World News Update, what you need to know

South Korean rescuers and dive teams have worked frantically under floodlights as fears rise for nearly 300 people missing after a ferry sank with 475 on board.

ELSEWHERE:

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - The Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram were taken to a stronghold of the Islamist group, parents say, as the military confirmed 129 students had been abducted.

WASHINGTON - The United States has warned it is "actively preparing" new sanctions to hit Russia if critical Ukraine talks do not produce concessions from Moscow.

PRETORIA - The prosecution has derided a forensic expert hired by Oscar Pistorius, accusing him of being unqualified to testify and rubbishing his account of the circumstances in which Reeva Steenkamp died.

LONDON - Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson has acknowledged for the first time that he listened to hacked voicemail messages while he was editor of the tabloid.

CAIRO - An Egyptian court has jailed 120 supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi for three years over clashes that left dozens of people dead last year.