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The Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on pro-Russian separatists in southern andeastern Ukraine to postpone 1 a referendum on autonomy, which is due at the weekend. Healso said this month’s presidential elections in Ukraine were a move in the right direction. FromMoscow, Steve Rosenberg.

The one thing Vladimir Putin isn’t known for is performing U turns but his latest comments onUkraine do suggest a shift in the Kremlin’s position. And that raises hope at least of adiplomatic solution to the conflict. President Putin called on supporters of federalization insoutheast Ukraine to postpone a referendum on secession planned for Sunday. This he saidwould create conditions for dialogue between the authorities in Kiev and those in Ukraineseeking greater autonomy.

The Ukrainian interior ministry 2 has called for all remaining matches in the season’s footballleague to be held without spectators to avoid further incidents of violence. The call comesafter clashes at recent games between pro-Russian groups and people who support a unitedUkraine.

After three years of fighting with Syrian government forces, hundreds of opposition 4 fightershave been streaming out of the old city of Homs, which had become a symbol of resistance toPresident Assad. Smoke billowed from parts of the city. Residents said the rebels had set fire totheir bases before they left. The warring sides had made a deal which allowed the rebels andtheir families to leave. This activist 5 in Holmes summed up the feelings of those moving out.

“Up till now we have been fighting. We love the city. We lived our best days here. It’s in ourhearts and souls. None of the international organizations succeeded in putting enoughpressure on the regime to open a humanitarian 6 corridor or to supply us with the basicneeds, food and medicine. We will leave to preserve who is still alive inside.”

Several hundred people are now thought to have died in an attack in northeastern Nigeria bysuspected members of the Islamist group Boko Haram. A local senator said about 300 peoplewere killed as militants 7 stormed a town near the border with Cameroon on Monday. This reportfrom Richard Hamilton.

A resident of the town of Gamboru Ngala, in Borno state told the BBC that people began tobury their relatives in mass graves on Tuesday and were still burying them now. She said themilitants had locked up whole families in their homes. And then the gunmen would enter andspray them with bullets. Many residents had talked about members of Boko Haram usingdiversionary tactics. They said the militants spread rumors 8 that the abducted 9 school girls hadbeen spotted 10 somewhere else. The security forces then left Gamboru Ngala, leaving it at themercy of Boko Haram.

World news from the BBC

South Africans have turned out in large numbers to vote in general elections as the countrymarks 20 years since the end of white minority rule. Long queues formed outside pollingstations. And there was an air of excitement especially amongst first time voters, born after theend of the apartheid in 1994. The African National Congress is expected to win a fifthconsecutive term in office.

New research into piracy 11 has found that it has declined off the coast of east Africa but it isproving more difficult to combat on the west coast. The report by Oceans Beyond Piracyexamined the costs of piracy off Somalia and in the Gulf 12 of Guinea last year. It said although theeconomic cost of Somali piracy was 3 billion dollars, raids on ships declined, with only 23vessels being targeted last year.

The founder 13 of a Saudi human rights organization has been sentenced by a court in Riyadh to10 years imprisonment 14 and 1,000 lashes 3 for assaulting Islam. Prior to his arrest in 2012, RaifBadawi’s organization, the Saudi Liberal Network had criticized cleric and religious bullies 15 on hiswebsite.

A German art hoarder 16, whose collection of priceless works triggered an investigation 17 into artslooted by the Nazis 18, has left the paintings to the Bern art museum in Switzerland. Steve Evansis in Berlin.

The art museum says it’s surprised and delighted that Cornelius Gurlitt’s will stipulated 19 that itshould get the pictures he kept in secret. But it adds, that the legacy 20 brings with it, what itcalls a wealth of questions of the most difficult and sensitive kind, of a legal and ethicalnature, The museum now inherits more than a thousand pictures which any gallery in the worldwould want, but also disputes over how many of the works were looted by the Nazis, and thenacquired improperly 21 by Cornelius Gurlitt’s father, who was a war time art dealer 22.