during her trial.
Ms Kennedy's lawyer told reporters after the verdict: "The [district attorney] never should have brought this case in the first place."
"Kerry Kennedy has the resources [to defend herself]," he added. "What about the person who doesn't?"
Ms Kennedy is one of 11 children of Senator Kennedy, who was assassinated in Los Angeles during his campaign for US president in 1968.
5 The unpredictability of revolution
March 2, 2014 09:33
By Kevin Connolly
BBC News, Cairo
Chocolate frames with portraits of al-Sisi laser printed onto a chocolate canvas have appeared
Three years after the start of the Arab Spring, Egypt's capital city is feeling the impact of the revolution in some surprising ways.
At the chaotic height of Egypt's revolution against the brilliantined autocrat Hosni Mubarak, every single member of the uniformed security forces suddenly disappeared from the streets.
It felt like the last word in disorder - a police state without actual policemen.
They are long since back of course, not bringing order exactly, but presiding pompously over a reduced level of chaos.
You can watch as officers allow a teenager balancing a huge wooden tray of fresh flatbreads on his head to cycle the wrong way down a one way street with his hands in his pockets.
Then a motorcyclist will follow - presumably on the grounds that a motorcycle is just a cycle with a motor on it.
A motorist will then attempt the same manoeuvre - what after all is a car but two motorbikes connected in parallel? Only then will an officer officiously intervene - the police have their limits.
The seething streets of Cairo are clogged and chaotic, and pedestrians and mopeds swarm dangerously around the larger, slower moving vehicles like electrons in a chemistry diagram.
The signs of renewed life are everywhere.
Flatbed carts drawn by wiry little donkeys can be seen plodding along in the downtown traffic. They were banned under Hosni Mubarak, presumably because they reminded him of Egypt's wretched rural poverty. Well, that and the donkey droppings everywhere.
Big-bottomed sheep carcasses hang outside butchers' shops in more prosperous suburbs, sporting the long, broad, pink stripes of the slaughterhouses where they were processed.
They look as though they died wearing cheerful winceyette pyjamas, but they are a sign that, for well-off Egyptians at least, a sense of prosperity has replaced the uncertainty. This time three years ago the banks were shut and the cash-dispensing machines were empty.
There are suddenly more foreign tourists about too - a sprightly group of middle-aged American women stopped me in the garden of our hotel. Would I mind taking a photo of them?
Egypt feels as though it has lived through endless ages of political change since the fall of Mubarak, but it really has only been three years.
There have been three constitutional referendums for a start - the latest of which produced a document so comprehensive and so inclusive that it contains a pledge to protect the employment rights of people of restricted growth.
And there have been countless rounds of parliamentary voting - the results of which have been annulled - and a presidential election which produced the first elected leader in Egyptian history, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.
He was removed from the presidential palace and installed in prison by the army last year. And after a fierce crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist organisations, a kind of stability has been established.
Most Egyptians give the credit for that stability to the armed forces and in particular to their leader, Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.
He is credited with restoring national pride and with vanquishing lots of vague but sinister conspiracies in which Egyptians believed the Islamists were going to carve up this vast and ancient country and join the pieces willy nilly to neighbouring Muslim states.
Hardly anyone in Egypt had heard of the Field Marshal until two years ago - and even now very little is known of his early life or of his views on how to tackle Egypt's suffocating problems of poverty, overcrowding and unemployment. And yet he is now widely celebrated as a saviour of the nation.
That says something about Egyptian political culture, of course, and the underlying hankering for a strong leader, preferably in a high-ranking officer's uniform.
But you can already buy chocolate frames with portraits of al-Sisi laser printed on to a chocolate canvas within, and you do not get to that point without having a degree of charisma. He is delicious, by the way.
The problem is that very few of the demonstrators who first bravely took to the streets to topple Mubarak would have hoped or guessed that three years on, Egypt would be back where it started - and indeed where it has always been in modern times - with the Army in control of national life and a senior officer poised for high office.
Revolutions, of course, are notoriously unpredictable.
It used to be fashionable to quote the Chinese leader Zhou Enlai saying in 1972 that the events of the French Revolution of 1789 were too recent to be properly interpreted.
In fact that was a misunderstanding and he was actually talking about the Paris riots of the time, and thus offering a commonplace observation of the news rather than a slice of mystical Chinese sagacity.
But if he had said what everyone thought he said, he would have been right. Revolutions can be a very long game.
Egyptians, like the rest of us, watched this week as Ukraine took the first steps down a road that Egypt has already travelled, and no-one knows how that will turn out either.
What we do know from Egypt is that revolutions sometimes have a way of surprising the revolutionary.