Pro-Russian militants in Donetsk say they will not leave the government building there, defying the Kiev authorities and threatening a new international deal on Ukraine.
The separatists’ spokesman said that the Kiev government was “illegal”, so they would not go until the Kiev government stepped down.
Russia, Ukraine, the EU and US earlier agreed that illegal military groups in Ukraine must leave official buildings.
They reached the deal in Geneva.
Pro-Russian militants in Donetsk say they will not leave the government building there, defying the Kiev authorities and threatening a new international deal on Ukraine
Alexander Gnezdilov, spokesman for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said his group would evacuate the government building in the eastern city only when the “illegal” Kiev government vacated parliament and the presidential administration.
A tense standoff continues in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists – many of them armed – are occupying official buildings in at least nine cities and towns.
Another protest leader in Donetsk said the separatists would not leave unless pro-European demonstrators in Kiev’s Maidan Square packed up their camp first.
President Barack Obama cautiously welcomed the Geneva deal, but warned that the US and its allies were ready to impose new sanctions on Russia if the situation failed to improve.
On Friday there were reports of some shooting in Serhiyivka, in Donetsk region.
Ukrainian paratroopers opened fire to remove a protesters’ roadblock in Serhiyivka, Interfax-Ukraine reported, quoting local sources. The details have not been confirmed.
Russia denies fomenting separatism in eastern and southern Ukraine.
According to South Korean investigators, the third officer was at the helm of Sewol ferry that capsized off Jindo island.
A total of 268 people – including scores of high school students – remain missing after Wednesday’s disaster.
Twenty-eight people are now known to have died and 179 were rescued.
It is not clear why the ferry sank, but experts have suggested it either hit a rock or turned sharply, unbalancing the vessel as cargo shifted.
Sewol ferry had been travelling from Incheon, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju. It capsized and sank within a period of two hours, officials said.
A major search and rescue operation has been under way. Bad weather, poor visibility and strong currents hampered the divers’ search on Thursday.
Some of the divers have managed to enter the cargo bay of the ship, a coast guard official confirmed in a press conference on Friday.
But they could not identify or rescue any people due to items obstructing the way, the unnamed official added.
The third officer was at the helm of Sewol ferry that capsized off South Korea coast
Air was also now being injected into the ship to help any people trapped inside – though officials have said that survivors are unlikely – and to help refloat the vessel.
Coast guard officials, quoted by AFP, say the bodies picked up were found floating in the water, and none had been retrieved from the ship itself.
Three salvage cranes have also arrived at the scene, to raise the ship or move it to another area with weaker currents.
“We will review the options very carefully, as the salvage operations may hurt survivors trapped inside,” Yonhap news agency quoted a coast guard officer as saying.
Meanwhile, investigators have stated that the captain of the ferry, Lee Joon-seok, was not in charge when the ferry ran into trouble.
“It was the third officer who was in command of steering the ship when the accident took place,” state prosecutor Park Jae-Eok told journalists.
“Whether or not they took a drastic turnaround… is under investigation,” he said.
“Though surviving crews have different testimonies about the situation, we’ve been investigating the captain as he was suspected to leave the steering room for an unknown reason,” Park Jae-Eok added.
In a separate development, reports say the vice principal of Danwon High School, who was rescued from the ferry, was found dead on Friday.
Yonhap news agency quotes police as saying Kang Min-Kyu, 52, was found hanging from a tree near the gym where many of the relatives of missing passengers have been staying.
Witnesses have accused the crew of telling passengers to remain where they were, rather than evacuate the sinking ship.
Messages and phone calls from those inside painted a picture of people trapped in crowded corridors, unable to escape the severely-listing ferry.
Some 350 of those on board were students from the same high school in a suburb of Seoul who were on a field trip.
Their relatives have endured a long wait for news – their anguish compounded by conflicting information about numbers of survivors issued early on.
In a public statement issued on Friday, families of the missing called for more urgent action.
“Nobody told us about what went wrong and what was happening out there. There was not even a situation room in charge by late Wednesday,” a representative said.
“Our children would be shouting for help in the freezing water,” he said.
The nearly 8-year marriage of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban is on the rocks because of distance, her ostensible Botox use and his “flirtations”, claims Star magazine.
Keith Urban is supposedly spending much of his time jetting from Los Angeles to Sydney to visit Nicole Kidman and their two daughters.
Keith Urban is supposedly spending much of his time jetting from Los Angeles to Sydney to visit Nicole Kidman and their two daughters
“He’s groveling,” contends the source.
“He told her that he wants to put their family first and get their marriage back on track.”
While it’s been close to a year since Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban posed together on the red carpet, they were spotted in Sydney last week with daughters Sunday, 5, and Faith, 3.
Just days ago, Keith Urban praised Nicole Kidman’s ability to balance her busy career and their home life, calling her “an amazing wife and mother”.
Four anti-corruption activists linked to the New Citizens’ Movement – which campaigns for government transparency – have been jailed by a Chinese court.
Human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi was jailed for three and a half years, while veteran activist Zhao Changqing was jailed for two and a half years.
Activists Zhang Baocheng and Li Wei each received two-year sentences.
The verdicts come after Beijing’s high court upheld a four-year jail term given to movement founder Xu Zhiyong.
Four anti-corruption activists linked to the New Citizens’ Movement have been jailed by Beijing court
The New Citizens’ Movement a loose network of activists is campaigning for government officials to disclose their wealth.
Xu Zhiyong had appealed against his sentence for “gathering crowds to disrupt public order”.
The four activists were charged with the same offence, Beijing’s Haidian District People’s Court said in a blog post.
Zhang Baocheng’s lawyer, Ge Yongxi, told the AFP news agency that the ruling was “a warning and a threat”.
“We think he’s completely innocent; there is no legal basis for the court’s ruling, and the punishment is too heavy,” Ge Yongxi said.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly vowed to crack down on corruption – but the party has also tried critics and anti-corruption activists.
Human rights groups said the crackdown on the activists was part of a wider campaign against civil society by the government, despite President Xi Jinping’s high-profile public campaign against corruption.
A surgeon treating an Indian businessman in Delhi has recovered 12 bars of gold from his stomach.
The 63-year-old man was admitted to hospital after complaining of vomiting and difficulty defecating.
He told his doctor that he had swallowed a bottle cap in anger, after a fight with his wife.
But when surgeons operated they found gold bars weighing nearly 400g (14oz) in his stomach instead of a bottle cap.
Police and customs authorities had questioned the businessman and confiscated the gold.
Indians traditionally hoard gold in the belief it will bring financial security (photo Reuters)
India, the world’s largest consumer of gold, has seen a record rise in smuggling after a rise in duty on imports of metal to curb the current account deficit.
Dr. CS Ramachandran, a senior surgeon at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said he had never seen a “case like this in my life”.
“This is the first time I have recovered gold from the stomach of a patient. I remember having taken out a bladder stone weighing 1kg from a patient. But finding gold in a patient’s stomach was something unbelievable,” he said.
“It was a tedious three-hour-long operation. He is an old patient and we had to be careful. We found 12 gold bars lying in a stack in his stomach.”
The businessman, who had undergone four stomach surgeries in the past and is a diabetic, was admitted to the hospital earlier this month, with symptoms of “acute intestinal obstruction”, Dr. CS Ramachandran added.
Last year India’s government hiked the import duty on gold three times to curb demand for the precious metal.
Gold imports, which had peaked at 162,000kg in May 2013, came down to 19,300kg in November after the hike.
As South Korean ferry Sewol began to sink, some of those on board sent harrowing text messages to their loved ones.
With almost 300 people still unaccounted for one day after the accident, reports of desperate text messages from some of those trapped on board have surfaced in local media.
“This might be the last chance to say I love you,” one student named as Shin Young-jin is reported to have texted his mother.
“Why’s that,” his mother texted back, clearly unaware of the crisis engulfing the vessel.
“I love you anyway.”
According to the Korea Herald, Shin Young-jin was among the 179 people rescued from the ship so far.
But other parents who received such messages have not been reunited with their children. Another exchange between one student and her father was recounted by the AFP news agency and local media:
Student: “Dad, don’t worry. I’m wearing a life vest and am with other girls. We’re inside the ship, still in the hallway.”
Father:“I know that the rescue is under way, but shouldn’t you be waiting outside the rail? Try to get out if you can.”
Student:“The ship is too tilted. The hallway is crowded with so many people.”
The student who sent these messages remains unaccounted for.
As South Korean ferry Sewol began to sink, some of those on board sent harrowing text messages to their loved ones
In another text exchange widely published on South Korean media a student texted his older brother as the ship ran into trouble.
Student:“The ship ran into something and it’s not moving. They say the coast guard just arrived.”
Brother:“Don’t panic. Just do what you are told to do and then you will be fine.”
But there was no further communication after that.
Some parents were able to stay in touch with their children on the phone until lines were cut off. Park Yu-shin, whose daughter is among the missing, told the AFP news agency that she talked to her daughter as she was coping with the emergency.
“She was telling me: <<We’re putting on our life vests. They’re telling us to wait and stay put, so we’re waiting…I can see a helicopter>>,”Park Yu-shin said. Her daughter is still among the missing.
Reports that messages have been received from students still trapped inside the ferry have not been verified.
It is not yet clear what caused the ferry, carrying mainly school students, to sink, but survivors gave similar accounts of a catastrophic event at around 09:00. A picture of the fear and chaos on board has also been vividly drawn.
“There was a really loud noise and then the boat immediately began to shift to one side,” said rescued passenger, Kim Song-Muk.
“People were scrambling to get to the upper decks, but it was difficult with the deck slanted over.”
Student, Lim Hyung-min, told how he jumped into the ocean wearing a life jacket with other youngsters and then swam to a nearby rescue boat.
“As the ferry was shaking and tilting, we all tripped and bumped into each another,” Lim Hyung-min said, adding that some people were bleeding.
Once he jumped, the ocean “was so cold… I was hurrying, thinking that I wanted to live”.
Pictures from the scene showed rescue teams balanced on the sinking hull pulling teenagers from cabin windows as other jumped into the sea as the ship went down.
Other survivors have criticized the evacuation procedures.
Passenger Koo Bon-hee, 36, told the Associated Press news agency that many people were trapped inside by windows that were too hard to break. He wanted to escape earlier but an announcement said passengers should stay put.
“The rescue wasn’t done well. We were wearing life jackets. We had time,” Koo Bon-hee, who was on a business trip to Jeju with a co-worker, said from a hospital bed in Mokpo where he was treated for minor injuries.
“If people had jumped into the water … they could have been rescued. But we were told not to go out.”
Another survivor told local television: “The announcement told us that we should stay still, but the ship was already sinking and there were a lot of students who did not get out of the ship.”
Kim Seong-mok told YTN that he was “certain” many people were trapped inside the ship as water quickly filled up inside and the severe tilt of the ferry kept them from reaching the exits.
But tales of heroism on board as the vessel began to sink have also emerged.
One crew member, named as 22-year-old Park Ji-young, is said to have lost her life while struggling to make sure passengers on the upper floors of the ferry wore life jackets and found their way out.
“I repeatedly asked her why she did not first wear a life jacket. Park just said she would get out of the ship after making sure that all passengers were out,” a survivor told local media.
“Park pushed shocked passengers toward the exit even when the water was up to her chest.”
The Korea Herald reports that she joined the ferry company in 2012 to earn money to support her family.
When her body arrived at hospital, the paper reports, her mother cried: “I can’t believe you left us.”
At least six Sherpa guides are reported to have been killed after an avalanche on the slopes of Mount Everest.
The avalanche struck around 06:45 local time in an area known as the “popcorn field”, just above Everest base camp at an elevation of 19,000ft.
An official said four bodies had been found and two more were being dug out of the snow.
At least six Sherpa guides are reported to have been killed after an avalanche on the slopes of Mount Everest
Everest is crowded ahead of peak season on the 8,850 m summit.
The Sherpa guides had climbed up the slope early in the morning to fix ropes for climbers and prepare the route for mountaineers when the avalanche hit, officials are quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
A number of others are thought to be missing.
More than 3,000 people have scaled Mount Everest since it was first conquered by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, but many have died in the attempt too.
Straddling Nepal and China, the world’s highest mountain has an altitude of 29,029ft (8,848 m).
Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez has died in Mexico aged 87, his family has announced.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez was considered one of the greatest Spanish-language authors, best known for his masterpiece of magic realism, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
The 1967 novel sold more than 30 million copies and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez had been ill and had made few public appearances recently.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez was considered one of the greatest Spanish-language authors
“Gabriel Garcia Marquez has died,” a spokeswoman for the family, Fernanda Familiar, said on Twitter.
“Mercedes and her sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo, have authorized to give me the information. Such deep sadness,” she added.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos also took to Twitter to pay tribute to the author.
“One Hundred Years of Solitude and sadness for the death of the greatest Colombian of all time,” Juan Manuel Santos wrote.
The cause of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s death was not immediately known but he was recently hospitalized for a lung and urinary tract infection in Mexico City.
He was sent home last week but his health was said to be “very fragile” because of his age. He had lived in Mexico for more than 30 years.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s other novels include Love in the Time of Cholera, Chronicle of a Death Foretold and the The General in His Labyrinth.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is set to kick off his re-election campaign at an event his brother and campaign aide has called “history in the making”.
Rob Ford is expected to deliver a 20-minute speech at the Toronto Congress Centre, where he celebrated his mayoral win in 2010.
He has been stripped of many of his powers after admitting to using and purchasing drugs while mayor.
Rob Ford faces two major challengers in the 27 October election.
His brother and campaign manager City Councilor, Doug Ford, said he expected “thousands” to turn out after the campaign sent automated phone invitations to many Toronto residents.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is set to kick off his re-election campaign
Rob Ford was first elected in 2010 to lead Canada’s largest city on a pledge to tackle wasteful spending at city hall. He draws much of his support from the suburban areas of Toronto.
He soon privatized rubbish collection across much of the city and did away with a vehicle tax, but quickly became bogged down in disputes with the council.
And over the past year, Rob Ford has admitted smoking crack cocaine “in a drunken stupor” and to purchasing illegal drugs while mayor.
Allegations have also surfaced in police documents that Rob Ford used racially abusive language, threatened staff, harassing a female colleague, and snorted cocaine in a restaurant.
He denies the allegations.
In the fallout from the drugs scandal, the city council stripped Rob Ford of most of his mayoral powers and his budget, rendering him effectively mayor in name only, analysts say.
However, Rob Ford has brushed aside pressure to quit, saying voters will decide whether to keep him in office in the October election. He has said his “track record speaks for itself”, and recent polls show him running in contention with his chief challengers.
On Thursday, Doug Ford told reporters his brother’s campaign kick-off would include “some humility, a lot of accomplishments” but no new campaign policy announcements.
The Toronto mayor faces serious challenges from centre-right candidate John Tory, a broadcaster and former member of the provincial parliament, and former New Democratic Party (NDP) MP Olivia Chow.
John Tory has released a “Code of Conduct” in which he vows to “respect and defend our laws, not break them”, and to “show up for work each day”, in a clear rebuke to Rob Ford’s recent behavior.
Karen Stintz, a city councilor, and David Soknacki, a former councilor, are also running.
A Belgian study found that artists have structurally different brains compared with non-artists.
Study participants’ brain scans revealed that artists had increased neural matter in areas relating to fine motor movements and visual imagery.
The new research, published in NeuroImage, suggests that an artist’s talent could be innate.
However, training and environmental upbringing also play crucial roles in their ability, the authors report.
As in many areas of science, the exact interplay of nature and nurture remains unclear.
Artists have structurally different brains compared with non-artists
Lead author Rebecca Chamberlain from KU Leuven, Belgium, said she was interested in finding out how artists saw the world differently.
“The people who are better at drawing really seem to have more developed structures in regions of the brain that control for fine motor performance and what we call procedural memory,” she explained.
In their small study, researchers peered into the brains of 21 art students and compared them to 23 non-artists using a scanning method called voxel-based morphometry.
These detailed scans revealed that the artist group had significantly more grey matter in an area of the brain called the precuneus in the parietal lobe.
Participants also completed drawing tasks and the team looked at the relationship between their performance in this task and their grey and white matter.
Those better at drawing had increased grey and white matter in the cerebellum and also in the supplementary motor area – both areas that are involved with fine motor control and performance of routine actions.
Grey matter is largely composed of nerve cells, while white matter is responsible for communication between the grey matter regions.
However, it is still not clear what this increase of neural matter might mean. From looking at related studies of other creative people, such as musicians, it suggests that these individuals have enhanced processing in these areas, Dr. Rebecca Chamberlain added.
“It falls into line with evidence that focus of expertise really does change the brain. The brain is incredibly flexible in response to training and there are huge individual differences that we are only beginning to tap into,” she said.
The latest three victims of the Washington mudslide have been formally identified.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office positively identified the three people Thursday as Ron deQuilettes, 52; Sandra Miller, 64, and Wyatt Ruthven, 4.
They are among the 39 victims recovered from the March 22 slide that swept through the community of Oso.
Sandra Miller was building a new home on the banks of the Stillaguamish River with her husband, Larry, 58. The couple was putting finishing touches on the house before moving in, and Ron deQuilettes was there to work on the home’s electrical wiring.
There are 39 victims recovered from the March 22 slide that swept through the community of Oso in Washington state (photo AP)
Ron deQuilettes leaves behind a wife, who he met 31 years ago, and four children.
Wyatt Ruthven was among three generations of family who died in the mudslide, including his parents, Shane and Katie Ruthven, his 6-year-old brother Hunter and his grandparents Louie and JuDee Vanderburg. Each was previously identified as a victim of the slide.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office said they are still working with the families of the remaining missing.
Miley Cyrus had to cancel a second show after doctors decided to keep her in hospital.
Miley Cyrus, 21, already canceled a concert in Kansas City, Missouri, on Tuesday night after she was admitted to a medical facility and diagnosed with an allergic reaction to antibiotics.
The singer was due to perform at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on Wednesday night, but she confirmed she is not well enough to be discharged from hospital and urged fans not to travel to the venue.
Miley Cyrus was admitted to a Kansas City medical facility and diagnosed with an allergic reaction to antibiotics (photo Twitter Miley Cyrus)
Miley Cyrus wrote in a series of Twitter posts: “I can’t get a hold of my team because it is so early so I want to be the one to tell my fans especially the ones trekking to get there… The hospital is sayin (sic) I won’t b (be) released today… therefore I’m not going 2 (to) make it 2 St Louis. I’m so sorry but somethings are outta my control.”
She made the announcement after a female fan revealed she was about to set off on a long journey to get to the show in St. Louis, prompting Miley Cyrus to reply: “Babe as of right now I’m still in the hospital… I just don’t want any of my fans to (be) p**sed off or disappointed.”
The concert in St. Louis marks the third cancellation on Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz tour since it kicked off in February.
Forensic tests carried out by expert Roger Dixon for Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial have been rigorously challenged by state prosecutor Gerrie Nel in South Africa.
Roger Dixon’s sequence for the shots that killed Reeva Steenkamp contradicts that of a police ballistics witness and pathologist.
Oscar Pistorius, 27, denies intentionally killing Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year.
He says he fired in fear at a toilet door, mistaking her for an intruder.
The prosecution says the 29-year-old model and law graduate was deliberately killed after the couple had an argument.
Oscar Pistorius faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder.
The trial has now adjourned for a break and will reconvene on Monday May 5.
Before the questioning got under way on Thursday, Judge Thokozile Masipa warned those watching the televised proceedings in an overflow court next door about their “unruly” behavior.
Judge Thokozile Masipa said she had been made aware that there had been shouting and cheering at times.
Roger Dixon’s sequence for the shots that killed Reeva Steenkamp contradicts that of a police ballistics witness and pathologist
“It is not an entertainment place,” she said.
The prosecutor Gerrie Nel then continued his cross examination of Roger Dixon, a defense witness, who says he believes Reeva Steenkamp was standing at an angle to the door and that all four bullets hit her as she fell to the ground.
Earlier in the trial, ballistics expert Captain Christiaan Mangena said he believed Reeva Steenkamp was standing up facing the closed door when she was hit in the right hip.
He said she then fell back on to a magazine rack next to the toilet before three more bullets were fired at the door, one of which missed her.
Roger Dixon’s testimony challenges the state’s version that Reeva Steenkamp would have had time to scream after the first bullet and that Oscar Pistorius then changed aim and continued firing.
The forensic expert also told the court about light tests carried out in Oscar Pistorius’ bedroom and sound tests of a cricket bat striking a door and bullets hitting a door.
However, Gerrie Nel has sought to cast doubt on Roger Dixon’s credibility and qualifications as a forensics witness, suggesting some of the tests were amateurish.
He criticized him for not using a model the same height as Oscar Pistorius when on his stumps in a photograph to illustrate what neighbors would have been able to see through the bathroom window at night.
In the photograph a man was kneeling in front of the window.
“It is something I omitted. I overlooked it at the time,” said Roger Dixon, a geologist and university lecturer who worked as head of materials analysis at a police forensic laboratory in Pretoria for 18 years until 2012.
Gerrie Nel also sought to prove that he was out of his depth when he was testifying about marks on Reeva Steenkamp’s body.
He had identified one as a bruise which other pathologists had not, Gerrie Nel said.
At one stage on Wednesday Roger Dixon used the phrase “in my layman’s understanding”.
“Now you call yourself a layman. You see how irresponsible it is to make inferences that aren’t in your area of expertise,” the prosecutor replied.
Before the court adjourned, he was re-examined by defense lawyer Barry Roux and described how an official at the shooting range, where the sound tests were carried out, mistook the sound of the cricket bat striking the door for gunshots.
Roger Dixon took the stand on Tuesday after seven days of testimony from Oscar Pistorius came to an end with him reading a Valentine’s Day card from Reeva Steenkamp.
If Oscar Pistorius is acquitted of murder, the court must consider an alternative charge of culpable homicide, for which he could receive about 15 years in prison.
He also faces charges of illegally firing a gun in public and of illegally possessing ammunition, both of which he denies.
There are no juries at trials in South Africa, and his fate will be decided by the judge, assisted by two assessors.
Oscar Pistorius is known as the “Blade Runner” because of the carbon-fibre prosthetics he uses on the track.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said he has “a right” to send troops into Ukraine but hopes he will “not have to exercise that right”.
Vladimir Putin was speaking live on Russian TV after a clash in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, in which three pro-Russian protesters were reportedly killed.
He said he hoped the crisis would be resolved through dialogue.
Talks have opened in Geneva between Russia, Ukraine, the EU and US – the first since unrest erupted in Crimea.
In his annual live television phone-in, Vladimir Putin warned the Ukrainian authorities of “the abyss they’re heading into” and urged dialogue.
Vladimir Putin also admitted for the first time that Russian forces had been active in Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow last month. Previously he had insisted that the camouflaged, masked gunmen who took over Crimea were a local “self-defense” force.
In his annual live television phone-in, Vladimir Putin warned the Ukrainian authorities of “the abyss they’re heading into” and urged dialogue (photo RT)
The West says Russia is aiding the pro-Russian activists now occupying dozens of official buildings in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Vladimir Putin dismissed as “rubbish” allegations that Russian special forces were operating there.
Russian-speakers are a majority in Crimea and Donetsk, where ties to Russia are strong. Vladimir Putin reminded viewers that Tsarist Russia used to call eastern Ukraine “New Russia”.
“The Federation Council [upper house of parliament] granted the president the right to use military force in Ukraine. I really hope that I do not have to exercise that right and that we are able to solve all today’s pressing issues via political and diplomatic means,” Vladimir Putin said.
He said the Kiev government, which had “seized power”, had only spoken to its own appointees in the region, but “not to the people whom locals trust”.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s State Border Service has been quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency as saying that it is “significantly” restricting entry into the country by adult men from Russia because of the risk of “acts of terror”.
Overnight about 300 pro-Russian separatists attacked a military unit in Mariupol near the Azov Sea, throwing petrol bombs. Troops had opened fire, killing three, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a post on his Facebook page.
Ukraine has now sent in reinforcements including helicopters. There was no independent confirmation of Arsen Avakov’s statement.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a contempt of court ruling against Lavabit – the secure email service that was used by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Lavabit was found in contempt of court last year after refusing to comply with an FBI order to hand over encryption keys in an investigation thought to relate to Edward Snowden.
After that ruling, Lavabit’s owner Ladar Levison closed down the service.
Ladar Levison could appeal against this latest decision in a higher court.
“I haven’t read the court’s opinion, nor sought advice from lawyers on any possible legal strategy, so that is still pending,” he told news website Ars Technica.
Lavabit was found in contempt of court last year after refusing to comply with an FBI order to hand over encryption keys in an investigation thought to relate to Edward Snowden
Last June, the US government obtained a court order for Lavabit’s encryption keys in order to allow investigators to track the email traffic of an unnamed target, thought to be Edward Snowden, who had an email account with the service.
Just hours before a deadline to hand over the information expired, Ladar Levison provided the FBI with an 11-page printout listing the keys in tiny type, in effect making them unusable.
The court found Ladar Levison in contempt and the government told Lavabit to provide the keys in an acceptable industry standard electronic format within three days.
Ladar Levison did provide the information to the FBI by the new deadline but appealed against the court’s contempt ruling.
A judge sitting on the case at the appeals court upheld the ruling as he said Ladar Levison had never challenged the court order in the lower court.
Ladar Levison’s lawyer said he was disappointed with the ruling but said the court’s decision was to do with procedural issues and not the merits of the case.
“The court did not say the government’s actions in this case were legal,” said Ian Samuel.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has been supportive of Ladar Levison, said in a statement: “We believe it’s clear that there are limits on the government’s power to coerce innocent service providers into its surveillance activities.”
The search for survivors of the South Korean ferry disaster has been hampered by bad weather, murky water and strong currents.
Emergency services are still searching for about 280 people missing after a ship carrying 475 people sank.
Officials say 179 people have been rescued. Most of the passengers were pupils at the same high school.
South Korea’s president visited the wreck and urged rescuers to “hurry”.
President Park Geun-hye said that time was running out and that every minute and every second was critical.
Eighteen people are confirmed to have died, with dozens more injured.
The search for survivors of the South Korean ferry disaster has been hampered by bad weather, murky water and strong currents (photo Yonhap)
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported earlier that one Russian and two Chinese were among the missing.
Military divers have been fighting high winds and waves to try to access the vessel but were not able to get into any of the cabins, the Chief of the West Regional Headquarters of the South Korean Coastguard, Kim Soo-hyun, said.
At a press conference on Thursday, Kim Soo-hyun said reports that the ferry went off its course were being investigated.
It is not yet clear what caused the ship to list at a severe angle and flip over, leaving only a small part of its hull visible above water, but some experts have suggested the ship may have hit an underwater obstacle.
Passengers’ relatives are also questioning the role of the captain, who is being quizzed by police.
Captain Lee Joon-seok was shown apologizing on television.
“I am really sorry and deeply ashamed. I don’t know what to say,” he said.
It comes amid reports he was one of the first to escape the doomed ship.
Naval and coastguard vessels have been using floodlights and flares as darkness falls to maintain a search now involving more than 500 divers, 171 vessels and 29 aircraft.
Distraught relatives gathered in a gymnasium on nearby Jindo island insisted more should be done, and vented their grief and frustration to anyone who would listen.
The vessel – named Sewol – was travelling from Incheon port, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju.
Yonhap said the dead included four 17-year-old students and a 25-year-old teacher as well as a 22-year-old female crew member. Identities of the other victims were not immediately known.
The latest figures say 475 people were on board and 278 are still missing. Figures issued by the government have changed several times, prompting criticism.
Search efforts have been concentrated on the ship, which sank in about 100ft of water.
“We carried out underwater searches five times from midnight until early in the morning, but strong currents and the murky water pose tremendous obstacles,” said Kang Byung-kyu, Minister for Security and Public Administration.
Meanwhile, the coastguard chief denied reports that three divers had been swept away and had to be rescued themselves.
Privately, some officials admit it is unlikely the remaining passengers will be found alive.
“Honestly, I think the chances of finding anyone alive are close to zero,” one coastguard official told an AFP journalist on a rescue boat.
The US Navy has sent an amphibious assault ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard, to assist with the search.
Cranes are expected to reach the scene on Saturday.
AC/DC have confirmed that they will not retire following news that guitarist and founding member Malcolm Young is taking a break “due to ill health”.
It had been rumored the Australian rock band would split after a career spanning more than 40 years.
However, a statement on AC/DC’s website confirmed: “The band will continue to make music.”
AC/DC are one of the highest-grossing rock acts of all time, selling more than 200 million albums.
The band formed in Australia in 1973 and their biggest-selling record has been 1980’s Back In Black – the first with singer Brian Johnson after the death of former lead singer Bon Scott from alcohol poisoning.
They are noted for creating some of the best-known guitar riffs in the rock catalogue, accompanied by lyrics full of s**ual innuendo.
A message on the band’s website confirmed that Malcolm Young would be taking a break after “forty years of life dedicated to AC/DC”, but did not reveal details of his illness.
AC/DC have confirmed that they will not retire following news that Malcolm Young is taking a break due to ill health (photo Wikipedia)
“Malcolm would like to thank the group’s diehard legions of fans worldwide for their never-ending love and support,” said the band.
“In light of this news, AC/DC asks that Malcolm and his family’s privacy be respected during this time.”
Frontman Brian Johnson elaborated on their plans in an interview with The Telegraph.
“We are definitely getting together in May in Vancouver. We’re going to pick up some guitars, have a plonk, and see if anybody has got any tunes or ideas. If anything happens, we’ll record it,” revealed Brian Johnson.
On the subject of touring he added: “I wouldn’t like to say anything either way about the future. I’m not ruling anything out.”
The Australian media had been awash with rumor and counter-rumor ahead of AC/DC’s announcement.
Glasgow-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young formed the band after moving to Australia with their family in the 1960s – Angus became famous for wearing a school uniform on stage.
AC/DC’s 15th international studio album, Black Ice, was an international hit following its release in 2008.
Frozen’s soundtrack has spent a 10th non-consecutive week at the top of the Billboard 200 chart.
The album becomes one of only 11 albums to have topped the US chart for 10 weeks or longer.
It has now also equaled The Lion King‘s chart-topping record for an animated film.
The soundtrack, which includes the Oscar-winning Let It Go, sold 133,000 copies in its 20th week in the chart, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Frozen’s soundtrack has spent a 10th non-consecutive week at the top of the Billboard 200 chart
It beat off competition from Pharrell Williams’ Girl, which sold 29,000 copies and climbed seven places to number two on the Billboard 200 chart.
Last month, Disney’s Frozen became the highest-grossing animated film of all time.
The movie recently reached $1.072 billion at the worldwide box office, overtaking the revenue of previous record holder Toy Story 3.
Frozen, which stayed in the top 10 films on domestic box office charts for more than three months, has also now become the 10th-largest grossing film in cinema history.
It follows a princess who sets off to find her estranged sister.
Her ability to turn anything she touches to ice has trapped the kingdom in an eternal winter.
Frozen includes the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad and Santino Fontana.
Prince William and Kate Middleton have met Australian families whose homes were destroyed by wildfires last year.
The royal couple spent the day touring the Blue Mountains as part of the second leg of their trip Down Under.
They visited the town of Winmalee, which was ravaged by the fires in October, where they also talked to firefighters who battled the blazes.
One man who lost his house said the royal visit made those affected feel like they had not been forgotten.
Prince William, Kate Middleton and Prince George arrived in Australia on Wednesday, having completed a tour of New Zealand.
On Thursday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took in the sights of the Blue Mountains region, near Sydney, which suffered devastating bush fires and where hundreds of homes were burnt to the ground.
Adrian Harrison, whose house was destroyed, told reporters: “Here we are five months down the track after we lost our house and for them to come out now, it makes us feel like we haven’t been forgotten.”
The royals also vowed to return to the Blue Mountains – one of Australia’s most visited beauty spots.
Prince William and Kate Middleton will spend 10 days travelling across Australia, visiting its famous sites, honoring its war dead and meeting locals.
They visited Echo Point in Katoomba to see the famous Three Sisters rock formation, where they were also greeted by Aboriginal elders representing the indigenous landowners.
The elders presented Prince William and Kate Middleton with a possum skin coat for Prince George and a kangaroo coat for themselves.
“That’s fantastic thank you very much, he’ll love that – very warm,” Prince William said of the gift for his baby son.
Prince William and Kate Middleton visited Echo Point in Katoomba to see the famous Three Sisters rock formation
According to elder Aunty Sharon Brown, chairwoman of the Gundungurra Tribal Council, a baby would traditionally be given a possum cloak with another pelt added to the garment for significant milestones during its life.
They were also greeted by around 3,000 well-wishers, who lined crash barriers at Echo Point.
Anthea Hammon, joint managing director of Scenic World, which runs the visitor centre at the beauty spot, guided Kate Middleton, while Prince William spoke with Randall Walker, chief executive of Blue Mountains Lithgow and Oberon Tourism.
After speaking to Kate Middleton, who wore a Diane von Furstenburg wrap dress and wedges, Anthea Hammon said: “She loved it, it’s a pretty stunning day. She was amazed about how far you could see.
“I was talking to her a little bit about bush walking, she likes walking and there’s lots of places to walk here in the Blue Mountains. She said she was keen to come back.”
Randall Walker said Prince William had been “very impressed” with the views and was interested in the Aboriginal legend about it.
“He was surprised to learn it’s the most visited regional site in Australia,” he said.
The royal couple also did a walkabout, meeting the crowds who had waited to greet them.
Meanwhile, Prince William and Kate Middleton narrowly avoided a minor incident, which happened before they arrived in the town of Winmalee to meet the bushfire survivors.
Two men had allegedly harassed some locals, who had gathered to greet the royal couple, before being moved on by police.
A New South Wales Police spokesman confirmed: “At 12:10 [local time] today police stopped and spoke to two men aged 37 and 21 who were allegedly harassing members of the crowd who were gathered at the corner of Single Ridge Road and Vista Road, Winmalee.
“The pair were moved on from the area prior to the motorcade coming past.”
Prince George did not take part in the tour of the mountain region.
Prince William and Kate Middleton are expected to bring 8-month-old Prince George to Taronga zoo in Sydney on Sunday where an enclosure housing bilbys – a rabbit-like marsupial – will be named after him.
Three people were killed in an overnight raid on a base in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, the country’s interior minister says.
The three pro-Russian separatists were killed in a clash with Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Facebook.
The Geneva meeting is the first such gathering since the crisis escalated.
The West says Russia is aiding the pro-Russian activists occupying buildings.
In a live TV phone-in on Thursday Russia’s President Vladimir Putin warned Kiev of “the abyss they’re heading into” in eastern Ukraine and urged dialogue.
Vladimir Putin said the Kiev government, which had “seized power”, had only spoken to its own appointees in the region, but “not to the people whom locals trust”.
Tensions escalated last month when Russia annexed Crimea, causing international outrage. Unrest later spread to Donetsk region, another mainly Russian-speaking area. It is Europe’s worst crisis since the Cold War.
Vladimir Putin is now taking questions from residents of Sevastopol, base of the Russian fleet in Crimea, the first place to feature in his phone-in. It is the first time Crimea has been included in Vladimir Putin’s annual phone-in.
Overnight about 300 pro-Russian separatists attacked a military unit in Mariupol near the Azov Sea, throwing petrol bombs. Troops opened fire, killing three, Arsen Avakov said.
The operation is continuing – Ukraine has sent in reinforcements including helicopters. There was no independent confirmation of his statement.
Three people were killed in an overnight raid on a base in Mariupol
According to Arsen Avakov, 13 of the attackers were wounded and so far 63 have been detained. He said none of the interior ministry troops had been killed.
It is the heaviest casualty toll in any single incident so far in eastern Ukraine.
Mariupol is in the far south of Donetsk region, where separatists have seized dozens of official buildings.
Ukrainian SBU special forces have gone to the aid of the interior ministry troops in Mariupol and armored vehicles have gone into the city from places nearby, Ukraine’s Unian news agency reports.
Retreating separatists reportedly wounded two passers-by, set a minibus ablaze and also set fire to a building next to the military garrison.
“Through joint efforts by the armed police and national guard the attacking gang was dispersed after a short battle, most of them were cornered and disarmed,” Arsen Avakov said.
“Because it was such an aggressive attack on a military unit – an interior ministry group – we decided to reinforce them with Omega special forces. Helicopters have been deployed.”
According to a report on Russia’s state-run Vesti TV news, unarmed local protesters tried to talk to the Ukrainian troops but were met with gunfire. Quoting unnamed Mariupol residents, the TV channel said shots were also fired at first-aid paramedics.
Some locals say Ukrainian Right Sector ultra-nationalists have joined Kiev’s forces in Mariupol, while separatists have erected street barricades, the TV reports.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea has fuelled concern that other parts of eastern Ukraine could also break away from Kiev’s control and join Russia.
In his TV broadcast, President Vladimir Putin said Russia had “never planned to annex Crimea or take military action there, but threats to Russian speakers there were real”.
He again denied allegations of Russian involvement in eastern Ukraine, calling them “nonsense”.
Earlier, President Barack Obama warned Russia against support for further action by armed pro-Russian groups.
“What I have said consistently is that each time Russia takes these kinds of steps that are designed to destabilize Ukraine and violate their sovereignty, that there are going to be consequences,” he said.
Reports say that the White House is considering a package of non-lethal aid for the Ukrainian military. This may include clothing and medical supplies.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military operation against separatists has hit obstacles.
Called an “anti-terrorist” operation by the Kiev government, it started on Tuesday and is designed to dislodge pro-Russia gunmen from local authority buildings in a swathe of cities and towns in eastern Ukraine.
Pro-Russian activists want referendums on greater autonomy for the south-east or the right to join the Russian Federation.
But in several districts, Ukrainian troops met vehement opposition on Wednesday from pro-Russia militants.
In the city of Kramatorsk, six military vehicles were commandeered by gunmen, who disarmed the Ukrainian soldiers and sent some of them home on buses.
Mini-submarine Bluefin-21 searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has completed a full mission at its third attempt.
Two previous missions to scour the floor of the Indian Ocean for wreckage were cut short by technical problems.
The data from the sub’s latest mission is being analyzed. Previous forays have not shown anything significant.
It is searching in the area acoustic signals thought to be from the missing plane’s “black box” flight recorders were heard.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Using satellite data, officials have concluded that it ended its journey in seas west of the Australian city of Perth.
Bluefin-21 searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has completed a full mission at its third attempt
They do not know why the plane flew so far off course and an investigation is ongoing. Finding the plane’s flight recorders are seen as key to understanding what happened.
The Bluefin-21, operated by the US Navy off the Australian vessel Ocean Shield, is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that can identify objects by creating a sonar map of the sea floor.
It is searching in an area defined by four acoustic signals picked up by an Australian search team, and was deployed after officials concluded that the batteries on the plane’s flight recorders would likely have expired, given their one-month shelf life.
The submersible has an operating depth of 15,000ft and on its first mission a built-in safety device returned it to the surface after it exceeded that depth.
Its second mission was also cut short because of unspecified technical difficulties, but the third mission – a full 16 hours, plus two hours each way for diving and surfacing – went according to plan.
“Overnight Bluefin-21 AUV completed a full mission in the search area and is currently planning for its next mission,” the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said in a statement.
“Bluefin-21 has searched approximately 90 square kilometres to date and the data from its latest mission is being analyzed.”
JACC also said that an oil sample collected in the area the acoustic signals were heard had arrived in Perth for testing.
“We will provide details of the results when they become available,” it said.
Officials have warned that the search for wreckage on the sea floor could take weeks or months.
India is voting in the biggest day of the general election pitting the ruling Congress party against the main opposition BJP.
Polling takes place in 121 seats in 12 states, including the key states of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
The nine-phase vote began on April 7 and will conclude on May 12. Votes will be counted on May 16.
More than 814 million Indians are eligible to vote in the polls.
Polling has been already completed in 111 seats, and voter turnout in most states has been higher than in 2009.
April 17 is one of the most critical days of voting spread across 12 states, from Indian-administered Kashmir in the north, to the information-technology hub of Bangalore in the south, Rajasthan in the west and the tea-growing Himalayan town of Darjeeling in the east.
With all of its 28 seats going to polls on Thursday, the southern state of Karnataka is a key battleground.
Bangalore South is one of the keenly contested seats in the state with Congress party’s Nandan Nilekani, BJP’s Ananth Kumar and the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Nina Nayak as candidates.
Nandan Nilekani is the billionaire co-founder and former CEO of Infosys, one of India’s largest IT services firms, while Ananth Kumar is a former federal minister.
The anti-corruption Aam Aadmi (Common Man’s) Party, which secured a spectacular result in local polls in Delhi last year, offers a challenge to the main parties.
Several smaller regional parties are also in the fray and if no single party wins a clear majority, they could play a crucial role in the formation of a government.
Thousands of police and paramilitary security personnel have been deployed across the country to ensure smooth polling.
India is voting in the biggest day of the general election pitting the ruling Congress party against the main opposition BJP
The marathon vote is being staggered over five weeks for security and logistical reasons.
The main contest in the elections is between the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, and the BJP, led by the charismatic and controversial Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi.
Narendra Modi, who is ahead in all the pre-election opinion polls, is the leader of Gujarat state, which witnessed one of India’s worst anti-Muslim riots in 2002.
The BJP has promised to improve the economy and infrastructure and curb corruption if it wins in the general elections.
The Congress party has promised “inclusive growth” if it returns to power, with a raft of welfare schemes, including a right to healthcare for all and pensions for the elderly and disabled.
Any party or a coalition needs a minimum of 272 lawmakers to form a government.
Dates when different states and Union Territories vote:
Andaman and Nicobar islands: April 10
Andhra Pradesh: April 30 and May 7 Arunachal Pradesh: April 9 Assam: April 7, 12 and 24 Bihar: April 10, 17, 24, 30, May 7 and 12 Chandigarh: April 10 Chhattisgarh: April 10, 17, 24 Dadra and Nagar Haveli: April 30 Daman and Diu: April 30 Delhi: April 10 Goa: April 17
Gujarat: April 30 Haryana: April 10 Himachal Pradesh: May 7 Jammu and Kashmir: April 10, 17, 24, 30 and May 7 Jharkhand: April 10, 17, 24 Karnataka: April 17 Kerala: April 10
Lakshadeep: April 10 Madhya Pradesh: April 10, 17, 24 Maharashtra: April 10, 17, 24 Manipur: April 9, 17 Meghalaya: April 9 Mizoram: April 9 Nagaland: April 9 Odisha: April 10, 17 Puducherry: April 24 Punjab: April 30 Rajasthan: April 17 and 24 Sikkim: April 12 Tamil Nadu: April 24
Tripura: April 7, 12 Uttarakhand: May 7
Uttar Pradesh: April 10, 17, 24, 30, May 7 and 12 West Bengal: April 17, 24, 30, May 7 and 12
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
Break matzo crackers into small pieces, and place in a large bowl. Add water to cover; allow to soak for a few minutes, until soft. Drain off excess water.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat and stir in drained matzos; stir until mixture is dry and slightly brown. Remove from heat, and mix in eggs, salt and pepper to taste, parsley, and onions.
Mix in just enough matzo meal to make mixture hold together. Roll one golf ball-size matzo ball. Place matzo ball in the boiling water to test the mixture. The ball must rise to the top of the water and not break apart. If it does not rise, then too much matzo meal was added. In this case, add another beaten egg to the mixture and try again. When desired consistency is reached, roll all of mixture into golf ball size spheres.
In a large saucepan, bring chicken broth to a slow boil over medium heat; add balls to broth. Serve soup as the balls rise to the top of the broth.
South Korean emergency services are continuing to search overnight for almost 300 people missing after Sewol ferry carrying 462 people sank off Jindo Island.
According to officials, 174 people were rescued from the ship, which was travelling from Incheon Port, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju.
Emergency teams have been using floodlights and flares to search the vessel for passengers into the night.
At least six people are thought to have died, with dozens more injured.
It is not yet clear what caused the ship to list at a severe angle and flip over, leaving only a small part of its hull visible above water.
Rescue efforts are concentrated on the ship’s wreckage, which sank in 30 metres of water. Many passengers are thought to be trapped inside.
South Korea’s PM Chung Hong-won, has warned there is not “a minute or a second to waste” in the search for survivors, urging those involved to do their utmost to save more lives.
South Korean emergency services are continuing to search overnight for almost 300 people missing after Sewol ferry carrying 462 people sank off Jindo Island (photo NBC News)
But officials say the rescue operation involving coast guard, military and commercial vessels has been hampered by poor visibility and strong currents.
“There is so much mud in the sea water and the visibility is very low,” said Lee Gyeong-og, vice-minister of security and public administration.
The US Navy has sent an amphibious assault ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard, to assist with the search.
Navy divers have managed to enter three compartments of the ship but have not yet found any bodies.
Relatives of the missing have gathered in the town of Jindo, near to where ferry capsized, awaiting news of their loved ones.
Many of the passengers on board the ship were school students and teachers from the same school near the capital, Seoul, heading on a field trip to Jeju island.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has expressed sadness over the incident, saying it was “truly tragic” that students on a field trip were involved in “such an unfortunate accident”.
Kim Young-boong, an official from the company which owns the ferry, has apologized.
“I would like to say sorry to the passengers, which include a number of students and their parents, and promise that our company will do its best to minimise loss of life. We are sorry,” he said, according to the AP news agency.
“We will try to determine the cause of the accident after rescue operations are over,” Lee Gyeong-og said.
