A group of pro-Russian men armed with automatic weapons have taken control of the police headquarters in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, 150 km from the Russian border, local officials and witnesses said.
An organised military unit of over 20 men wearing matching military fatigues and carrying automatic weapon took over the building around 1700 GMT after arriving on at least two buses.
Video footage showed the men taking orders from a commander and shooting from automatic rifles as they approached the building.
Ealier a gunbattle erupted after security forces engaged the men who attacked the station, the interior minister said.
"Unknown men opened fire at the district police station. The police are firing back. They have been exchanging fire," Arsen Avakov said late on Saturday on his Facebook page.
The seizure came hours after armed pro-Russian separatists raised the Russian flag in the troubled eastern city of Slovyansk, deepening a stand-off with Moscow which, Kiev warned, was dragging Europe closer to a "gas war" that could disrupt supplies across the continent.
At least 20 men armed with pistols and rifles took over the police and security services headquarters in Slovyansk, about 150km from the border with Russia.
Officials said the men had seized hundreds of pistols from arsenals in the buildings. The gunmen replaced the Ukrainian flag on one of the buildings with the red, white and blue Russian flag.
Speaking shortly after the separatists seized the police station, Avakov said Ukrainian special forces had been dispatched to the scene.
"Our response will be very severe," Avakov wrote on his Facebook page. "There is zero tolerance for armed terrorists," he added.
Shortly after, the Ukrainian interior ministry also said the separatists had taken another security building in the restive city.
"The same group of armed men who seized the district police station also seized the Slavyansk Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) building," the regional interior ministry said in a statement.
Donetsk trouble
In the industrial city of Donetsk, an AFP reporter said about 200 pro-Russian separatists armed with clubs and sticks stormed the city's police headquarters.
The protesters met no resistance, and a bus filled with a few dozen anti-riot police who quickly arrived at the scene were seen sporting orange and black ribbons symbolising support for Russian rule.
Witnesses said the men occupying the police headquarters were wearing the uniforms of Berkut, the uniform of Ukraine's feared but now-defunct riot police.
Meanwhile, the Donetsk police chief stepped down on Saturday, bowing to demand from the pro-Russian separatists.
"In accordance with your demands I am stepping down," police chief Kostyantyn Pozhydayev told the protesters.
The latest takeovers by the gunmen come a day after Ukraine's prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, told leaders in Donetsk that he was willing to cede more power to the troubled eastern regions.
Eastern Ukraine has a high proportion of Russian-speakers and many of them fear that the acting government which took over when Viktor Yanukovich fled to Russia in February will repress them.
The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine in a bid to derail next months' presidential election in the country.
In a show support for the embattled prime minister, US Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Ukraine on April 22 to stress US support for Kiev and help improve its energy security.
While in Ukraine, Biden will work "to assist Ukraine in moving forward on constitutional reform, decentralization, anti-corruption efforts and free and fair presidential elections on May 25th," the White House said.
Washington has repeatedly urged Moscow to de-escalate tensions and withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine's eastern border in the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
After annexing Crimea and with troops massed on the border of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin will not stop trying to expand Russia until he has “conquered” Belarus, the Baltic states and Finland, one of his closest former advisers has said.
According to Andrej Illarionov, the President’s chief economic adviser from 2000 to 2005, Mr Putin seeks to create “historical justice” with a return to the days of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and the Soviet Union under Stalin.
Speaking to the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, Mr Illarionov warned that Russia will argue that the granting of independence to Finland in 1917 was an act of “treason against national interests”.
“Putin’s view is that he protects what belongs to him and his predecessors,” Mr Illarionov said.
“Parts of Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States and Finland are states where Putin claims to have ownership.
He added: “The West’s leaders seem, from what they say, entirely to have forgotten that there are some leaders in the world who want to conquer other countries.”
Mr Illarionov has helped draft a host of Russia’s economic policies in recent years, and served as Mr Putin’s personal representative at a number of G8 conferences. He is now a senior fellow at the Cato institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity in Washington.
Finland is not a Nato member, meaning a Russian invasion would not be considered an attack against the alliance. The commander of the Finnish air force has said it has increased surveillance operations over the Baltic Sea in recent weeks.
The Scandinavian nation was part of the Russian empire for 108 years as an autonomous Grand Duchy. Asked if Mr Putin posed an immediate threat to what is now a stalwart of the EU, Mr Illarionov said: “It is not on Putin’s agenda today or tomorrow.
“But if Putin is not stopped, the issue will be brought sooner or later. Putin has said several times that the Bolsheviks and Communists made big mistakes. He could well say that the Bolsheviks in 1917 committed treason against Russian national interests by granting Finland’s independence.”
On the subject of what can be done to stop the progress of Russian expansion, Mr Illarionov said sanctions had helped rather than hindered Mr Putin because they “confirm his view of the world” – and that of “the Kremlin’s propaganda”.
“We must offer resistance by all means available,” he said. “I’m not a bloodthirsty person, but there is sometimes no other way than military power to stop an opponent. The only answer to pure aggression is demonstrating willingness to offer a collective defence.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Russian military drills near neighboring Finland have provoked concern that northern Europe may be the next focus of Moscow's seemingly renewed appetite for redrawing its borders.
Troops and jet fighters from all four military regions of Russia were deployed Sunday about 150 miles east of the Finnish border, according to the English-language newspaper Finnbay. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that the exercises were pre-planned and that more than 50 fighter pilots took part.
Finland was part of the Russian empire for 108 years, from 1809 until Russia’s withdrawal from World War I in 1917. The Karelia region, where the war games are taking place, straddles the Finnish border and has historically been a heavily militarized zone for Moscow.
But experts say that while Moscow appears to have seized another opportunity to flex its muscles, the threat of an armed invasion is very low.
"The people of Helsinki are nervous. What Putin is doing is sending shock waves through Europe"
According to Dr. Jonathan Eyal, international director at London's Royal United Services Institute think tank, there is "no question" that these exercises show that Russia is testing its power in the region, which was reshaped by the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
"In pure capability terms, the Russians are preparing an operation," Eyal said. "The question is: Is there an actual military threat? I do not think there will be."
Eyal said that while Russia's annexation of Crimea has put a spotlight on its foreign policy, tension with Finland and Sweden is not new. This was shown as recently as last year when Russian jets flew toward Swedish airspace, causing Stockholm to scramble its air force, he said.
But he said that Scandinavia and the Baltic states have sensed renewed danger in recent days because "Putin is an opportunist, and if the opportunity arises he will pick up on it."
"The people of Helsinki are nervous," he said. "What Putin is doing is sending shock waves through Europe." However, Kutchins added that the likelihood of immediate military action appeared "very far-fetched."
This anxiety was heightened Sunday after one of Putin's closest former advisers told the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet that the Kremlin would seek "historical justice" by reclaiming Finland and ex-Soviet countries as part of an enlarged Russian Federation.
"Putin's view is that he protects what belongs to him and his predecessors," wrote Andrei Illarionov, according to a translation by the Moscow Times.
"Parts of Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states and Finland are states where Putin claims to have ownership," said Illarionov, who is now a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.,-based Cato Institute.
Illarionov, who was chief economic adviser to Putin until 2005 and is described by the Moscow Times as an outspoken Kremlin critic, said Putin could argue the Communist revolution of 1917 was a "treason against national interests."
"It is not on Putin's agenda today or tomorrow," Illarionov added. "But if Putin is not stopped, the issue will be brought sooner or later."
"Finland isn't Ukraine"
The reason experts think Finland is more secure than Ukraine is that although neither are members of NATO, the former is more protected by its European Union membership.
"Finland isn't Ukraine," said Oliver Bullough, commentator and author of "Last Man In Russia." "It might not be a NATO member but it is in the European Union and you can bet that if Russia were to start invading members of the E.U., the E.U. would have something to say about it."
Bullough said the Russians had a "grudging respect" for the Finns because of the way they resisted Moscow's Red Army during World War II. Apart from Britain and the Soviet Union, Finland was the only European nation involved in the war to avert a foreign occupation.
Research consultant Kathleen McInnis pointed out that Finland is connected to NATO in that it has taken part in NATO-led actions, including Kosovo and Afghanistan.
"Recently there has been discussion in Finland about joining NATO, but opinion remains in favor of a defense partnership with Sweden," said McInnis, who is based at the London-based think tank Chatham House.
Add to that Finland's recent agreement to start discussions with Sweden over a defense partnership, and an incursion by Moscow looks less likely.
Perhaps the key difference between Finland and Ukraine is that Putin does not have a tangible excuse with which to exercise the Kremlin's influence abroad.
In the swift annexation of Crimea, he spoke of the need to protect ethnic Russians living in the peninsula from what he called the illegitimate fascist regime in Kiev.
But Eyal said that it is wrong to assume Russia's only option is a brute-force invasion.
"Russia could put pressure on Scandinavia not to come to the aid of the three Baltic states [Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania], which do have Russian ethnic minorities," he said. "Or they could warn in advance for Finland and Sweden not to join NATO. It's a key foreign policy for Russia to prevent NATO's enlargement."
Albina Kovalyova reported from Moscow. Alexander Smith and Alastair Jamieson reported from London.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
WASHINGTON — The first open-enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act has, for the most part, ended.
So now what?
Analysts say they have plenty of questions as last-minute stragglers who attest to starting the process before enrollment ended are allowed to finish the job.
The Obama administration says it is on track to meet the original estimate of 7 million enrollees set by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) despite the rocky rollout of Healthcare.gov, the federal health exchange site.
But questions range from who signed up — if they’re young and healthy or previously uninsured — to how the new pool of people will affect next year’s premiums. As insurers gauge just how involved they want to be in the next round, advocacy groups are figuring out what they can do better to sign up groups that missed the March 31 call, such as young Hispanic men. And conservatives will continue to ignore the administration’s numbers until the insurers release the numbers of people who have paid their first month’s premiums.
“It’s very unclear how this nets out,” said Edmund Haislmaier, senior research fellow for health policy at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. “We really don’t have anything reliable.”
“I don’t think they’ve written a letter to President Obama thanking him yet,” he joked.But Ezekiel Emanuel, University of Pennsylvania bio-ethicist and one of the architects of the law, said insurers have record membership and record profits because of the Medicaid expansion and the 6 million new private-plan enrollees.
Here’s what to watch for in the next couple of weeks:
1. Who signed up, and who paid the first month’s premium?
It’s impossible to know how much the law has reduced the numbers of the uninsured, Haislmaier said. “We don’t know how many people have lost their coverage or how many have picked up replacement coverage or how many were previously uninsured,” he said.
Republicans and opponents of the law say 6 million people lost their coverage when their insurers canceled their plans because they didn’t meet the law’s requirements. The law requires a minimum amount of benefits for all policyholders, such as for prescription medications or hospital stays. Some of the old plans didn’t meet those requirements.
The Obama administration and insurance companies say the final number was lower than 500,000, because insurers automatically enrolled people in new plans or worked to keep their customers.
More of an issue may be the demographics of those who signed up. The law has provisions that protect insurers if the pool of policyholders leans toward older and sicker people, who tend to cost more. The composition of the insurance pool will determine future premiums.
Enrollment statistics released by the government last month showed that about 27% of the pool was adults younger than 34, and that percentage had risen in recent weeks.
Sam Nussbaum, chief medical officer at health insurer WellPoint, said he has seen an uptick in young people as the numbers continue to come in, and that 80% appear to be previously uninsured.
States with their own exchanges have reported first-month’s premium payment rates of up to 85%.
Geography will matter, said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalere Health, a health care consulting firm. Even if nationwide enrollment meets CBO projections, insurers who banked on states that expected high enrollment — and didn’t get it — may end up with high premiums, or out of the exchange market completely, for the next go-round.
For example, California has met its goals with more than 1.2 million people enrolled, but in Mississippi, only 25,000 people had enrolled by the end of February.
Cecilia Muñoz, assistant to the president and director of the Domestic Policy Council, said it’s important to remember that premiums increase about 15% every year and to put “in context” any talk about increases because of the exchanges.
“We heard a year ago rumblings about rate hikes and rate shock,” she said. “That didn’t happen. We’re starting to hear that again.”
2. Do the states, and the fed, revamp the exchanges?
“Once they shut down enrollment, they’ll be able to go in and do aggressive changes,” Mendelson said. “I know that the engineers are looking forward to that.”
While the federal website performed much better by the end of November, some state sites, including Oregon, Hawaii and Maryland, still face significant problems. All three states have had their directors replaced. Maryland announced this week it was starting over immediately after the deadline and modeling its exchange after Connecticut’s.
“Some of those states that are still struggling will decide the course or throw in the towel,” Mendelson said. “The third route is to just copy the federal exchange page.”
Emanuel said he visited the Connecticut exchange recently, which has been ranked in the No. 1 or 2 spot for ease of use. Insurers were involved in the process from the beginning, he said, and the place “operates like a start-up” because everyone involved can offer up ideas”
“They started late,” Emanuel said. “The federal government thought they were a basket case when they started working in 2012.”
They outsourced everything from the call center to the technology, but they also tightly managed contractors and cut back on bells and whistles to make sure the basics worked, he said. Next year, there will be a smartphone app and an avatar will appear to answer questions.
“The federal exchange was a disaster — I think everyone agrees to that,” Emanuel said. “But several of the state exchanges were successful. That shows that the federal exchange was a management issue, not that the exchange itself was a bad idea.”
3. What do the enrollment advocates do now?
“I’m a little worried that there’s an idea of ‘We’re all done now,'” said Kavita Patel, managing director for the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform. “There are still lots of people who don’t have coverage.”
Anne Filipic, president of Enroll America, said her organization would continue to do outreach and education because some people, such as those who get married or become unemployed, will be eligible to enroll if they have a major life event.
“But we’re also going to do a lot of work to educate people who will be eligible for next year,” she said. “We learned a lot from this enrollment, but we’ll have a real opportunity to see who did enroll and who didn’t.”
They will look at what worked and what didn’t, and they’ll share it with other advocacy organizations, she said.
“From within the administration, we’ve been as aggressive as we can be, but we’ve also depended on partners,” Muñoz said. She said it’s been difficult to break through to some communities, such as Hispanic groups. “People don’t have insurance; they don’t necessarily know the lingo of co-pays and co-insurance.”
4. What’s next for the plans?
“The plans are almost immediately going to have to set rates for next year,” Mendelson said, adding that he’s already hearing about double-digit increases from some insurers before the final enrollment numbers have come in. “It needs to be based on the populations they see.”
But Mendelson said the plans should also be figuring out how to get more information about what doctors and medications are included in each plan before next year’s enrollment period.
Ceci Connolly, managing director of PWC’s Health Research Institute, said the plan managers would be looking at the health status of the new enrollees. Nussbaum said that also appears to be evening out after an initial waive of high users and that success for one company might look very different for another company.
“There are big, national insurance companies thaw saw this as an experimental year,” Connolly said, “and there are start-ups that hoped this was going to help them get off the ground in a big way.”
5. What do people think of their new health care?
Researchers will watch to see if people take advantage of preventive pieces, such as free annual exams, that were built into the law to try to cut down on costs; whether they will learn how to shop for prices if they are in high-deductible plans; and whether they will learn to avoid the emergency room in favor of a primary-care doctor’s office. But beyond all of that, do people like their insurance?
“I think there will be a lot of people very happy and satisfied with what they have,” said Joel Ario, formerly the director of the Office of Health Insurance Exchanges at the Department of Health and Human Services and now a managing director at Manatt Health Solutions. “But there may be those who say, ‘Nobody told me about the deductible on the bronze plan.’ People are going to say the cost-savings measures are too high, particularly around some of the drug plans.”
Ario and others who helped create and implement the law said they knew it was a move toward consumers having “more skin in the game,” because they will have to weigh the costs and benefits of medical procedures.
“For people who think the ACA takes care of everything for you, you’ll find it’s more like 20 years ago, where it takes care of the serious things,” Ario said. “But they’re not going to go bankrupt anymore. It’s far better to owe $5,000 in the deductible than have a bill from the hospital saying you owe $100,000 or more.”
People will also continue to question the limited networks, he said. Some of the plans keep their costs down by saying consumers may only see certain doctors, or else pay more, and consumers need to understand that better both while shopping for plans and while seeking treatment.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Rome (AFP) – A Salvadorean nun who said she had no idea she was pregnant gave birth in Italy this week after she felt stomach cramps in her convent and was rushed to hospital, Italian media reported on Friday.
The 31-year-old mother and her baby boy, who weighs 3.5 kilogrammes (nine pounds), are doing well and other new mothers in Rieti hospital have begun collecting clothes and donations for her, the reports said.
"I did not know I was pregnant. I only felt a stomach pain," the nun was quoted as saying at the hospital, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
La Repubblica said she gave birth on Wednesday.
ANSA said the nun had named her baby Francesco (Francis) — also the pope's chosen title and one of the most popular names in Italy, where St Francis of Assisi is the much-loved national patron saint.
The hospital could not be reached for comment.
The nun belongs to the "Little Disciples of Jesus" convent in Campomoro near Rieti, which manages an old people's home and reports said she would keep the baby.
Her fellow nuns were quoted saying they were "very surprised".
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Rome – The Italian navy has rescued 233 mostly African migrants from a boat in Mediterranean waters south of Sicily as the immigration crisis that killed hundreds in shipwrecks in 2013 showed no signs of letting up in the new year.
In a statement the navy said that it picked them up in choppy seas late on Wednesday and was ferrying them on Thursday to a port near Syracuse on Sicily’s eastern coast.
It said that migrants on board were men and women from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Zambia and Mali as well as from Pakistan.
It noted that sea arrivals to Italy from Northern Africa were more than tripled in 2013, fuelled by refugees from Syria’s civil war and political strife in the Horn of Africa.
In October, 366 Eritreans drowned in a shipwreck near the shore of the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
LONDON (AFP) – The ceiling of a top London theatre collapsed on the audience during a performance Thursday, leaving terrified theatregoers covered in blood and dust and causing at least 65 casualties, emergency services and witnesses said.
The incident happened at the Apollo Theatre during the West End show “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”, and comes during the week before Christmas when London’s theatres are traditionally busy.
Hundreds of emergency workers rushed to the scene after the collapse but firefighters said all those trapped had been freed.
“We were called to the Apollo Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue to reports of a ceiling collapse during a performance. We are aware of a number of casualties,” the Scotland Yard spokesman told AFP.
Five people were seriously injured and taken to hospital in central London, police said. They said they were not aware of any fatalities.
“We have 65 casualties at this point including walking wounded. We are trying to get further information on hospitalisations,” a London Ambulance Service spokeswoman told AFP.
AFPTV reporters saw at least one person being stretchered away from the scene. Others, including some with bandages on their heads, were being treated in the lobby of a nearby theatre.
Emergency services said they had reports that the collapse involved part of a balcony.
Pictures on social media showed people fleeing the theatre with head injuries and covered in dust.
Audience members said they had heard creaking during the performance.
Simon Usborne, a writer for the Independent newspaper, said there was a “cloud” of dust obscuring the stage after parts of masonry appeared to fall away.
“There was panic, there was screaming,” he said.
Martin Bostock said he suffered a head injury after he was hit by falling debris.
“It was complete chaos in the theatre. Absolutely terrifying and awful,” he told Britain’s Sky News.
“I was in the lower stalls with my family in the early stages of the show.
“I think the front part of the balcony fell down. At first we thought it was part of the show.
“Then I got hit on the head.
“We got out with cuts and bruises. I think most people did.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The Strings Of David (T.S.O.D) is a core afro gospel music group based in Helsinki, Finland. Comprises of four of Finland’s best gospel singers. They grew up in different parts of Nigeria, West Africa from whence they sojourned individually to Finland with the basic purpose of furthering their education. They met themselves singing as individuals in gospel concerts and in churches within and outside Finland which enabled them to interact deeply musically. From the musical interactions, passions were stimulated, relationships were established and then The Strings of David (T.S.O.D) was formed.
The band was formed basically to declare God’s praise to the extent where it will present God almighty as good to people who are yet to know him. Better to whoever it is that ever knew him to be good and best to those that sees him as better. Also to revolutionize praise and worship from the conservative European perspective not forgetting also contributing significantly to the wealth of praise and worship resources back in our homeland.
Here is their maiden single titled “I Go Fly “, an absolutely inspirational piece adopted from R Kelly’s i believe i can fly. With Theo keys, one of Naija’s best Finland based producers on the beat and Finland’s Henrick Sirelä on the mix, you can only expect quality. Enjoy!!!
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
KIEV, Ukraine — Pro-European Union protesters occupying Kiev's city administration building said Monday that armed riot police had stormed the offices of the main opposition political party in downtown Kiev.
Meanwhile, several hundred riot police officers early Tuesday dismantled one of the last barricades set up by protesters more than a week ago to block off government buildings. Protesters had been given a Tuesday deadline to leave.
But more demonstrators reportedly were converging on Kiev's central Independence Square from around the city early Tuesday to bolster protesters' tent city, RIA Novosti said.
Witnesses also reported that authorities had cut power city hall after midnight in a bid to force protesters out.
The crackdown comes after hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of the Ukrainian capital and other cities Sunday. It was the latest in a three-week-long series of so-called EuroMaidan protests sparked when President Viktor Yanukovych and his government refused to sign a long-expected pact with the 28-nation EU.
The protests started as a demand for closer ties with the EU and fewer with Russia but morphed into a more general anti-government movement after violent clashes with riot police late last month. The protesters are calling for the resignation of Yanukovych and his cabinet of ministers, and for the criminal prosecution of the police officers and officials responsible for the violent crackdown.
On Monday, Fatherland Party official Ostap Semerak told the Associated Press that troops broke into the party's headquarters and were walking along its corridors while others were climbing in through the windows. Fatherland is the party led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, jailed since 2011 over a controversial gas contract with Russia.
Semerak said the troopers confiscated some computer equipment and left.
The Freedom Party made similar claims, The Washington Post reported. A city police spokesman told the BBC that no actions had been taken by police officers at either party's headquarters; state security officials declined comment.
The main protests initially were centered in Independence Square. However, protesters in recent days constructed barricades to block the nearby streets leading to the main government buildings, including the president's administration building, the cabinet of ministers, and the parliament.
As of late Monday, no effort had been made to remove protesters from the administration building by force.
Roman Bilan, a 22-year-old student and protester, said that a crowd of about 500 protesters was trying to talk to riot police Monday at Independence Square, trying to ensure that they would not be forced away. Some protesters offered food to officers in an effort to curb police action.
The Interior Ministry said no action was being taken against protesters in the square, only those blocking access to government agencies. However, nearby public transportation stations remained closed in the wake of a bomb threat that authorities were investigating.
The wave of protests in Kiev may have included as many as a million people, according to reports. "We must press them with our numbers," said Bilan.
Yanukovych has agreed to meet with the country's three former presidents to talk about defusing the tense political crisis. The president said on his website that the meeting, labeled "a nationwide round table," will take place Tuesday.
But opposition parties late Monday rejected the calls for the talks, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The EU's top diplomat, Catherine Ashton, will be in Ukraine's capital Tuesday and Wednesday. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said she will try to help defuse "the very tense solution that Ukraine is living today."
In a phone call today with Yanukovych, Vice President Joe Biden "underscored the need to immediately de-escalate the situation and begin a dialogue with opposition leaders on developing a consensus way forward," the White House said in a statement.
Biden "noted that violence has no place in a democratic society and is incompatible with our strategic relationship," and "reaffirmed the strong support of the United States for Ukraine's European aspirations."
The heads of the opposition parties and leaders of the protests have called for continuing peaceful mass protest, but some protesters have argued for a less restrained approach.
"I may seem a bit provocative when I say it, but I think that the protest must get more radical," said Kateryna Kobko, 19-year-old English-language student from Kiev. "It won't be as peaceful as it was during the Orange Revolution in 2004. If you listen to what people say, they are in radical mood."
Kobko, who spent every day of the last two weeks at the protest, said she did it because Yanukovych's Party of Regions "is a malformed structure, and the system built on it must be fully destroyed."
Meanwhile, Bilan, a student from the Western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk, said he came to Kiev with friends for a weekend to witness the protests. Impressed with the scale of the Sunday rally, he is now trying to decide whether to stay in Kiev for longer or to go back home and try to rally protesters there.
"I think the peaceful mass protest is the only way to go," he said as he ate a sandwich in a lobby of City Hall, one of several buildings seized by the protesters. He suggested that the current blockades could spread throughout the city.
Many protesters say they expected the government to attempt to break up the protests by force. Some at Independence Square said they were ready to fight the troops for the right to stay in the square.
Taras Berezovets, a political consultant based in Kiev, said Yanukovych likely will introduce a state of emergency.
EuroMaidan leaders condemned the actions of a group of nationalists who toppled a statue of the communist leader Vladimir Lenin on Sunday.
The men, many of them wearing masks and symbols of the nationalist Svoboda political party, tied cables around the statue's chest before pulling it down. The statue's head broke when it hit the ground. Kiev police are investigating and have not arrested anyone so far.
"They shouldn't perform such barbarism at a time when the whole world is watching Ukraine," said pop singer Ruslana Lyzhichko, one of the EuroMaidan protest leaders.
Others said it would provide the president with the additional justification to pursue a crackdown.
"It brings instability to the opposition alliance, because the Svoboda Party did it on their individual decision," said Berezovets, who added that the act "gives Yanukovych justification to introduce a state of emergency, as a response to the riots."
He added that Russia is the only side benefiting from the violence.
"Russia wants a weak Yanukovych and weak Ukraine," he said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
PARIS – French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday that nearly 400 people were killed in the last three days in violence in the Central African Republic capital Bangui, but that calm had returned.
“We have counted 394 dead in the last three days. Calm has returned to Bangui even if there are still some abuses here and there,” Fabius told France 3 television.
French troops poured into the impoverished landlocked country on Saturday after President Francois Hollande announced he was boosting a UN-mandated French force to 1,600 soldiers.
“There are a certain number of operations under way throughout the country, and operations to disarm Seleka will begin,” Fabius said, referring to the mostly Muslim rebel fighters who were behind a coup in March.
“Our role is loud and clear, and it is first of all a security role. The order has been given to disarm and confine to quarters, we are doing this with the Africans” from the 2,500-strong MISCA force, Fabius said.
“The problem is that some (Seleka fighters) are abandoning their fatigues to dress as civilians, making it difficult.”
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