Pro-Russian rebels seize police building, airport in east Ukraine
Horlivka, April 14
A pro-Russian mob today seized a police building and gun men took control of a military airport in Russian-leaning eastern Ukraine, defying government warnings that it was preparing to act against the separatists.



Pro-Russian protesters attend a rally in front of the seized office of the state security service in Luhansk on Monday. AFP

Abuja, April 14
Twin blasts today at a bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital crammed with morning commuters killed 71 persons and injured 124 others, the police said.

"We have a total of 71 dead and 124 others injured. (The wounded) are receiving treatment at hospitals within and around" Abuja, national police spokesman Frank Mba told journalists at the scene.

The blast ripped a hole 4-feet deep in the ground of Nyanya Motor Park about 16 km from the city centre and destroyed more than 30 vehicles, causing secondary explosions as their fuel tanks ignited and burned.

Suspicion fell on Boko Haram, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility from the Islamists who are mainly active in the northeast. The police said it was the first attack on the federal capital in two years.

The bus station, 8 km southwest of central Abuja, serves Nyanya, a poor, ethnically and religiously mixed satellite town where many residents work in the city.

"I was waiting to get on a bus when I heard a deafening explosion, then saw smoke," said Mimi Daniels, who escaped from the blast with minor injuries to her arm. "People were running around in panic." Bloody remains lay strewn over the ground as security forces struggled to hold back a crowd of onlookers and fire crews hosed down a bus still holding the charred bodies of commuters.

"These are the remains of my friend," said a man, who gave his name as John, holding up a bloodied shirt. "His travel ticket with his name on was in the shirt pocket." The attack underscored the vulnerability of Nigeria's federal capital, built in the 1980s in the geographic centre of the country to replace coastal Lagos as the seat of government for what is now Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer.

Boko Haram militants fighting for an Islamic state have largely been confined to the remote northeast. They have been particularly active there over the past few months and are increasingly targeting civilians they accuse of collaborating with the government or security forces.

In some ways it's not a big surprise," said Kole Shettima, director of the Abuja office of US charitable institution, the MacArthur Foundation. "The situation has been escalating. "It's a statement that they are still around and they can attack Abuja when they want, and instill fear."

The Islamists, who want to carve an Islamic state out of Nigeria, have in the past year mostly concentrated their attacks in the northeast, where their insurgency started. There had been no such violence near the capital since suicide car bombers targeted the offices of the newspaper This Day in Abuja and the northern city of Kaduna in April 2012. — Agencies

Horlivka, April 14
A pro-Russian mob today seized a police building and gun men took control of a military airport in Russian-leaning eastern Ukraine, defying government warnings that it was preparing to act against the separatists.

Dozens of angry men hurled rocks, smashed the windows and broke into a police station in the city of Horlivka not far from the border with Russia, and flew the Russian flag from the building.

Hundreds of onlookers outside chanted "Referendum!" and "Russia!" A video posted online showed a policeman confronting a separatist, then being beaten by the mob and taken away in an ambulance. Other policemen switched their allegiance to the demonstrators.

The events in Horlivka were the latest sign of trouble in Russian-speaking eastern and southern regions, in which pro-Russian gunmen have seized or blocked government buildings in at least nine cities demanding more autonomy from the central government and closer ties with Russia.

Later in the day, armed men in masks also seized control of a military airport outside the city Slovyansk, also in the Donetsk region.

The developments came as European Union foreign ministers met in Luxembourg to consider further sanctions against Russia, and three days ahead of a scheduled conference in Geneva involving diplomats from the United States, Russia, the European Union, Ukraine and Switzerland, which is intended to seek ways of defusing tensions.

Russia has warned the Kiev government against using force against the protesters in the east and has threatened to cancel the conference.

Ukraine's president on Monday threatened military action after pro-Russian separatists occupying government buildings in the east ignored an ultimatum to leave and another group of rebels attacked a police headquarters in the troubled region.

Acting president Oleksander Turchinov also held out the possibility of a referendum on the future shape of the Ukrainian state, partly addressing demands made in the largely Russian-speaking east for more control over their local affairs. — Agencies

Tripoli, April 14
Libyan prosecutors opened the trial of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi's sons and more than two dozen of his ex-officials on Monday in a major test for the North African state's transition to a democracy.

Gaddafi's sons Saadi Gaddafi and Saif al-Islam did not appear in the courtroom at Tripoli's Al-Hadba prison, but the deposed ruler's ex-spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi was among the former senior officials sitting in blue jumpsuits behind a fenced-off section.

The men face charges ranging from corruption to war crimes related to the deaths during the 2011 uprising, which expanded into a civil war that eventually ousted Gaddafi. The former Libyan leader was later killed after being captured by rebels.

Addressing the four judges, many of the defendants complained they had not been given access to lawyers or only saw them at court appearances. "I want to be treated like other prisoners. I want visiting rights. I don't have a lawyer," Senussi said.

Prosecutors said Senussi had been allowed to see relatives, but denied lawyers had been prevented from visiting their clients at the prison. Post-Gaddafi Libya has so far been defined by a weak interim government and growing unrest as former revolutionary fighters refuse to give up their weapons, and armed protesters blockade the country's crucial oil exports.

The trial began a day after interim Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni announced his resignation after an attack on his family and following the ousting of the previous prime minister barely a month ago.

The International Criminal Court and other human rights organisations are concerned over the fairness of Libya's justice system although the government won the right last year to try Gaddafi's former spy chief domestically instead of at the ICC.

Senussi was joined in the court by Gaddafi's former Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, and former foreign minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi. Also in the court was ex-intelligence chief Buzeid Dorda, who had appeared at earlier trial proceedings. — Reuters

Lahore/Islamabad, April 14 
In a grisly case, a man in Pakistan's Punjab province found guilty of cannibalism in 2011 was today arrested after being caught with the head of a toddler, prompting the police to slap terrorism charges against him.

The incident came to light after neighbours in the small town of Darya Khan in Bhakkar district complained of foul smell. When the police raided the house today, they found the head of a 2 to 3-year-old boy.

Mohammad Arif, who was arrested from the spot - less than a year after he was freed from jail following conviction on similar charges, said the body was stolen by his brother from a graveyard. His elder brother Farman Ali is on the run.

Terrorism charges have been slapped against them, Express Tribune reported today. Arif and Farman were first arrested in April, 2011 after they were found eating corpses that they stole from a local graveyard. — PTI

Beijing, April 14
India today voiced its concern to China over its plan to build a multi-billion dollar Economic Corridor to Pakistan through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), even as it assured Beijing of its commitment to consolidate strategic bilateral ties.

"We have raised this issue and raised our concerns not (only) this time, we have made them known earlier. They have noted our concerns," Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh told mediapersons here after holding the sixth round of strategic dialogue with her Chinese counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin.

The talks were held as a new government would be formed at the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections.

Asked whether the issue figured in the talks today, she said it was raised this time too. The corridor connecting China's Xinjiang with Pakistan's Gwadar Port with rail and road links raised concerns in India as it is being built through PoK.

China argues that it would help redress the backwardness of the region. The two sides held cordial discussions enhancing the scope of the relations which in recent years showed steadfast increase.

Singh said: “My visit is to reiterate to the China government that the government of India attaches the highest priority to India's relations with China." China said it was "confident" that India would stay committed to strong bilateral ties irrespective of whichever party came to power after the elections. — PTI

Perth, April 14
A robotic underwater drone was today deployed for the first time to locate the crashed Malaysian jet's "final resting place" in the Indian Ocean at a depth of 4,500 metres after searchers failed to detect any signals from the plane's black boxes in a week.

The Bluefin 21, a US Navy probe equipped with side-scan sonar, was launched this evening from the Australian navy ship Ocean Shield, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) which is leading the search said on the 38th day of the hunt for the Flight MH370 that mysteriously disappeared on March 8.

"We haven't had a single detection in six days so I guess it's time to go underwater," Australian chief search coordinator Angus Houston told a news conference.

Earlier today, he said the Ocean Shield will cease searching with the towed pinger locater and deploy the autonomous underwater vehicle as soon as possible.

In another significant development in the search, Houston said two litres of the newly spotted oil slick had been collected for testing.

"I stress the source of the oil is yet to be determined but the oil slick is approximately 5,500 metres downwind...from the vicinity of the detections picked up by the towed pinger locater on Ocean Shield," he said.

Houston said he did not think the oil slicks were from one of the many ships involved in the search but it would take a number of days before the oil could be conclusively tested.

"It's very close to where the transmissions are coming from and we'll investigate it and that will take a little bit of time, given that we're in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

We don't think it's from the ships, so where is it from? So it's another lead to pursue," he said.

The underwater drone's side-scan sonar is an acoustic technology that can create a three-dimensional sonar map of any debris on the seafloor.

Multi-nation search teams used a towed pinger locater to listen for signals from the plane's black box flight recorders till now and detected four "pings" possibly from the black boxes of the plane. But no new signals have been heard since April 8, amid concerns the flight recorders' batteries have expired.

The Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 with 239 persons, including five Indians, was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it lost contact with air traffic controllers over the South China Sea.

The search teams, armed with sophisticated naval aircraft and ships, have focused on waters west of the Australian city of Perth, with teams racing against time to detect signals before the flight recorder batteries - which last about one month - run out. — PTI