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Pope Francis prays for peace in Ukraine, Syria in Easter greeting - Fox News Posted: 20 Apr 2014 08:48 AM PDT April 20, 2014: Pope Francis blesses the faithful with incense as he arrives to celebrate Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) VATICAN CITY –  Marking Christianity's most hopeful day, Pope Francis made an Easter Sunday plea for peace and dialogue in Ukraine and Syria, for an end to terrorist attacks against Christians in Nigeria and for more attention to the hungry and neediest close to home. Well over 150,000 tourists -- Romans and pilgrims, young and old -- turned out for the Mass that Francis celebrated at an altar set up under a canopy on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica. So great were their numbers that they overflowed from sprawling St. Peter's Square, which was bedecked with row after row of potted daffodils, sprays of blue hyacinths and bunches of white roses. Waving flags from the pope's native Argentina as well as from Brazil, Mexico, Britain, Poland and many other countries, they also filled the broad boulevard leading from the square to the Tiber River. Easter is the culmination of Holy Week and marks Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead after his crucifixion. Francis noted that this year the Catholic church's celebration of Easter coincided with that of Orthodox churches, which have many followers in Ukraine. Francis prayed that God would "enlighten and inspire the initiatives that promote peace in Ukraine, so that all those involved, with the support of the international community, will make every effort to prevent violence." In eastern Ukraine, the holiday was marred by a deadly shooting Sunday fueled by tensions between pro-Russian supporters in the east and those loyal to an interim government in Kiev. The clash appeared to defy an international agreement reached last week in hopes of ending months of unrest. Francis also prayed that all sides in Syria will be moved to "boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue." Syria has been wracked by a three-year civil war that has cost 150,000 lives and forced millions to flee the country. Christians make up about 5 percent of Syria's population. In comments to mark Easter there, the Greek Orthodox patriarch vowed that Christians there "will not submit" to extremists who attack "our people and holy places." Francis makes a pilgrimage to Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel next month, so on Easter he prayed that hopes sparked by the resumption of Mideast peace negotiations will be sustained. Thousands of pilgrims from around the world flocked to the celebrate Easter in the Holy Land, where Christian communities, as well as elsewhere in the Middle East, have been declining as the faithful flee regional turmoil. Francis also spoke of those suffering in Africa from an epidemic of deadly Ebola and urged a halt to "brutal terrorist attacks" in parts of Nigeria. Nigerians marked Easter with heightened security against a spreading Islamic uprising, mourning the deaths of 75 bomb blast victims and fearful of the fate of 85 abducted schoolgirls. The homegrown terror network Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for last week's rush-hour explosion in the capital, Abuja, and threatened more attacks. In Venezuela, there have been hopes Vatican mediation can help end the country's violent political unrest, and Francis urged that "hearts be turned to reconciliation and fraternal concord" there. But Francis' Easter message also urged people to pay attention to the needy close to home. He said the "good news" of Easter's joy means "leaving ourselves behind and encountering others, being close to those crushed by life's troubles, sharing with the needy, standing at the side of the sick, elderly and the outcast." He denounced the `'scourge of hunger," which he said was `'aggravated by conflicts and by the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible." Francis has set an austere tone in his papacy, forsaking an ornate apostolic palace apartment for a simple guesthouse on the Vatican grounds and rejecting limousines for regular cars. Cheering and applauding, the crowd tried to catch a glimpse of the pontiff as he circled around in his white popemobile before going to the basilica's balcony to deliver his commentary. Reflecting the worldwide reach of the Catholic church, faithful read aloud prayers and passages from the Bible in Hindi, French, Chinese, German, Korean, Spanish, Italian and English.

Ukraine Accord Doubts Grow as Protesters Refuse to Disarm - Bloomberg Posted: 20 Apr 2014 08:36 AM PDT Pro-Russian protesters in eastern Ukraine defied pleas to disarm as officials in Kiev pledged to honor an accord reached in Geneva and an international group began expanding its presence to help defuse the crisis. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's government suspended anti-terrorist operations in eastern Ukraine and said it was ready to pursue constitutional revisions. A protest leader in Donetsk refused to disarm and vacate seized property until Yatsenyuk's administration steps down. Russia's foreign ministry blamed the Ukrainian nationalist group Pravyi Sektor for an overnight clash in the eastern region of Slovyansk that left one person dead -- a charge that Pravyi Sektor quickly denied in a statement. Viktoria Syumar, first deputy head of the National Security and Defense Council in Kiev, said on her Facebook account Russia's accusation and statements show it is preparing grounds to invade Ukraine. The discord adds to skepticism about whether Ukraine, the U.S., and the European Union will be able to use the Geneva accord to hold Vladimir Putin accountable for easing tensions the Russian president says he's had no role in creating. Yatsenyuk said yesterday Ukraine would act against extremists after anti-Semitic fliers were distributed in Donetsk this week by ordering the military and police to respond. The forces were told "to find these bastards and bring them to justice," Yatsenyuk told NBC's "Meet the Press" broadcast in an interview recorded yesterday. Mykhaylo Dobkin, the presidential candidate from ousted President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions, yesterday criticized the government's approach to the demonstrations. 'Won't Accept' "The current authorities see some protesters as legitimate, and others as separatists who must be disarmed," Dobkin said in an interview in Kharkiv. Protesters in the southeast "won't accept that. They won't put down their weapons unilaterally," he said. One international effort to defuse the crisis is expanding its ranks in Ukraine. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a 57-nation group that includes Russia and Ukraine, will increase its monitors to 300, up from 100 now, with a goal to soon have 500, Michael Borciurkiw, a spokesman for the Ukrainian special monitoring mission, told the Wall Street Journal. U.S. and EU officials have emphasized their readiness to deepen sanctions against Russia, which they say has massed troops near Ukraine's border and is fomenting unrest after annexing Crimea last month. The developments don't mean Russia is "necessarily reneging on the deal, as it is more of an effort for them to test the deal" and see how they can "avoid sanctions without trying to change the situation on the ground," John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said April 18. Talks With Tymoshenko "Realistically, no one is going to claim the deal is going to fall apart within 18 to 20 hours of conclusion," Herbst said by phone, adding that he expected no decision on further sanctions until April 21 or 22 "at the earliest." Some 77 percent of people in eight eastern and southern Ukrainian regions are against armed protesters taking over local administrative buildings, Kiev-based weekly Zerkalo Nedeli reported, citing a poll it commissioned from the Kiev International Institute of Sociology. Only 7 percent of those surveyed said they would definitely support their region joining Russia, while 54 percent were definitely opposed, according to the survey. Denis Pushilin, a leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, which has seized buildings in the east Ukrainian city, reiterated yesterday that he refused to leave. Talks with Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko, who traveled to the region for talks with the protesters, yielded no agreement beyond plans to meet again, he said yesterday by text message. Watching Closely The group, which is seeking greater autonomy from the central government in Kiev, doesn't recognize the current leaders after the ouster of Yanukovych in February. U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice said the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama expects Russia to use its influence over militias in Ukraine. The U.S. and its allies "remain ready to impose additional costs" if terms of the agreement aren't followed, she said. "It's not the words, it's the actions, so we will be watching very closely over the coming days," Rice said April 18 in Washington. Russia is "disappointed" by the U.S. assessments of the talks, while threats of new sanctions are "completely unacceptable," the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said. Deadline Set Putin called on European leaders and other governments interested in helping Ukraine's economy to make sure the country is able to pay for its gas. He set a one-month deadline for payments to resume on April 17. "We don't want to undermine the Ukrainian economy or raise any questions about the reliability of transit supplies to Europe," Putin said in an interview with Sergey Brilev shown yesterday on Russian state-run television. The EU relies on Russia for about 35 percent of its crude oil needs and 30 percent of its gas, according to European Commission data. In addition to the prospect that Russia might curb gas supplies to nations that support tougher sanctions, there's the prospect of lost business if the crisis escalates. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), based in The Hague, said April 18 that it planned to expand an oil and natural gas project in Russia's Far East after Chief Executive Office Ben van Beurden won a promise of support from Putin at a meeting near Moscow. Russian Stocks Russian stocks in the five days ended April 18 rose the most in more than three weeks in Moscow, paring this year's decline to 9.8 percent. The ruble weakened as investors have been selling Russian securities, causing the currency to depreciate 7.6 percent against the dollar this year. Officials from the U.S. Treasury Department and the National Security Council told money managers this month in Washington that the administration was planning more sanctions against Russia, according to a person who attended and asked not to be identified because the discussions weren't public. If the Geneva deal fails and the crisis worsens, a key factor for eastern EU leaders will be how fast Putin moves in Ukraine and other Russian-speaking regions, such as the breakaway Moldovan territory of Transnistria, according to a person present at a recent EU summit. Despite the tough talk and NATO moves to bolster its military presence in central and eastern Europe, Putin may be betting that the U.S. and EU are too divided to agree on significant sanctions unless Russia begins an outright invasion of Ukraine, two U.S. officials said April 18. Both requested anonymity to discuss internal policy deliberations. "Putin's big advantage is that he is facing an opponent that has completely split views," Michael Romancov, a political scientist at Charles University in Prague, said by phone. "The hard-line attitude from a few countries like Poland won't achieve anything, unless there's a united front." To contact the reporters on this story: Jake Rudnitsky in Kharkiv at jrudnitsky@bloomberg.net; Stepan Kravchenko in Donetsk at skravchenko@bloomberg.net; Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at kchoursina@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net Scott Rose, Randall Hackley

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Captain, two crew members arrested in South Korea ferry disaster - The Globe and Mail Posted: 19 Apr 2014 08:46 AM PDT The captain of the ferry that sank off South Korea, leaving more than 300 missing or dead, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need. Two crew members also were taken into custody, including a rookie third mate who a prosecutor said was steering in challenging waters unfamiliar to her when the accident occurred. Reuters Apr. 19 2014, 9:20 AM EDT More Related to this Story The number of confirmed dead rose to 32 when three bodies were found in the murky water near the ferry, said coast guard spokesman Kim Jae-in. Divers know at least some bodies remain inside the vessel, but they have been unable to get inside. The ferry's captain, Lee Joon-seok, 68, was arrested along with one of the Sewol's three helmsmen and the 25-year-old third mate, prosecutors said. "I am sorry to the people of South Korea for causing a disturbance and I bow my head in apology to the families of the victims," Lee told reporters Saturday morning as he left the Mokpo Branch of Gwangju District Court to be jailed. But he defended his much-criticized decision to wait about 30 minutes before ordering an evacuation. "At the time, the current was very strong, the temperature of the ocean water was cold, and I thought that if people left the ferry without (proper) judgment, if they were not wearing a life jacket, and even if they were, they would drift away and face many other difficulties," Lee said. "The rescue boats had not arrived yet, nor were there any civilian fishing ships or other boats nearby at that time." The Sewol sank off South Korea's southern coast Wednesday with 476 people aboard, most of them students on holiday from a single high school. More than 270 people are still missing, and most are believed to be trapped inside the 6,852-ton vessel. By the time the evacuation order was issued, the ship was listing at too steep an angle for many people to escape the tight hallways and stairs inside. Several survivors told The Associated Press that they never heard any evacuation order. Divers fighting strong currents and rain have been unable to get inside the ferry. A civilian diver saw three bodies inside the ship Saturday but was unable to break the windows, said Kwon Yong-deok, a coast guard official. Hundreds of civilian, government and military divers were involved in the search Saturday. Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin told reporters that the third mate was steering the ship Wednesday morning as it passed through an area with lots of islands clustered close together and fast currents. Investigators said the accident came at a point where the ship had to make a turn, and prosecutor Park Jae-eok said investigators were looking at whether the third mate ordered a turn so sharp that it caused the vessel to list. Yang said the third mate has six months of experience, and hadn't steered in the area before because another mate usually handles those duties. She took the wheel this time because heavy fog caused a departure delay, Yang said, adding that investigators do not know whether the ship was going faster than usual. Helmsman Park Kyung-nam identified the third mate as Park Han-kyul. The helmsman who was arrested, 55-year-old Cho Joon-ki, spoke to reporters outside court and accepted some responsibility. "There was a mistake on my part as well, but the steering had been turned much more than usual," Cho said. Lee has four decades of experience at sea. He had been captaining ferries for 10 years by the time he was interviewed by the Jeju Today website in 2004, and said he had sailed on ocean freighters for 20 years before that. But he was not the Sewol's main captain, and worked on the ship about 10 days a month, helmsman Oh Yong-seok said. Lee was not on the bridge when the ship began to list. "I gave instructions on the route, then briefly went to the bedroom when it happened," he told reporters. According to the court, Lee faces five charges, including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, and the two other crew members each face three related charges. Lee was required by law to be on the bridge helping his crew when the ferry passed through tough-to-navigate areas, said Yang, the senior prosecutor. Yang said Lee also abandoned people in need of help and rescue, saying, "The captain escaped before the passengers." Video aired by Yonhap news agency showed Lee among the first people to reach the shore by rescue boat. Yang said the two crew members arrested failed to reduce speed near the islands and failed to carry out necessary measures to save lives. It's not clear why the two crew members made the sharp turn, Yang said. He said prosecutors would continue to look into whether something other than the turn could have made the ferry sink, but he added that there were no strong waves that could have knocked down the ferry at the time. Prosecutors will have 10 days to decide whether to indict the captain and crew, but can request a 10-day extension from the court. The Sewol had left the northwestern port of Incheon on Tuesday on an overnight journey to the holiday island of Jeju in the south with 323 students from Danwon High School in Ansan among its passengers. It capsized within hours of the crew making a distress call to the shore a little before 9 a.m. Wednesday. A transcript of a ship-to-shore radio exchange shows that an official at the Jeju Vessel Traffic Services Center recommended evacuation just five minutes after the Sewol's distress call. But helmsman Oh told the AP that it took 30 minutes for the captain to give the evacuation order as the boat listed. With only 174 known survivors and the chances of survival increasingly slim, it is shaping up to be one of South Korea's worst disasters, made all the more heartbreaking by the likely loss of so many young people, aged 16 or 17. The country's last major ferry disaster was in 1993, when 292 people were killed. The last bit of the ferry that had been above water — the dark blue keel — disappeared below the surface Friday night. Navy divers attached underwater air bags to the ferry to prevent it from sinking deeper, the Defence Ministry said. Three vessels with cranes arrived at the accident site to prepare to salvage the ferry, but they will not hoist the ship before getting approval from family members of those still believed inside because the lifting could endanger any survivors, said a coast guard officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules. Coast guard official Ko Myung-seok said 176 ships and 28 planes were mobilized to search the area around the sunken ship Saturday, and that more than 650 divers were trying to search the interior of the ship. The coast guard also said a thin layer of oil was visible near the area where the ferry sank; about two dozen vessels were summoned to contain the spill. Reuters Apr. 18 2014, 1:21 PM EDT More Related to this Story

Donetsk Greets The Ukraine Crisis With a Shrug - TIME Posted: 19 Apr 2014 08:11 AM PDT Pro-Russian protesters play soccer in front of a barricade outside a regional government building in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine April 19, 2014. Marko Djurica—Reuters Apart from a small barricade of tires blocking the backdoor, there was no outward sign that the city hall in Ukraine's fifth largest city, Donetsk, had been taken over by armed separatists on Wednesday morning. They hadn't even replaced the building's Ukrainian flag with the Russian one yet. If a local resident like Anastasia Marova, a student at the city's technical college, had wanted to see them, she would have had to walk through the sliding glass doors of the main entrance, where a handful of nervous men with shotguns and assault rifles were guarding the turnstiles. Instead, Marova walked past the entrance that afternoon toward the picturesque sculpture garden at the rear of the building, and sat down on a bench to munch sunflower seeds and talk to her friend Alina. All around them couples were strolling and children playing on the playground next to city hall, within easy range of the gunmen peering through its windows. There were no policemen in sight, and even the people who had heard about the siege that day, either on the news or through the grapevine, didn't seem to care very much about it. "Whatever," Marova told this reporter when informed that she was, technically, in the line of fire. "They're not there to shoot me," she said, and popped another sunflower seed into her mouth. For a city whose government buildings have been taken over by masked gunmen, whose police force has essentially stopped functioning, and whose streets could soon be overrun by the Russian tanks poised to invade from across the nearby border, Donetsk is incredibly calm. The terraces of its cafes are full of leisure-seekers smoking water pipes and drinking beer. Its parks are full of people going for bike rides and taking walks. Even city hall is functioning, despite the armed men camped out in its corridors. Almost everywhere, city residents are near indifferent to the fact that this city's future is being decided at gunpoint right now, with or without their input. Ever since Russia began threatening to take all of eastern Ukraine under its military "protection" several weeks ago, the city's passivity has come through starkly in various opinion polls. The most recent one, conducted on March 25-28 by the Donetsk-based Institute of Social Research and Political Analysis, found that 46% of respondents believe the locals should take a "neutral, patient position" in case of a Russian invasion. Only one fifth said they would support a Ukrainian effort to resist the Russian forces, according to an advanced copy of the poll results obtained by TIME on Friday. Another fifth said they would welcome the Russian tanks. But perhaps most surprising was the data on how many locals were even paying attention. Nearly a quarter of them did not express "stable or high" interest in what was going on in their city. "That is part of what makes Donetsk special," says Alyona Getmanchuk, the director of a think tank called the Institute of World Policy, which is based in Kiev, the capital. The city of Donetsk, whose emblem is a clenched fist holding a hammer, has always been known as a bulwark of the proletariat, particularly coal miners and factory workers whose income these days comes out to a few hundred dollars a month if they're lucky. "This is a society where both pragmatism and paternalism are very strong," says Getmanchuk. "They are very disciplined, very hard working, which is the positive side of their Soviet mentality. But on the flipside, they tend to expect a strong leader to decide everything for them, to determine what to do, what to think, where to go and so on." Up until this winter, that leader was Viktor Yanukovych, the President of Ukraine and a native of Donetsk whose political party held an effective monopoly on power across the region. For years he lavished Donetsk with pork barrel spending and placed its native sons in senior posts across the country. But when the revolution chased Yanukovych from power in February, he and his allies were completely discredited, particularly after his decision to flee to Russia rather than return to his hometown. The vacuum of authority he left behind became fertile ground for the region's pro-Russian separatists. But the locals don't seem to be playing along. Instead of coming out en masse to support an alliance with Russia, they have mainly chosen to tune out, turn inward, and hope that the situation somehow resolves itself without affecting them too much. On April 16, Getmanchuk, whose think tank broadly supports the new government in Kiev, visited Donetsk to hold a focus group with what she calls "opinion makers" in the city – prominent businessmen, university officials, activists and community leaders. She spent much of the time trying to get a rise out of them. "This was the intellectual elite, and they kept asking why Kiev doesn't come to save and protect them," she says. "We explained that no one is coming, that this is your land and you have to formulate your own identity. Who are you? What kind of country do you want? You must find a social consciousness." Never in its history has Donetsk really faced those kinds of questions. Since the break up of the Soviet Union, its role as a blue collar buffer between Russia and Ukraine has left it dangling between two worlds, neither invested in the Ukrainian mission to define itself as an independent nation, nor wholly subsumed into Russia's cultural matrix. According to the survey conducted in late March, the identity of Donetsk residents is deeply fragmented. Only 36% consider themselves citizens of Ukraine. About a fifth say they are "Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine," while 29% call themselves part of a unique entity – "people of the Donbass," the gritty mining region that surrounds them. "Honestly, before these last few months, we never much bothered to consider who we were," says Tatyana Deduk, a middle-aged lawyer and native of Donetsk. "Life is hard here, and people don't have time to think about these things. They're too busy trying feed their families." What finally forced the question of identity for some of them was the uprising that broke out in late November. Its aim was to make a lasting break from Russia and set Ukraine on a path toward Europe, and it kept Deduk glued to the news for months, watching the protesters battling police in the streets of Kiev, seizing government buildings, singing the national anthem every hour on the Maidan square, and waving the flag of Ukraine and the European Union. "I never had the chance or the nerve to go there myself, but my heart ached so bad with the desire to go." Only in March did she get her chance to protest. The victory of the revolution, which brought a new pro-Western government to power, had infuriated many of the region's Russians, and some of them started calling for Donetsk to break away from Ukraine. To counter that movement, a small group of activists started holding rallies for the unity of Ukraine and its ambition to ally with Europe. It proved a dangerous campaign. Several of their rallies clashed with pro-Russian counter protests, or were attacked by separatist thugs wielding bats and clubs. "The neurological trauma ward was filled with our guys who'd been knocked on the head," says Dmitro Tkachenko, the activist who helped organize all of the rallies for Ukrainian unity in Donetsk. "Some people lost eyes, some are still in rehabilitation." One activist from the nationalist Svoboda party, Dmitro Chernyavskiy, was killed on the square on March 13, leading the organizers to put a moratorium on any further demonstrations. Only on April 17 was that moratorium lifted. Tkachenko and his fellow activists staged a rally that evening to oppose the armed separatists who have taken over city hall and the headquarters of the regional government. Police warned residents to stay away, fearing another attack by the separatists. Several thousand people showed up anyway, a sizable showing by local standards but thin considering the gravity of the issues they are facing. At the microphone, Tkachenko started things off with a rendition of the national anthem of Ukraine, and many of the Russian-speakers in the crowd didn't seem to know the lyrics, which are in Ukrainian. After the first chorus, about half the crowd began cheering as if the song was over, drowning out demonstrators who continued to sing the rest. One of the star speakers that evening was Nikolai Volynko, the ruddy, potbellied chairman of the local miners' union. "A lot of people told me not to get mixed up in all this," he told the crowd from the rickety stage set up on a square near the edge of town. "They said, 'Listen, maybe things will shake out on their own. You've got three grandkids to worry about.' But I told them, 'No, it's because of my grandkids that I have to lead this thing.'" But not too many of his fellow miners had followed Volynko to the demonstration. Asked about this afterward, he said he was was sure that eventually his men would "rise up" and take a position on whether they are, in fact, Ukrainians or not. "It's like a snowball," he says. "It starts small but it builds into an avalanche." Deduk, the local lawyer, wasn't so sure. Sitting on a bench with her son Stepan at the edge of the demonstration, she said most of the people she knows are content to stay on the sidelines, and if Russia comes in and conquers the region like it did with Crimea last month, they'll most likely shrug and accept it as their fate. "People forget all the horrors we faced under Moscow during the Soviet Union," she says. "All they remember is that wages were paid and the medical care was free." As the sun set, Tkachenko announced from the stage that the demonstration was over, and the people went on their way, some lingering on park benches to talk politics. Across town at city hall, the separatists had already taken down the Ukrainian flag and reinforced their barricades around the building. But the sculpture garden next to it was as tranquil as ever, full of people seeming to live, or pretending to live, in a world immune to politics.

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South Korea Seeks Arrest Warrant for Captain of Ferry That Sank - Businessweek Posted: 18 Apr 2014 09:11 AM PDT South Korean authorities are seeking an arrest warrant for the captain and two of the crew members of a ferry that sank this week. A combined investigation team of police and prosecutors didn't reveal the charges it plans to make, said Park Jeang Il, a press official at Mokpo Coast Guard station, where the team is based. Captain Lee Joon Seok, 69, wasn't on the bridge at the time of the sinking and he had assigned the third navigation officer to steer the vessel, prosecutor Park Jae Uck told reporters. "He may have returned to the wheelhouse as the ferry began tilting," the prosecutor said yesterday. Investigators said they are probing whether the ferry, which is now entirely submerged, turned too quickly or abnormally. They declined to say what announcements were made as the ferry sank on April 16, or whether passengers were told to stay in their cabins. About 10 crew including the captain were being investigated over whether the crew made any mistakes, if they broke any rules related to cargo, and if the ship had any faults, the coast guard said in an earlier statement. "It's not as though we didn't want to help," crew member Oh Young Seok, 57, said in an interview at a hospital in Mokpo, during a break from police questioning. "We know the rule. The rule is to help the old and the weak, pregnant women, then other passengers, and then we should leave when it appears all have left, and the captain should abandon ship last. But the vessel was tilting so fast we couldn't reach any lifeboats." Coast guard official Park declined to say which two other crew members prosecutors are seeking arrest warrants for. Two Announcements Two announcements were given at around 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. calling on passengers to don life jackets and stay in their current location because the ferry was tilting, Oh said. The ferry first contacted authorities at 8:55 a.m. on April 16 to request coast guard assistance, according to an audio clip of the exchange issued by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. "Ship has listed a lot. Can't move. Please come quick," the ferry told the Vessel Traffic Services in Jeju, its destination. "I did hear the announcement that we should stay put but I couldn't," Choi Chan Yeol, a 57-year-old chef, said in an interview yesterday at a hospital in Mokpo. Choi managed to escape by gripping a cord and pulling himself to the door of the restaurant hall. "It was scary as the ferry was tilting and water was filling up." More than 600 divers have been hampered in their attempts to search the sunken vessel due to strong currents and bad visibility. Of the 476 people on board, 28 are known to have died and 174 rescued, leaving 274 people -- mostly students on a high school excursion -- unaccounted for. Authorities yesterday revised the number of people on board and lowered the total rescued from earlier statements. Fading Hopes There have been no survivors found since the day of the sinking, which occurred off the southwest corner of the Korean peninsula. The chance of finding survivors is "slim," the coast guard said. Most of the missing passengers are from a group of 325 students and 14 teachers from Danwon High School, who were on an excursion to Jeju island. The school was closed yesterday, while hundreds of parents whose children remain unaccounted for are packed into a gymnasium on Jindo island, near the site of the sinking. The school's vice principal Kang Min Kyu, who was on the ferry but survived, was found hanged behind the gymnasium yesterday, police official Lee Sung Hun told reporters. Lee didn't say it was a suicide, and no note was found at the scene. Kim Han Shik, the 72-year-old chief executive officer of the ship's owner and operator Chonghaejin Marine Co., said his company has committed a "terrible sin." Kim was speaking at a press briefing at Incheon port April 17 that was broadcast on MBN TV. 'Time and Tide' The ferry, named Sewol, or "time and tide" in Korean, listed and capsized in an area of the ocean as shallow as 20 meters (66 feet) in some parts, based on readings from a coast guard vessel used in the rescue operation. The ship was en route from Incheon to Jeju island, popular with tourists. Bodies found yesterday all had life jackets on and weren't discovered inside the ferry. They may have been trapped under the vessel, the coast guard said. "Divers are groping their way because visibility is so poor, 20-30 centimeters at best," coast guard official Ko Myung Suk told reporters. The number of divers conducting operations increases every six hours as the current off Korea's southwest coast slows, according to notice boards at the situation room at Jindo county office. Each slowdown lasts about an hour. Floating cranes have also arrived at the site. 'Upside Down' "Pulling the ferry up isn't going to be easy or smooth," Kim Jae In, a press officer at the West Regional Headquarters of Korea Coast Guard said in Mokpo. "It's completely upside down so if we move it wrong, it may tilt or sink further into the mud. This is something we cannot afford as lifesaving is our top priority, although we're holding onto a slim chance." Authorities are considering using an oil tanker to attempt to slow down the current. Rescuers also pumping air into the ferry to "increase the odds of survival," the security ministry said in a statement. In addition to the coast guard, 400 personnel from South Korea's navy, air force and army have been sent to the area to aid the search and rescue. Altogether, 632 divers are working in turns, with 173 ships and 29 helicopters and other aircraft supporting, the security ministry said. South Korean President Park Geun Hye was met with angry shouts, shrieks and wailing when she visited parents of the missing students in Jindo on April 17. 'Every Effort' "We will make every effort to rescue up to the last person," Park said as she stood on the gymnasium stage, flanked by officials at a meeting shown on YTN TV. Some people yelled insults, while others demanded a live broadcast of rescue operations, a full list of people who were on board, and an increase in the number of divers assigned to the search. The government has provided live footage of the rescue process for families in Jindo, while the police are taking steps to prevent rumors spreading through social media sites, the security ministry said in a statement. Korean media reports that hoax messages purporting to be from people trapped on the ferry have been posted on the Internet. The accident may be Korea's worst since 1970, when the sinking of the 'Namyoung' ferry killed 323 people, according to the General Insurance Association of Korea. The 'Seohae' ferry sank in 1993, killing 292, according to the Korea Maritime University. To contact the reporters on this story: Cynthia Kim in Seoul at ckim170@bloomberg.net; Sam Kim in Seoul at skim609@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brian Fowler at bfowler4@bloomberg.net Stuart Biggs, Kevin Costelloe

Climbing Mount Everest: what you need to know - Telegraph.co.uk Posted: 18 Apr 2014 09:05 AM PDT • It's also getting safer. Better equipment and modern weather forecasting are credited with improving fatality rates. • Around 250 people have died in pursuit of Everest's peak. The "death zone" begins at 8,000 metres high, where oxygen levels significantly fall and conditions become increasingly harsh. • Avalanches are particularly deadly. It was an avalanche that killed 12 sherpa guides in the latest incident, just as it was another that killed four people in October 2013, and another that claimed nine lives the year before. Tashi Sherpa lies on a hospital bed after he was rescued and airlifted from the avalanche site at Mount Everest (REUTERS) • There are too many people trying to climb Everest. Until 1985, Nepal allowed only one expedition on each route to the summit at a time. But no such strictures exist today, and 658 climbers made the summit in 2013. • Nepal has announced it will introduce new restrictions for aspiring conquerors of Everest, and is even toying with the idea of placing ladders on Hillary's step. • Such action is being taken to reduce the number of queues like this one. Ralf Dujmovits, the mountaineer who took the photograph, said: "My deep hope was that the number of climbers on Everest would be reduced. But I fear that I've made Everest more popular with this picture." • The overcrowding has been dangerous, with a South Korean man suffering snow blindness, delirium and hypothermia as he waited four hours for more than 300 climbers to pass. • The sweet spot for Everest climbing occurs for roughly fortnight in the spring, with 70 per cent of 2013's climbs taking place between May 13 and 22. • Littering is a big problem on Everest. So much so that new rules state that groups must return to base camp with eight kilogrammes of rubbish for each team member or they will forfeit their deposit of over £2000. • Climbing Everest is getting cheaper. Where it used to cost £15,000 to scale the summit during peak season, it now costs £6,500. • And if you fancy yourself a pro, then pay a reduced rate of £1,500 for an off-season pass. • In 2013, there was a hundred person brawl at 23,000 feet during which three European mountaineers were told by a group of around 100 sherpas: "Now we kill you." They later complained of the disrespect shown to sherpas by their wealthy clients. • Some people have even conquered Everest despite a physical handicap. Blind climber Erik Weihenmayer reached the peak in 2001, and armless man Sudarshan Gautam did it in 2013. • Use this interactive image of Everest and the surrounding area to see the trail, the camps, the people and the wonderful sights.

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Nearly 300, mostly teens, missing after South Korean ferry sinks - CBS News Posted: 17 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT Updated April 17, 2014, at 9:58 a.m. ET with police reportedly saying that text messages sent from the ferry had been faked. MOKPO, South Korea - Fears rose Thursday for the fate of 287 passengers still missing more than 24 hours after their ferry flipped onto its side and filled with water off the southern coast of South Korea. A coast guard official said the death toll was now confirmed at nine, but that is expected to rise sharply because the missing have now spent more than a day either trapped in the ferry or in the cold seawater. There were 475 people aboard - many of them high school students on a class trip - and frantic parents have gathered at their school near Seoul and in Mokpo in the south of the country, not far from where the ferry slipped beneath the surface until only the blue-tipped, forward edge of the keel was visible. Divers, helicopters and boats continued their search Thursday for survivors, but the high number of people unaccounted for - possibly trapped in the ship or floating in the chilly water nearby - raised fears that the death toll could increase drastically. A partially sunken ferry is seen off South Korea's southwest coast in this still image from a video released by the South Korean coast guard April 16, 2014. REUTERS TV, Reuters South Korean news outlets reported that many of the passengers sent text messages to loved ones as they awaited rescue, but on Thursday police told the Yonhap News Agency that those messages had been faked. Coast guard spokesman Cho Man-yong said Thursday morning that rescuers in a vessel had found another body floating in the sea, raising the confirmed death toll to seven. Hours later, officials said the toll had climbed to nine. It was still unknown why the ferry sank. CBS News' Seth Doane reported that many survivors said they heard a loud crash before the ship began to tilt badly. Coast guard officials were interviewing the captain and crew. The Sewol, a 480-foot vessel that can hold more than 900 people, set sail Tuesday from Incheon, in northwestern South Korea, on an overnight, 14-hour journey to the tourist island of Jeju. The ferry was three hours from its destination when it sent a distress call after it began listing to one side, according to the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. CBS News Passenger Kim Seong-mok told broadcaster YTN that after having breakfast, he felt the ferry tilt and then heard it crash into something. He said he was certain that many people were trapped inside the ferry as water rushed in and the severe tilt of the vessel kept them from reaching the exits. Rescued passenger Koo Bonn-hee, 36, said many people were trapped inside by windows that were too hard to break. "The rescue wasn't done well. We were wearing life jackets. We had time," Koo, who was on a business trip to Jeju with a co-worker, said from a hospital bed in Mokpo, the nearest major city to the site of the accident, 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." Oh Yong-seok, a 58-year-old crew member who escaped with about a dozen others, including the captain, told The Associated Press that rescue efforts were hampered by the ferry's severe tilt. "We couldn't even move one step. The slope was too big," Oh said. A family member of a missing student who was on the South Korean ferry Sewol, which sank in the sea off Jindo, attends a candlelight vigil at Danwon High School in Ansan April 16, 2014. YONHAP/ REUTERS The Sewol's wreckage is in waters a little north of Byeongpung Island, which is not far from the mainland and about 290 miles from Seoul. "We cannot give up," said South Korean President Park Geun-hye, after a briefing in Seoul. "We have to do our best to rescue even one passenger." White House spokesman Jay Carney said the U.S. and its 7th Fleet stood ready to assist, including the USS Bonhomme Richard, which was in the region. The last major ferry disaster in South Korea was in 1993, when 292 people were killed. TV stations broadcast live pictures Wednesday of the listing Sewol as passengers clambered over the side, jumped into the sea or were hoisted up by helicopters. At least 87 vessels and 18 aircraft swarmed around the stricken ferry. The water temperature in the area was about 54 degrees Fahrenheit, cold enough to cause signs of hypothermia after about 1 1/2 hours of exposure, according to an emergency official who spoke on condition of anonymity because department rules did not allow talking to the media. A woman with a loved one aboard a South Korean ferry that sank in the sea off Jindo cries as she waits for news. KIM HONG-JI, REUTERS Lee Gyeong-og, a vice minister for the Public Administration and Security Ministry, said the ocean was 121 feet deep in the area.The survivors - wet, stunned and many without shoes - were brought to nearby Jindo Island, where medical teams wrapped them in pink blankets and checked for injuries before taking them to a cavernous gymnasium. As the search dragged on, families of the missing gathered at a nearby dock, some crying and holding each other. Boats circled the sunken ferry into the night, illuminated by red flares. Angry shouts could be heard when Prime Minister Chung Hong-won visited a shelter where relatives of the missing passengers waited for news. Some yelled that the government should have sent more divers to search the wreckage. The numbers of passengers, as well as the dead and missing, fluctuated throughout the day. As of early Thursday, South Korean authorities estimated 475 people were on the ferry. Of that total, there were 325 students and 15 teachers from Danwon High School in Ansan, a city near Seoul. They were headed to Jeju for a four-day trip, according to a relief team set up by Gyeonggi province. Authorities said the dead included a female member of the crew and two male students. Details on the others were not immediately known. Kang Byung-kyu, a government minister, said 55 people were injured. Coast guard officials put the number of survivors early Thursday at 179. Many South Korean high schools organize trips for first- or second-year students, and Jeju is a popular destination. The students on the ferry were in their second year, which would make most of them 16 or 17. At Danwon High School, students were sent home early and parents gathered for news about their children. Park Ji-hee, a first-year student, said she saw about a dozen parents crying at the school entrance. The Sewol, which traveled twice a week between Incheon and Jeju, was built in Japan in 1994 and could carry a maximum of 921 people, 180 vehicles and 152 shipping containers, according to the Yonhap news agency. © 2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

3 Killed in Clash at Ukrainian Base - Voice of America Posted: 17 Apr 2014 09:08 AM PDT Ukraine is holding in detention about 10 Russian citizens, all of whom have intelligence backgrounds, the State Security Service announced on Thursday.        Answering a journalist's question about comments made on Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin about the extent of Russian involvement in the Ukraine crisis, an SBU spokeswoman said, "We have about 10 Russians, with Russian passports, who have been detained."            "They have all had experience of intelligence work," she said. They were being investigated, she added.   Earlier, Ukraine's interior minister said at least three pro-Russian separatists were killed and 13 wounded in a clash with national guardsmen at a base in the Ukrainian town of Mariupol.   Arsen Avakov said the separatists attacked the base with grenades and gasoline bombs. He said the troops disarmed most of the attackers and arrested 63.   The incident comes as the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers get ready for emergency talks in Geneva with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.   A White House spokesman said Kerry will look for any signs Russia is serious about de-escalating the tensions in Ukraine.   Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on a television call-in show Thursday that the Geneva talks are very important in the search for a compromise in Ukraine.   Putin said a democratic process is the only way to bring order back to the country.   He also called it "nonsense" to think there are Russian military units in Ukraine. He said all separatist actions are being carried out by local residents.   U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the U.N. Security Council Wednesday there is substantial evidence of Russian involvement in the unrest in eastern Ukraine. She called it a well-orchestrated professional campaign of incitement and sabotage.   Moscow has said it has the right to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine. It accuses the new Ukrainian leadership of being anti-Russian and anti-Semitic and of threatening the rights of pro-Russians.   President Putin said Russia's annexation of Crimea last month was not planned, but a reaction to what he called tangible threats against Russians living there.   However, senior U.N. human rights official Ivan Simonvic said earlier that his team found no widespread attacks against ethnic Russians during two trips to Ukraine in March. Restricting entry The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday demanded clarification from Ukraine and said it would consider retaliating after Kiev said it would impose restrictions on entry into the country by Russian men. Ukraine said on Thursday it will impose stricter border controls on Russian men trying to enter the country. "From today the Ukrainian border control service has  significantly increased checks at the border with Russia, not only at the airport,'' a spokesman for the service, Oleh Slobodian, said. "This applies to Russian citizens because there is information about possible provocations at the border, up to and including terrorist attacks. Attention will be primarily paid to men of an active age, traveling alone or in a group.'' Some information contributed by Reuters.

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Ferry's Sudden Shift Trapped Passengers Inside, Survivors Say - ABC News Posted: 16 Apr 2014 09:12 AM PDT Divers and ships searched the cold waters off South Korea's coast for hundreds of missing people today after a ferry loaded with high school students suddenly shifted and sank. The ferry, identified as the Sewol, was carrying 462 people to the southern island of Jeju when it sent a distress call as it began leaning to one side. Survivors said the ferry was shaking, but they were told by the crew to stay put. The ship then suddenly titled sharply and the passengers said they were hit by shifting bags, refrigerators and other debris. Passenger Kim Seong-mok, speaking from a nearby island after his rescue, told YTN that he was "certain" that many people were trapped inside the ship as water quickly filled with water and the severe tilt of the ferry kept them from reaching the exits. Some people yelled at those who couldn't get out, urging them to break windows. Kim said that after having breakfast he felt the ferry tilt and then heard it crash into something. He said the ferry operator made an announcement asking that passengers wait and not move from their places. Kim said he didn't hear any announcement telling passengers to escape. Photos: Sadness, Desperation as Ferry Sinks Off South Korea's Coast The number of rescued was put at 164. Four are confirmed dead and 294 are missing. More than 300 of the passengers were students from Danwon High School in Ansan, near Seoul, who were on a school trip. Hyung Min-woo/Yonhap/AP Photo South Korean coast guard officers and rescue team members surround the ferry Sewol in the water off the southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul, April 16, 2014. Dozens of boats, helicopters and divers scrambled to rescue passengers. Video shows rescue crews boarding the ship as it floated on its side helping people off, and helicopters throwing rafts into the water speckled with bobbing heads. The ship slowly turned upside down and later sank more than 100 feet below the water's surface. Park Chul-heung/Yonhap/AP Photo Rescued passengers from a ferry sinking off South Korea's southern coast, are escorted by rescue teams on their arrival at a port in Jindo, south of Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 16, 2014. Divers searching for survivors were hampered by the muddy bottom with limited visibility to about 15 inches. The water temperature was also a danger to potential survivors. At 55 degrees Farenheit it could cause hypothermia after about 90 minutes or 2 hours, according to an emergency official who spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules. A mother weeps as she and others search for their children's names among a list of survivors rescued from a ferry that sank off the country's southern coast, at Danwon high school in Ansan, South Korea, April 16, 2014. The students were on their way to Jeju island for a four-day trip. The trip from Incheon to Jeju is usually about 14 hours, so the ferry was about three hours from its destination when it made the distress call. At the high school, students were sent home and parents gathered for news about the ferry. The ship sank near the tiny Jindo Island and survivors are gathered there at the only gym on the island. Officials said two large cranes are en route to the sunken ship in an effort to raise it, but the cranes won't arrive for another day. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NATO Increases Its Operations In Response to Russia Moves on Ukraine - Wall Street Journal Posted: 16 Apr 2014 09:28 AM PDT BRUSSELS—The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said Wednesday it would increase its flights over allied Baltic nations and send ships to the Mediterranean and Baltic seas in response to what it called Russia's threat to Ukraine. NATO will also dispatch military personnel to intensify training and exercises in NATO countries in Eastern Europe, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after a meeting of representatives from the...

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Boston Bombing Anniversary Draws Solemn Tributes - NBCNews.com Posted: 15 Apr 2014 08:39 AM PDT Mourners gathered Tuesday to remember the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings — and pay tribute to those who rushed to help them — a year after twin explosions ripped through the heart of the city. The solemn day of remembrance started around 8 a.m., when Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh laid wreaths in front of the bombing sites, with the families of the three people who died in the blasts — Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu, and Martin Richard — in attendance. Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley led a silent prayer in remembrance of the victims. Bagpipers played "Amazing Grace." Jane and Henry Richard, brother and sister to Martin Richard — at 8 years old the youngest of those killed — laid a wreath at the race's finish line. Jane lost a leg in the attack; Henry sustained shrapnel wounds. In addition to the three who were killed, more than 260 were hurt when the two bombs detonated seconds apart near the finish line. A fourth person, Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, was killed in the aftermath of the blasts as a manhunt ensued for the suspects. Jim Seida / NBC News A Boston firehouse that lost two of its own in a fire last month pay tribute to the marathon victims on April 15. At noon, survivors and families, along with Patrick, Walsh, and Vice President Joe Biden will gather at Boston's Hynes Convention Center, not far from the finish line on Boylston Street, for a memorial service. Tom Menino, who was mayor at the time, and first responders to the April 15, 2013, attack will also be there. Three survivors will also speak. "I think it's going to be a difficult day for a lot of people," Walsh told NBC News on Monday. After the memorial, the crowd will go to the finish line for a moment of silence at 2:49 p.m.: the time the explosions occurred. It has come to our attention that the browser you are using is either not running javascript or out of date. Please enable javascript and/or update your browser if possible. Signs of remembrance lined Boylston Street on Tuesday morning, with some restaurants near the finish line tying blue and yellow ribbons to the gates of their patios. Flowers had been placed at the mailbox outside Forum restaurant, the site of the second bomb, and the last business to re-open after the marathon last year. A steady rain fell, with wind strong enough to stiffen the flags flying at half-staff along the last few blocks of the marathon course. Denis Sullivan, a member of the Boston Fire Department, stood guard at the memorial wreath. "You just think about everything that happened last year," he said. "It's on your mind." President Barack Obama released a statement on the bombings on Tuesday praising those who helped last year. "The most vivid images from that day were not of smoke and chaos, but of compassion, kindness and strength: A man in a cowboy hat helping a wounded stranger out of harm's way; runners embracing loved ones, and each other; an EMT carrying a spectator to safety," he said. "One year later, we also stand in awe of the men and women who continue to inspire us - learning to stand, walk, dance and run again." Authorities say two brothers planned the attack, and days later, shot and killed Collier while attempting to steal his gun. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died after a shootout with police several days after the bombings. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges and is awaiting his trial. He faces the possibility of the death penalty. First published April 15 2014, 8:15 AM Anne Thompson Anne Thompson is NBC News’ chief environmental affairs correspondent. Her reports appear across all platforms of NBC News including “Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Today,” MSNBC and NBCNews.com. Thompson was tapped for this position in April 2007. Most recently, Thompson led coverage on the Gulf oil spill, covering all aspects of the crisis from the beginning to when the well was finally killed. This extensive coverage made Thompson the NBC News correspondent with the most airtime in 2010, according to the Tyndall Report. She traveled to Copenhagen to cover climate change negotiations, Greenland, Costa Rica, the Amazon, Australia and Europe to cover such issues as alternative fuels, global warming, land usage and new technologies. From March 2005 to April 2007, Thompson served as chief financial correspondent reporting on financial and economic news for NBC News. Thompson has reported on the economic impact of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the increased cost of health care and its impact on the economy, alternative fuel vehicles, identity theft, and the politics of the credit card industry. In addition, from a financial perspective, she covered the trials of Martha Stewart, Bernie Ebbers and Tyco. In 2006, Thompson received the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award, and she was part of the "Nightly News" team that won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Award and the Emmy Award for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. In 2004, she was awarded the Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business and financial journalism for a series of reports that aired on "Nightly News" on the jobless economic recovery. She was also nominated for four business and financial news Emmys. Thompson first joined NBC News in 1997 as a national correspondent, reporting on a variety of stories including Daimler Benz' takeover of Chrysler, the death of John F. Kennedy Jr., and the execution of Timothy McVeigh for "Nightly News," "Today" and MSNBC. In 2000, Thompson was NBC News' lead correspondent covering the presidential campaigns of Democratic hopeful Senator Bill Bradley and Republican hopeful Senator John McCain. She has also covered a variety of national stories including filing reports on women in business, the birth of the McCaughey septuplets, the school shooting in Paducah, Ky., the Columbine school shooting and the attack on the World Trade Center. Before being named an NBC News correspondent, Thompson had been an award-winning general assignment reporter for WDIV-TV, the NBC affiliate in Detroit, since 1986. While at WDIV, Thompson was honored with seven Emmy Awards for a variety of stories, including her coverage of the Jessica DeBoer custody battle, a profile of Kirk Kerkorian and his attempted takeover of Chrysler, a series on two serial killers in the Detroit area, and a report on the near riots that broke out following the Detroit Pistons' championship win in 1990. From 1983 to 1986, Thompson was a consumer reporter at KSDK-TV, the NBC affiliate in St. Louis, Mo. She began her broadcasting career at WNDU-TV in South Bend, Ind., where she served as a general assignment reporter from 1979 to 1983. Raised and educated in Europe, Thompson received her high school diploma from the International School of Brussels in Belgium. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from University of Notre Dame, where was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees in 2010. ... Expand Bio

Full lunar eclipse: Few selfies, but many 'blood moon' photos hit Web - Los Angeles Times Posted: 15 Apr 2014 08:50 AM PDT CAPTIONS Total lunar eclipse A combination of 10 pictures shows the moon in different stages of a total lunar eclipse seen from the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife. (Desiree Martin / AFP/Getty Images /April 15, 2014) By Alicia Banks April 15, 2014, 8:41 a.m. They came with iPhones, iPads, digital cameras and even some film cameras -- ready to capture the "blood moon," the first full lunar eclipse of 2014. Hundreds converged on Griffith Observatory, which has a prime view. Here are some photos of the eclipse posted to various social media from the observatory on Tuesday morning:  On Monday night, there were also photos as people prepared to watch: Around 11 p.m., the "bite" began to spread across the moon as the Earth blocked direct light from the sun, casting a shadow on the moon. The dark red hue came from the light of sunsets and sunrises over the rest of the Earth. A hush fell over the balconies and grassy lawn as the eclipse began and onlookers jockeyed for prime viewing spots. Some came hours before the lunar event. Among the throngs of skywatchers was Johanna Huerta, who ushered in her 30th birthday early Tuesday with the "blood moon." "It worked out that I got the 'blood moon,'" she said. "It will be my first time seeing it." She brought her brother, 17-year-old Angel, and family friend Flavia Ibarra, 23, to celebrate her birthday and the eclipse. "I dragged them with me," Huerta said. "I'm the dorky one."  ALSO: 'Blood moon' creates lunar eclipse viewing frenzy at Griffith Park Fatal bus crash: El Monte High victim mourned at school vigil Sex offenders accused of killing 4 O.C. women could face death penalty We've upgraded our reader commenting system. Learn more about the new features. Los Angeles Times welcomes civil dialogue about our stories; you must register with the site to participate. We filter comments for language and adherence to our Terms of Service, but not for factual accuracy. By commenting, you agree to these legal terms. Please flag inappropriate comments. Having technical problems? Check here for guidance.

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