BBC News with Jerry Smit

Leaders from Russia and the West have had angry exchanges over the future of Ukraine at an international Security conference in Germany. Ukraine has seen weeks of protests since President Yanukovych rejected the partnership deal with European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia. The United States said it stood with the people of Ukraine in their fight for democracy. But the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused EU of defending the violent street protests in the name of democracy. From Munich Lyse Doucet.

In the weeks of this diplomatic duel, Ukrainian leaders are also here to seek support from either side. Opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk told media it was a very real risk of even greater tension on the streets of Kiev, including possible military action. What he called an unconstitutional coup. That threat has also met condemnation from NATO's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Here is Munich this war of words over Ukraine's deep crisis is taking place in public sessions and behind closed doors. But it's the escalating battles on the streets of Kiev that are causing the greatest alarm.

The United Nation says an estimated 3.7milllion people in South Sudan are in acute need of food as a result of the fighting between government forces and rebels loyal to the deposed vice president. The UN's humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan told the BBC that the conflict had created a humanitarian emergency for a third of the population.

There has been explosions and gunfire in the Thai capital Bangkok, as government supporters and their opponents clash hours before polls are due to open in a general election. The main opposition party is boycotting the election. John Sudworth reports from Bangkok.

The protesters camped outside a government building to stop the ballot paper inside from being delivered, insisted to me that they were non-violent so did a group of government supporters gathering nearby. But soon after the two sides were exchanging gunfire sending journalists and bystanders running for cover. The protesters accused the government of rigging the vote with the kickbacks it pays to poor northern farmers. The government accuses the protesters of being an anti-democratic urban elite.

A volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has killed at least 14 people, Mount Sinaburg ejected gas and lava thousands of meters into the air. Here's Charles Scanlon.

The volcano towers over a fertile agricultural region in northern Sumatra. It's been emitting clouds of ash and gas in recent months. But the scale of today's eruption appears to have taken local communities by surprise. Many villagers have returned home after an earlier evacuation. A poisonous avalanche of gas and lava engulfed settlements on the slopes. Officials fear there may have been more casualties, but they can't get closer because of the lethal heat from the eruption.

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Thousands of people have demonstrated in the Spanish capital Madrid against the proposed new law that will tighten restrictions on abortion. Activists from all-over Spain and abroad join the march to demand women be allowed the right to choose. They held banners reading "We decide" and "Deciding makes us free". The protesters called on Spain's justice minister who drafted the law to resign.

The police and army in northern Serbia have rescued about 1,000 people whose vehicles were stranded in deep snow. The government said that several hundred other motorists were trapped on the road which leads to the border with Hungary. The main border crossing is closed as winds reach nearly 170 km/h creating snowdrifts more than four meters high. Shipping on the River Danube has been suspended because of high winds.

Janet Yellen has taken over as head of the Federal Reserve, the first woman to lead the US central bank in its 100-year history. More from our business correspondent Theo Leggett

Janet Yellen takes the top job at the American central bank after three years working as a deputy to the outgoing chairman Ben Bernanke. His time in office was dominated by the financial crisis and the introduction of highly unorthodox policies to counter its effects. Now the US economic recovery appears to be gathering momentum so for Mrs. Yellen, the priority is likely to be the unwinding of those policies while attempting to avoid causing turbulence in the global financial markets.

The Austrian actor Maximilian Schell, has died at the age of 83. Schell was one of the best-known foreign actors in Hollywood and won an Oscar for his role as a German lawyer in the 1961 film Judgement at Nureberg. As son of a play writer and an actress, Maximilian Schell was brought up in Switzerland after his family fled the Nazi takeover of Austria. As well as an actor, he was also an accomplished producer and director and a successful concert pianist and conductor.

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