NST Online Top Stories - Google News
NST Online Top Stories - Google News |
| Ukraine gunmen seize two buildings in Sloviansk - BBC News Posted: 12 Apr 2014 08:49 AM PDT
12 April 2014
Last updated at 16:01
The BBC's David Stern: "It was a very tense situation and potentially very volatile" Armed men have seized a police station and a security services building in eastern Ukraine, officials say. Police said the men fired shots and used stun grenades to seize the offices in Sloviansk, near the Russian border. The interior minister called the gunmen "terrorists" and said special forces would repel the attack. Pro-Russian activists have seized government buildings elsewhere in east Ukraine. Kiev accuses Moscow of orchestrating the unrest. Interim Foreign Minister Andrei Deshchytsia urged Moscow to end "provocative" actions by its agents.  Tensions are rising in the east, as pro-Russian activists continue a stand-off with Ukraine's new government
Eastern Ukraine has a large Russian-speaking population and has seen a series of protests since the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych in February. Protesters in largely Russian-speaking Donetsk, 130km (80 miles) from Sloviansk, have been occupying government buildings for days and demanding a referendum on becoming part of Russia. A similar move prompted a Russian takeover of Ukraine's Crimea region earlier this year. The US and EU have put sanctions on Russian and Crimean people they say were connected with the takeover. Russia has denied responsibility for the protests in eastern Ukraine, but Western nations have expressed concern over a build-up of Russian troops along the border. Interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk visited Donetsk on Friday and attempted to placate anti-government groups by guaranteeing that no restrictions would be put on the use of the Russian language. The Kiev government had set a deadline of Friday for all occupations to end, but trouble continued in several cities in the east. Meanwhile, regional police spokesman Ihor Dyomin described how armed men were bussed to the police station in Sloviansk. "Six or seven unknown persons got out. They fired several shots in the air and attempted to storm the police department," he said. He added that "people in camouflage uniform" and with weapons" were inside the building. Interim Interior Minister Arsen Avakov promised to deal with the attackers. "The response will be very tough because there is a difference between protesters and terrorists," he said in Ukrainian on his Facebook page. The Interior Ministry said the aim of the attack was to seize arms from the police station, where some 40 automatic rifles and 400 pistols were stored along with ammunition. One of those who seized the police station said the group had gone to Sloviansk to fight people who represented the illegal authorities of interim President Oleksandr Turchynov, according to a video posted on Youtube. Interviewed in Russian, the man said they represented the People's Front of Donbass - the industrial Donets Basin region in eastern Ukraine. He said those involved were peaceful Donbass residents and "not fascists". The BBC's David Stern, who was briefly in Sloviansk on Saturday, said from what he saw the take-over was well-organised and the gunmen were quickly spreading their control throughout the town and beyond. The roadblocks were being reinforced with more tyres as he left, and the people manning them were well-armed, he said. The occupation by pro-Russian groups of the local government building in Donetsk is meanwhile continuing. Alexander Gnezdilov, the protesters' unofficial spokesperson, told the BBC the group that seized Sloviansk police HQ was "an independent group who are supporting the Donetsk protest". Also on Saturday, hundreds of pro-Russian protesters marched towards a police station in the regional capital Donetsk. They threatened to storm the building, demanding the resignation of city police chief Kostyantyn Pozhydayev. He later told the protesters he was standing down.  The men in Sloviansk were said to be allied to pro-Russian activists in other cities
 Protesters defied a government deadline, continuing a series of blockades and sit-ins
 On Saturday morning, a group of men briefly occupied the prosecutor's office in Donetsk
 |
| Tractor-trailer truck in flames before it crashed into students' bus, witnesses say - CNN Posted: 12 Apr 2014 08:55 AM PDT STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) -- A FedEx tractor-trailer truck was already in flames when it crossed a median and slammed into a bus carrying students in Northern California, CNN affiliate KOVR reported, citing two witnesses. The truck clipped a car occupied by Joe and Bonnie Duran before it slammed into the bus Thursday evening, killing 10 people -- five high school students, three chaperones and the drivers of both vehicles. More than 30 people, mostly teenagers, were taken to local hospitals. Bonnie Duran told the affiliate the truck was on fire before it hit the bus. She said she made a quick decision to swerve to avoid a direct hit from the truck, sending their rental car into a ditch. "Somehow we survived," she said. Her husband, Joe Duran, said it was like a scene from a movie. "I looked over and saw the FedEx truck coming straight for me," he told the affiliate. "It was like a 3-D movie. Imagine a Mack truck coming out of a movie." The Durans were hospitalized and released. Students traveling from the L.A. area The students were traveling from the Los Angeles area to take part in a program at Humboldt State, which allows prospective attendees to visit the campus. Their journey ended in a fiery wreck 90 miles north of Sacramento when the truck hit one of three buses taking the teens to the campus in Arcarta. Investigators are looking into the cause of the crash in Orland on Interstate 5, which cuts through the heart of California's farming country. The dozens of teens represented 31 Southern California high schools. They were heading to "Spring Preview Plus," which invites low-income and first-generation prospective students to the university. As part of the program, students stay in residence halls, attend events and visit with staff and students from a program that helps historically underrepresented students, the university said. The two other buses in the caravan made it to the university. Those students were placed in dorms, and the university is offering them counseling. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Top Stories - Google News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
