BBC News with Sue Montgomery

There are reports of a tense standoff between armed men believed to be Russian soldiers and Ukrainian forces at a base just outside the Crimean city of Sevastopol. Christian Fraser has been outside the base.

We've been to, looks like a very tense situation at the base. There are two trucks that belong to the Black Sea fleet, it has been maneuvering in front of the gates, so we don't know what they're trying to do, and there is a crowd of sort of people there who are pretty hostile, um, we understand that some journalists get out of the car and take photographs, now our report say they've probably been beaten, so we try to keep a very late presence, it looks quite a tense situation, you can imagine what the Ukrainian soldiers must have been going through inside, because at the moment, the gates are still locked, but there is no sign of the base, that we've been to that they've driven through that gates.

Russian parliamentarians have given a standing ovation to a delegation of politicians from Crimea, promising support if they wanted to become part of Russia. Thousands of people have rallied in Moscow in support of the government' s moves in Crimea. Richard Galpin was out the demonstration.

Today, thousands of people attended a rally outside the Kremlin here in Moscow in support of the government's plan to annex Crimea. In parliament nearby, MPs had earlier given a warm welcome to a delegation of Crimean politicians who are now putting in place plans for a referendum in the region in just nine days time. Assuming the vote is in favor of becoming part of Russia, then a few days later, the Russian parliament will start debating legislation to try to make it legal.

In Crimean itself, there is a growing unease among the regions of indigenous Tatar population at the prospect of joining Russia. A BBC correspondent in the town of B says skinheads with baseball bats have been seen marking Tatars' houses with crosses.

A French newspaper says it's uncovered evidence, suggesting that the former President Nicolas Sarkozy tried to tamper with the judicial system. Le Monde says the allegations came to light when Mr. Sarkozy's phone was tapped. Hugh Schofield reports.

A complicated affair this, the central point of which is that for the last year, Mr. Sarkozy has apparently had his phone tapped. According to Le Monde newspaper, what investigators discovered from the phone taps was that Mr. Sarkozy was getting inside information about various inquiries from a senior prosecutor at the appeals court, this prosecutor, it's claimed, nearing retirement, wanted a job as a state councillor in the Monaco and in return for his help, Mr. Sarkozy personally took steps to try to secure that job.

Mr. Sarkozy denies all the allegations. And his lawyer says the phone taps were illegal.

World News from the BBC

The former Turkish military chief, Ilker Basbug has been released from a life sentence, imposed for conspiring to overthrow the government. In a televised statement, he said the Turkish nation had understood that he and other convicted officers had nothing to do with plotting coups. He called for justice against those who'd had him locked up for more than two years. From Istanbul S G reports.

General Basbug's release could prove a turning point in the so-called Ergenekon trials in Turkey which have seen dozens of senior officers, lawyers and journalists jailed. General Basbug was convicted of plotting to overthrow the government last year. But on Thursday, Turkey's top court decided that the correct trial procedures had been followed. The trials were seen as part of a long-running battle by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tame Turkey's powerful armed forces.

Diplomatic sources say South Africa has expelled three Rwandan diplomats in connection with an attack earlier this week on the home of an exiled Rwandan dissident. General Kayumba Nyamwasa was not at his home at the time. The property was damaged and a computer and some documents were taken. Rwanda has reportedly expelled six South African diplomats in response. General Nyamwasa was earlier shot in South Africa but survived the attack.

The Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced that he and his Cabinet will take a pay cut to bring down the government's wage bill. President Kenyatta said that he and his deputy will take a 20% cut in salary, correspondents say the issue of politician's pay is a highly sensitive one in Kenya.

Saudi Arabia has designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Two Jihadist groups fighting in the rebel side in Syria, the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant were also named as terrorist groups by the interior ministry. The Muslim Brotherhood is already banned in Saudi Arabia.

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