A South Korean soldier who killed 5 members of his unit has been captured after a failed suicide attempt , defence officials ssay

The soldier , identtified only as Im , shot himself in the side and was sent to hospital , they said

The attack sparked a massive manhunt , with thousands of troops deployed to block possiable escape routes , guard the border between North and South Korea , and protect areas where civilians live , officials said

He was eventually found cornered on Sundday , in a forest near Gosong province , his family was brought to the area to pursuade him to turn himself in

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an army officer as saying that  Sgt. Im was in tears as he spoke to his father and brother

Troops were reportedly so close to Sgt. Im that they could toss him a mobile phone as well as food supplies

Yonhap earlier quoted an offficial as saying  Sgt. Im had "difficulties"adapting to military life , he was due to be discharged in three months

The defence ministry spokesman has said the incident was "regrettable" adding "we truly apologize for causing concern to the nation

There have been similar incedents in South Korea's military , which operates a conscription system under which all men must serve two years

Bullying and mental health problems have been blamed for previous attacks

In 2011 , a marine opened fire on his colleagues and tried to blow himself up  with a grenade , four soidiers were killed in that attack

French President Franscois Hollande has led thhe D-Day 70th anniversary tributes by remembering those who died on a day that "changed the world" , he attended a serviice near Bayeux

With President Barack Obama , who said the U.S. commitment to liberty was

'written in blood" on French beaches , the  Queen of England laid a wreath at a ceremony  nearby

They gathered at Sword Beach , one of five landing points for allied troops , the landing was the first stage of the invation of Nazi occupied Europe , by the end of D-Day on June 6th , 1044 , the allies had established a foothold in France , an event that would eventually help to bring the second world war to an end

Speaking earlier in the city of Caen , President Hollande said "this day which began in chaos and fire would end in blood and tears , tears and pain , tears and joy at the end of 24 hours that changed the world and forever marked Normandy"

Nearby Britain's Queen laid a wreath at a rembrence service at CommonWealth War Graves Cemetert , where she , the Duke of Edinburgh , Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall also met veterans

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended events in Arromanches , near Gold Beach , where thousands of British troops came ashore on D-Day  

King Juan Carlos of Spain , has announced his intentions to abdicate  after nearly 40 years on the throne

"A new generation must be at the forefront , younger people with new enegeries " the 76 year old King said in a televised address

His son , Crown Prince Felipe , 45 who is very popular in Spain , will take his father's place upon the Spanish throne

The fist announcement about the abdication , came from Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy , who told reporters : " His Majesty King Juan Carlos has informed me of his desire to renounce the throne and begin the process of succession"

Later a televised address by the King himself was released , in which he said it was time for a "new era" in which a new generation could take on transformations and reforms  required , he said that it wwas time for his son , Crown Prince Felipe to take over , that Felipe had both the preparation as well as the maturity to become Spain's next King , and that his wife , the Queen supported Juan Carlos in his decision

 Juan Carlos came to Power after the death of Spanish dictator Franco , bringing  Spainards into the freedom of democrocy and also bring his country into the European Union

Formal agreements for plans to build a new railway line in East Africa with Chinese help have been signed in the Kenyan capital , Nairobi

It is to run from Mombasa to Nairobi and will extend eventually to Uganda , Rwanda , Burundi and South Sudan

In Kenya , the line is to replace a narrow gauge track built more than 100 years ago during British colonial rule, China is to finance 90% of the first stage , put at $3.8 bn (£ 2.3bn) with work carried out by a Chinese firm , Construction work on the standard gauge line is expected to start in October this year and the 380 miles (610 km) stretch from the coast to Nairobi is due to be finished in early 2018

"The costs of moving our people and our goods , across our borders will fall sharply" Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told a news confrence after the signing also attended by the leaders of China , Uganda , Rwanda and South Sudan and representives from Tanzania < Burundi and the African Development Bank

In November last year , Mr. Kenyatta laid the foundation stone on Mombasa for the first phrase of the project , he had said the new link should the cost of sending a ton of freight one kilometer from 2o U.S. cents to eight

Passenger trians will travel at a top speed of 75 M.P.H. ( 120 km/h) while freight trains will have a maximum speed of 45 M.P.H. ( 80 km/h)

"This project demonstrates that there is equal co operation and mutual benifit between China and the East African countries , and the railway is a very important part of transport infrastructure development" said Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang

A subsidiary of China Communication and Construction Co. has been named as the main contractor. according to the terms of the aggrement , Chinese Eximbank is to provide 90% of the cost of the first phrase of the line , with Kenya putting up the remaining 10%

After that stage is complete it is planned that work on the links to other countries in the region will start

Construction on the original line began in Mombasa 1895 and the reilway reached Nairobi in 1899 , it reached the shore off Lake Victoria in December 1901

The military was "currently detecting a lot of activity in and around the Punggye ri nuclear test site" a Southern Korean defence ministry spokesman said

North Korea could be planning to hold a "surprize nuclear test or just pretend to stage a nuclear test" he said

North Korea has carried out three nuclear tests in the past , South Korea's Foreign Minister warned of the dangers of another

If North Korea goes ahead with another nuclear test as it has publicly warned , it will be a game changer" , Yum Byung - Se said

North Korea's most recent test was February 2013 , an incident that triggered several months of severe tention on the Korean peninsula , it also carried out tests in 2006 and 2009 , all the tests , which were signposted well in advance , resulted in the imposition of U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang

U.N. Security Council resolution 1718 passed in October 2006 after the first nuclear test , bans North Korea from nuclear and missile testsLate last month , North Korea threatened to carry out "new form" of nuclear test , it is not clear what that means

While Pyongyang has tested devices , it is not yet believed to have mastered the b process of making a nuclear warhead , small enough to deliver via a missile

The ferry carrying mainly school students , was travelling from the port of Incheon , in the North West , to the Southern resort island of Jeju

A major rescue effort is under way , using dozens of ships and helicopters , two people are known to have died and at least 13 others have been injured

South Korean officials had earlier said that 368 people had been plucked to safety , but later said there had been a counting error , they have now revised down the number rescued to 164 , officials also revised down the number of people on the ferry from 476

Images showed the ferry listing at a severe angle and then later almost compleatly submurged , with only a small part of it's hull visible it sank within two hours of sending a distress signal

Several coast guard , military and commercial vessels were involved in the rescue effort , which unfolded rapidly on Wednesday morning

Pro Russian protesters attended a rally in the Eastern Ukrainian City of Lugansk yesterday , demonstrators marched to the Ukrainian Regional Security Service demanding the release of their collagues , who were arrested for separtism , and called on former President Yanukovich to return to Ukraine

Kiev ; Ukraine's Security Service said yesterday that it had arrested 15 men for allegedly plotting to stage an armed revolt  in an Eastern region neighbouring Russia , it added it had also seized 300 machine guns , a rocket launcher and numerous grenades from the suspected coup plotter , the Ukrainian Security Service said the the man planned to seize the administration building in the Luganok region 

The Security agency provided no other details and did not reveal any political affi;iation of the suspects

A group of Volunteers is painstakingly piecing together shredded documents in the hope of uncovering corruption under the leadership of Ukraine's ousted President Victor Yanukovych

eleven year old Dmytro Pynchuk's desk is covered in scissors and pots of glue , he is a dab hand  at assembling complicated models and proudly shows off his paper aeroplanes and World War 2 tanks

Now his expertise is proving useful , as he and his parents give up their free time in the evenings and at weekends to piece together shredded documents , these contain information about stolen assets , bribes, offshore accounts and other secrets that nobody outside the circle of the Ukraine's ousted  President was ever supposed to lay eyes on

They could be gluing and sticking for several months , but  however long it takes they are determined to help investigative journalists , accountants and lawers to shed more light on the way business was done when Yanukovych was in power

The shredded documents he and his familynhave been working on were found at the abandoned Mezhihirya estate , and in the underground car park of a downtown office block

The Kremlin has confirmed that the divorce of Russian President Vladimir Putin  from his wife off thirty years , Lyudmila , has been finalised

The Country's best known couple , who have two daughters in their late twenties , went on T.V. in June to announce they were breaking up

Mr. Putin aged 61 was still offically listed as married only last week , ranked amongst the world's  most powerful people , he made headlines last month by annexing Ukraine's Crimea region

During their appearance before a T.V. camera last year Mr. Putiin said "it was a joint decision , we hardly see each other  , each of us has our own life"

His then spouce , who is known to dislike publicity , said that flying was difficult   for her and Mr. Putin was " completely drowned    in work" 

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed for Russian media on Wednesday that the divorce had been completed

The most immediate topic of discussion at Tuesday's meeting of Nato Foreign Ministers , the first since Russia's annexedation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula , was whether Russian troops currently massedon Ukraine's borders were likely to launch a new invasion deep into Ukraine's ethnically mixed Eastern provences

The chances are that such an invasion will be averted , but Russia's security threat to the european Continent remains both substantial and systematic and is likely to endure for years to come

The most important reason why Mr. Putin will not send his troops into Ukraine now is that he has other ways of achieving his objectives

He knows that Crimea is his to keep , and that no Western Government is likely to challenge this newly acquired Russian provance , at Sunday's meeting in Paris between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov , Crimea was not even mentioned 

Russia's most immediate task is to prevent Ukraine from joining Western economic and security structures such as the European Union or Nato , to keep the Country in suspended animation as a buffer zone , belonging to neither East nor West , and that can   be accomplished by persuading the West to accept what Moscow likes to call the "Fedderalisation" of Ukraine

Russia's demands for the creation of a federal Ukraine are very sweeping , they include a proposal that Ukraine's Foregin Policy direction , a more polite Russian way of saying that the ethnic Russians inside Ukraine will be able to block the Country's Pro Western orientation

And if this strategy does not work ,Moscow can resort to the simple expedient   of encouraging ethnic Russians in Ukraine to declare their separation and   even sucession from the Ukrainain State , as President Putin sees it , he now has in his  hands the instruments to undermine Ukraine without actually firing a shot

Moscow has also signalled a determination to apply the same approch to other parts of Europe , where ethnic Russians may reside , particularly the Trans-Dniester region in the former Soviet Republic of Moldova and in the Baliic States

But in the days to come the alliance will have to show it's mettle by staging various military exercises , particulary in the small and vulnerable Baltic  States in order to reassure them and other Nato members that the alliance's security guarantee remains valid and relevant

Russia must be left under no illusion that should try to interfere with a Nato member state, the responce will be swift and include a military componant

That border is the Northern Limit Line or NLL , the name alone gives away it's history , at the conclusion of the 1950-53 Korean War , the linde was unilaterally drawn by the United Nations Command as a line beyond which South Koreaan vessels were not to venture

While the NLL is now considered the De Facto  sea border bt South Korea and it's powerful American Allies , North Korea has always disputed it's drawing a very diffrent line of it's own

The drawing of the NLL with a northward curve from the land border left in South Korea's hands five islands lie just off the North Korean coastline

North Korea had little choice but to abandon them during the War , for while the North Korean and Chinese armies were powerful forces , neither State had a Navy capable of challenging the United Nations Naval units derployed against them 

From the 1960's to the 1980's , North / South , clashes occured along the land border , the DMZ or De Militarised Zone , and more latterly in spy and special forces missions on and beyond the peninsula

Such as the bombing of South Korea's Cabinet in Rangoon in 1983 and the bombing of a South Korean Airliner , in 1987

But the most serious incidents have occurred this year , with North Korea twice employing weapons systems that have not been used since the War , Torpedos and Artillery

North Korea announced early on Monday that it would hold live fire drills in seven parts of the border area ,South Korea says it returned fire after North Korean shells landed in it's territorial waters

The area has been a flashpoint between the two Koreas , in late 2010 four South Koreans were killed on a border island by North Korean artillery fire , earlier that year , a South Korean warship sank near the disputed border with the loss of 46 lives

Seoul says Pyongyang torpedoed the vessel , but North Korea denies any role in the incident

 The United Nations drew up the Western border after the Korean War , but North Korea has never recognized it

 The live fire exercises were announced by North Korea in a fax message from it's military to the South's Navy , the exercises would take place in seven border areas , the message said , South Korea had warned of immediate retaliation if any ordinance crossed the border

The latest incident comes a day after North Korea test fired two medium range Nodong missiles over the sea late last week , the UN Security Council condemned the launch and said was considering an "appropriate response"

That launch followed a series of short range missile tests , seen as a response to the current U.S./South Korea annual military exercises

Over the weekend , North Korea also threatened to conduct a "new form" of nuclear test

New (though unverified) letters seem to be a first person account of the sinking of the Titanic Ocean Liner have surfaced , written in French and dated 1955 , the letters were recently translated penned by a French woman  named Rose Ame'lie Icard ,the letters seem to have been written to the daughter of another woman , whose mother also survived the sinking

"Towards eleven O' clock Mrs. Stone (Icards Employer) and I went to bed , three quarters of ann hour later , as the liner was cruising at full speed , a terrifying shock threw us out of bed"

The letter continues , describing the scene on deck "At this moment we witnessed unforgettable scenes where horror mixed with the most sublime heroism , women , still in evening gowns , some just out of bed , barely clothed , disheveled and distraught scrambled for the boats"

"Near me were two handsome elderly people , Mr. and Mrs. Straus , proprietors of the great store Macy*s of New York , she refused to go into the boat after having helped in her maid"

"She put her arms around the neck of her husband , telling him , ' we have been married 50 years , we have never left each other , I want to die with you"

Belbek Air Base , Crimea Pro russian forces stormed a Ukrainian air base in crimea , firing shots and smashing through concrete walls with armoured personnel carriers

The Ukrainian Commander of the base , Yuliy Mamchur , said there was at least one injury , he called his men together and they sang the Ukrainian National anthem and stood at ease , he said they were going to turn over their wepons

Russian forces have been seizing Ukrainian military facilities for many days in the Black Sea Peninsula , which voted a week ago to secede and join Russia

Elsewhere , more than 5,000 Pro Russia residents of a major city in Ukraine's East demonstrated in favor of holding a referendum on whether to seek to split off and become part of Russia

European Union leaders are due to meet inn Brussels to discuss further targeted sanctions in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine

It comes as UN Cheif Ban Ki Moon visits Russian leaders in Moscow , to erge a diplomatic solution to the crisis

Tensions are high in Crimea , where Pro Russia Forces seized two bases on Wednesday , including Ukrine's Navy HQ in Savastopol

Ukraine's Navy Commander wa detained , but has now been released , while thousands of Ukrainian ssoldiers and saliors remain trapped inside Military bases on the Peninsula , surrounded by heavily armed Pro Russia forces

Western leaders have denounced Russia's actions in Crimea as a violation of Ukraines Sovereignty and a breach of International Law

EU leaders are expected to extend their sanctions on Thursday , possibly including Political and Military figures close to Russian President Vladimir PutinDiplomats are talking privately , however of a wholesale realignment of both European energy policies to make the EU less reliant on Moscow and relations with Russia itself

Amid fears that  the Russian annexation of Crimea is just the beginning of things to come , Ukrainian forces along the Russian boarder have begun preparing for war

Ukraine's Defence minister has put the call out for tens of thousands of volunteers to take up arms in case of a Russian invasion

The U.S. and it's Allies are on a diplomatic collision course with Russia over Ukraine

The soldier from one of the most infamous photographs captured on film in New York's times Square , by photographer from Life Magazine , Glenn McDuffie has died at the age of 86

Moscow has blocked four websites run by opponents and critics of President Vladimir Putin

The blog of opponent Alexei Navainy , two news sites and one run by Garry Kasparov were blocked on the orders of Russia's ProsecutorGenerals office

Critics said the blocks were just the latest in a series of moves by Russia's govermentto stifle dissent , the blocke come as Russia's Central bank  reported that hackers had targeted it's main website, the site and that of the Kremlin were briefly unavailable with authorities saying "" technical reasons" were making them hard to reach

Control Order :

opposition leader Alexei Navainy is currently under house arrest for two months , a punishment imposed for violating the terms of a five year suspended sentence , given after he was tried on charges of embezzlement , the terms of his house arrest demand that he does not receive visitors or use the internet

anna Veduta a spokeswoman for alexei navainy said thru twitter that the block was "political decision taken as part of the cleansing of the media space"

The block also extends to the Russian news sites Ej.ru and grani.ru as well as the kasparov.ru website

Russia has vetoed a draft United Nations resolution , criticising Sunday's secession referendum in Ukraine's Crimean region , the only Security Council member to vote against the measure

China , regarded as a Russian ally on the issue abstained from the vote

Western Powers criticised Russia's veto over the referendum which will ask Crimeans if they want to rejoin Russia

Russia intervened in the Crimean Peninsula after the fall of Ukraine's Pro moscow President Viktor Yanukovych on Feb. 22nd