Ukraine To Restart 'Anti-Terrorism Operation'

Ukraine's acting president has called for new anti-terrorist measures to protect citizens of his country after "brutally tortured" bodies were found near Slavyansk.

Oleksandr Turchynov said the body of Volodymyr Rybak, a member of Turchynov's Batkivshchyna party, was one of two found showing signs of torture.

Mr Rybak was deputy head of Horlivka city council. Ukrainian news website vesti.ua said a body thought to be his was found beside a river about 60km from the city.

The dead man was hard to identify, the website said, as it had been in water for several days. Mr Rybak went missing on April 17.

In a statement, Mr Turchynov said: "I call on the security agencies to relaunch and carry out effective anti-terrorist measures, with the aim of protecting Ukrainian citizens living in eastern Ukraine from terrorists."

Mr Biden also met with interim president Oleksander Turchynov

A number of political leaders and journalists are reported to have been detained by pro-Russia militia who running many cities in eastern Ukraine.

The detentions prompted the OSCE, who are in Ukraine as monitors, to express deep concern.

The separatists are demanding the right to hold a referendum on the future of eastern Ukraine, similar to that which prompted the breakaway of Crimea in March.

Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Kiev on Tuesday to reiterate US support for a unified Ukraine during a meeting with MPs.

As he did so, the US said it will be sending about 600 troops to Poland and the three Baltic states to take part in exercises.

A pro-Russian separatist guards the security service building in Slovyansk

Mr Biden announced new support for Kiev's government on energy and economic reforms and warned Russia against further provocative action.

Under an agreement signed by the US, the European Union, Russia and Ukraine in Geneva last week, the separatists were supposed to disarm and relinquish control of the towns.

The US has threatened further sanctions against Russia if the separatists - who are Russian speaking and are allegedly backed by Moscow - do not meet the agreement's conditions.

Mr Biden said: "There are some who are trying to pull Ukraine apart. Ukraine is and must remain one country - one united Ukraine.

"No nation has the right to simply grab land from another nation. More provocative behaviour by Russia will lead to more costs and greater isolation."

Not long after he made his speech, a Ukrainian military surveillance plane flying over Slavyansk, in eastern Ukraine, was hit by small arms fire, forcing it to make an emergency landing.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said Russian special forces were operating in eastern Ukraine and urged Russia to withdraw troops in Crimea to "turn this shameful page".

But Russia rebuffed the claims, with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov calling for the US to put pressure on Kiev to abide by their part of the Geneva accord.

On Easter Sunday, at least three people were killed at a checkpoint manned by armed separatists, with Russia blaming Ukrainian nationalist group Right Sector.

British Prime Minister David Cameron will discuss the Ukraine crisis and EU reform during a meeting with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy later on Tuesday.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has deployed around 100 mediators in Ukraine to monitor the situation in the east of the country.

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Missing Plane: Material Washes Ashore In Oz

Officials searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane say material has washed ashore off the coast of Western Australia.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is now examining photographs of the objects, which have been secured by police in the region, to establish whether they are linked to flight MH370.

Authorities said the images had also been passed to investigators in Malaysia.

Relatives are urging governments not to give up the search

The development came after Australia pledged to keep searching for the plane despite no sign of wreckage after almost seven weeks.

Bad weather is continuing to hamper the search with aircraft grounded for the second day due to heavy rain, low clouds and rough seas.

An undersea drone is nearing the end of its first full mission and Australian PM Tony Abbott says the search strategy may change if seabed scans taken by the US Navy drone fails to find a trace of MH370, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board.

The deep search covers an area where sonar equipment picked up a signal

"We may well re-think the search but we will not rest until we have done everything we can to solve this mystery," he said.

"The only way we can get to the bottom of this is to keep searching the probable impact zone until we find something or until we have searched it as thoroughly as human ingenuity allows at this time."

The Bluefin-21 drone is a key component in the search after the detection of audio signals, or "pings", believed to be from the plane's black box flight .

Relatives are asking Mr Hussein to investigate old media reports

The search co-ordination centre said the robotic submarine had so far covered more than 80% of the 120 square mile (310 square kilometres) seabed search zone off the Australian west coast, creating a three-dimensional sonar map of the ocean floor, but failing to find anything of interest.

The 2.8 mile (4.5-kilometre) deep search area is a circle 12 miles (20 km) wide around an area where sonar equipment picked up a signal on April 8 consistent with a plane's black boxes. The batteries powering those signals are now dead.

Both Australia and Malaysia are under growing pressure to show what lengths they are prepared to go to in order to give closure to the grieving families of those on board.

In a sign of the families' growing desperation for answers, a group purporting to be relatives of the missing flight's passengers wrote a letter to Malaysian defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein, urging the government to investigate old media reports that the plane landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

"It is high time that the government should start thinking out of the box by exploring and re-examining all leads, new and old," said the letter, published on Facebook on Wednesday.

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Snorkellers Saved By Huge SOS Scrawled In Sand

Five people have been rescued off Australia's Queensland coast after writing SOS in an exposed sandbar in the middle of the sea.

The group, who were on a snorkelling trip on Monday, left their boat near the sand and headed for nearby rocks - but its anchor broke and the boat drifted away.

"Just as we got over to the rocks, one of the boat co-owners … turned back and could see that the boat had shifted," Lyn Forbes-Smith told The Courier-Mail.

Two of the group tried to swim after the drifting boat, but could not reach it.

The rocks were a long swim from the sandbar (Pic: RACQ-CQ)

Without food, water, or sunscreen - and with all mobile phones on board - they were forced to etch out SOS in giant letters and retreat to nearby rocks.

"We knew the sandbar would go under but we were fairly confident that the tide wouldn't have taken over the rocks," Mrs Forbes-Smith said.

Friends of the group back on Keswick Island raised the alarm when they did not return as planned.

The group were stranded without food or water (Pic: RACQ-CQ)

Luckily, their boat was spotted by a volunteer rescue crew who traced the boat's registration.

A rescue helicopter tracked down the group by nightfall and winched them to safety, flying them back to the town of Mackay.

"We just looked for the highest ground, we looked for rocks where five of us could huddle together because we didn't really want to separate, and we wanted to be out of the wind as best as possible," Ms Forbes-Smith said.

She said the group were "a bit burnt" but otherwise in good health.

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Battle For Control Of Net Kicks Off In Brazil

The battle for control of the internet enters a new phase today when 850 experts thrash out its future in Brazil.

Last month, the US announced it plans to give up oversight of the way net addresses are distributed.

Now hundreds of government officials, technical experts and academics are meeting at the NetMundial conference in Sao Paulo to discuss who should oversee the worldwide web in future.

China and Russia want the United Nations to have some say over how the internet is controlled, while the US and parts of Europe say it should be at arm's length from government control.

A draft outcome document has been drawn up for discussion, but the final text will not be binding.

The US currently oversees the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), but is willing to relinquish control by September 2015.

Officials from countries including China, the US and Great Britain will attend the two-day conference, which was due to be opened by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

Organisers say every attendee - from academics to government officials - will have an equal voice.

The goal is to agree on principles that could form the basis of later internet governance discussions.

It is expected that despite the non-binding nature of the discussions, an accord will be hard to reach.

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Airport Security Codes Lost Before Obama Visit

Security codes for Tokyo's main airport had to be changed just days before President Obama arrived, after an employee dropped a memo containing the top-secret details.

The Skymark Airlines employee mislaid the list of every security code on the departure lobby floor of Haneda Airport, an official revealed.

While the details were only missing for 30 minutes, it was deemed a big enough security threat that electronic security codes were changed.

The incident took place on Sunday evening, and was revealed by Japan's transport ministry.

Security in the capital was ramped up ahead of Mr Obama's visit, with 16,000 police officers deployed.

Japanese media said additional security cameras had been installed, and bins and public lockers swept for explosives then sealed.

Mr Obama touched down just before 8pm local time, marking the beginning of the first state visit by a US president for two decades.

Access to the airport's observation deck was restricted as Air Force One landed.

The president will hold a summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, among other events.

He will leave Tokyo for South Korea on Friday morning.

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Divers Smashing Ferry Walls To Recover Bodies

S Korea Ferry: Final Contact From Doomed Vessel

Updated: 11:11am UK, Sunday 20 April 2014

A transcript of communications between the stricken Sewol ferry and the coastguard has lifted the lid on the final minutes before the order was given to abandon ship.

The conversations show panic setting in on board the vessel, with officers asking for help to "please come quickly" as it began to tilt to the left, three hours from its destination of Jeju Island.

The transcript also appears to back up claims that the evacuation order may have come too late for some passengers as officers said the ship was tilting so much it was "impossible to move" to check on them.

The communication, which begins with the first distress call made by the ferry on Wednesday morning, has been translated by The Associated Press.

It reads:

8.55am

Sewol: Harbour affairs Jeju, do you have reception of The Sewol?

Jeju Vessel Traffic Services Centre (VTS): Yes, Sewol, this is harbour affairs Jeju.

Sewol: Please notify the coastguard. Our ship is in danger. It's listing right now.

8.56am

Jeju VTS: Where's your ship? Yes, got it. We will notify the coastguard.

Sewol: This ship has listed a lot. Can't move. Please come quickly. We're next to Byeongpung Island.

Jeju VTS: Yes, we got it.

8.58am

Jeju VTS: Sewol, this is harbour affairs Jeju. Do you have reception? Sewol, harbour affairs Jeju.

8.59am

Sewol: Harbour affairs Jeju, this is Sewol.

Jeju VTS: Sewol, this is harbour affairs Jeju. Channel 21, please.

9.00am

Jeju VTS: Sewol, this is harbour affairs Jeju.

Sewol: Jeju, Sewol here.

Jeju VTS: What's the current situation?

Sewol: Currently the body of the ship has listed to the left. The containers have listed as well.

Jeju VTS: OK. Any damage of the human life?

Sewol: It's impossible to check right now. The body of the ship has tilted, and it's impossible to move.

Jeju VTS: Yes, OK. Please wear life jackets and prepare as the people might have to abandon ship. 

Sewol: It's hard for people to move.

Jeju VTS: Yes, got it.

9.05am

Sewol: Harbour affairs Jeju, do you have reception of Sewol?

Jeju VTS: Yes, this is harbour affairs Jeju, Sewol.

Sewol: What's going on with the coastguard?

Jeju VTS: Yes, we have notified the coastguard. Currently we are calling Jindo VTS and Wando VTS. Please hold for a moment.

After this, Jeju VTS notified other ships and Wando VTS.

9.24am

Sewol: If this ferry evacuates passengers, will they be rescued right away?

Jeju VTS Even if it's impossible to broadcast, please go out and let the passengers wear life jackets and put on more clothing. The rescue of human lives of Sewol ferry... the captain should make your own decision and evacuate them. We don't know the situation very well. The captain should make the final decision and decide whether you're going to evacuate passengers or not.

Sewol: I'm not talking about that. I asked, if they evacuate now, can they be rescued right away?

Jeju VTS then said patrol boats would arrive in 10 minutes, but did not mention another civilian ship had already arrived near the scene.

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Kate And William Find Their Groove On The Decks

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have tried their hand at DJing during a visit to a youth centre in Adelaide as part of their Australian tour.

The Royal couple spun the decks at the Northern Sound System, which helps disadvantaged youth learn how to DJ, perform music and cut records, in Elizabeth, a suburb named after William's grandmother.

They both seemed unsure of their mixing prowess at first, each gesturing the other to have a go.

"It's all yours," said William to his wife, before she replied: "William's got lots more experience than I have."

The royal performance received a thumbs-up from the Duchess on the decks

But they soon found their groove and got the hang of things after a bit of help from local DJ Shane Peterer, who remarked: "She was fantastic but he can fly a helicopter. So, horses for courses."

After finding her swing, the Duchess got an applause from the audience and gave a delighted thumbs up.

They were given a skateboard for George

When asked about his taste in music, William said: "I like house music, I still like a bit of rock and roll and the classics and a bit of R'n'B but I'm not a big heavy metal fan. I'd like to be but I'm not."

Outside the music centre in the Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth, the couple watched a skateboarding display in a skate park and were presented with a customised skateboard for their baby, George.

During their visit the couple also unveiled a plaque for a new office development named Prince George Plaza.

The Royal couple arrived in Adelaide after spending the night sleeping under the stars in a boutique camping resort at Uluru.

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Justin Bieber Sorry After Japanese Shrine Visit

Justin Bieber Is No Stranger To Controversy

Updated: 12:40pm UK, Wednesday 23 April 2014

Justin Bieber found fame at the age of 14 after a talent manager saw videos of him performing on YouTube.

Since then he has sold millions of records, won awards and has a global fan base, called Beliebers.

But he has struggled to maintain a squeaky clean image and a petition was even created to have him deported back to Canada.

Since January almost 275,000 US citizens have added their names to the list calling for President Obama to revoke his visa.

In January he handed himself in to Toronto police to face a charge for an alleged assault on a limo driver.

And even before his arrest in Miami on January 23  for driving under the influence, Bieber was having brushes with the law, annoying fans with late appearances and drawing controversy for his behaviour.

In March 2013 he was booed by hundreds of fans and their parents when he arrived nearly two hours late for a sold-out concert at London's O2. He blamed a technical fault for the late appearance.

During his London stop, he also lashed out at a photographer in a foul-mouthed rant. "Rough week," he later tweeted.

That same month he was reportedly kicked out of one of Paris's most prestigious hotels for bad behaviour.

He was also questioned by customs officials after he flew his pet monkey into Germany from the US on a private plane without the correct papers.

The pet, a capuchin called Mally, is thought to have been given to the singer for his 19th birthday by music producer Jamal Rashid. Mally was quarantined and it was later suggested he should be placed in a zoo.

In April 2013 Bieber was criticised for saying that he hoped Holocaust victim Anne Frank "would have been a belieber".

The Canadian singer wrote in the guestbook at Anne's former home in Amsterdam: "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a Belieber."

On tour in Sweden a few weeks later, a stun gun and drugs were allegedly found on his tour bus.

An officer on crowd duty told Sky News they had smelled marijuana on the vehicle. No one was arrested.

In May 2013 thieves broke into a stadium in South Africa hours after Bieber performed there, and made off with thousands of pounds in cash.

Weeks later he was reportedly chased back to his California home by furious former American footballer Keyshawn Johnson after allegedly speeding around his gated community in a white Ferrari.

Police investigated the singer over reckless driving.

In July, Bieber telephoned Bill Clinton to say sorry for cursing him and spraying his photo with cleaning fluid in a New York City restaurant kitchen earlier in the year.

A video posted on TMZ.com also allegedly showed the singer urinating in a mop bucket as he and others raced through the restaurant.

In November the pop star stormed off stage at a gig in Brazil after being hit by a water bottle.

He was then investigated by police over claims he sprayed graffiti on the wall of a hotel in Rio de Janeiro.

Graffiti also got him in trouble in Australia, where he was told to clean spray-painted cartoon heads off the wall of the QT Hotel in Surfers Paradise in Queensland.

In December the 19-year-old's grandmother denied the singer needed rehab treatment following an eventful year.

Diane Dale, who was among several of the singer's family to attend the premiere of his new film in Los Angeles, said the media had been "terrible" to him as he travelled the world on his global tour.

"There are so many lies going around," she said.

"A little bit is true but most of it is lies. It's terrible."

He then announced that he was retiring from music.

But 2014 did not start off well after the singer and his friends were accused of causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to a neighbour's home after throwing eggs at it.

The star's home was raided by police and his friend, Lil Za, a 20-year-old rapper whose real name is Xavier Smith, was held on suspicion of cocaine possession.

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Astronauts On Spacewalk To Install Computer

Two astronauts are embarking on a brief spacewalk to carry out repairs at the International Space Station (ISS).

American astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson are spending around 2.5 hours on the spacewalk to remove and replace a computer, known as a multiplexer/demultiplexer (MDM).

The 10-year-old MDM, one of 45 on board the ISS, broke down after a routine restart operation last month.

The spacewalk, which is being streamed live by Nasa, is the 179th from the orbiting laboratory.

The astronauts will spend 2.5 hours away from the ISS

Just before the walk, a Russian cargo capsule Progress 53 undocked from the ISS for a two-day test of a new system which enables it to reattach itself automatically.

The unmanned spacecraft will travel around 311 miles (500km) away from the ISS.

"It will return back to the Zvezda docking port Friday morning after Russian flight controllers have tested its new Kurs automated rendezvous system," the US space agency said.

A similar operation was carried out in 2012 when another Progress cargo freighter pulled away from the station and redocked.

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Fears For 'Kidnapped' US Reporter In Ukraine

Ukraine Crisis: 600 US Troops 'Token Gesture'

Updated: 4:29pm UK, Wednesday 23 April 2014

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

Washington's latest countermove in response to Moscow over the Ukraine crisis is a rather token gesture but in keeping with the pattern.

Moscow leads, Washington follows, Europe dithers and then does something which generally ends up as a diluted version of the American response.

The United States was the first to agree targeted sanctions against Russian individuals, the EU followed.

The Pentagon then expanded its Baltic air-policing operation by sending a few extra F-15s to Lithuania and F-16s to Poland and Romania.

Other Nato countries, including the UK, have since pledged their jets to take over when the US rotates its pilots out of that role later this month.

Washington's latest commitment has been to send 600 troops on training exercises in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Some 150 to each country. Not a lot.

It is meant as a show of commitment to Nato's eastern members. Will it make President Putin think twice before making any new move? Hardly.

If anything it will encourage him. If he can walk into Crimea, annexe it, and then shake things up in eastern Ukraine, suffering only that as the response, well can you blame him for feeling emboldened?

From Brussels to Washington, the buzzword has been "descalate". It is a made-up word, invented by diplomats and politicians.

Should it be hyphenated or written as one word? Who knows. But we get the point.

The problem with made-up words is that they have no agreed definition, but de-escalation broadly means an attempt to achieve a resolution through talks not by matching military action with military action.

Fine. If that is the policy then go for it and good luck. It is surely, by any sensible measure, the preferred method.

But when you start putting troops in eastern Europe and expanding your air capabilities in the region, you immediately change the approach. No argument.

If military action becomes a part of the response then diplomacy, on a certain level, has failed. 

But if there is a change in approach, then that too is fine, but if you're going to do it, then do it properly. Six hundred troops spread thinly between four states is not doing it properly.

Admittedly Nato is also sending some ships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, but just to hang around there.

They have no defined tasking yet. And a small team of minesweepers will travel around the Baltic Sea.

But Nato stretches right to the Russian border. It is within the Alliance's right to hold military exercises within those boundaries. Just as it is Russia's right to hold exercise on the eastern Ukraine border. As long as neither side strays over.

So do it. But do it as an alliance. Thousands of troops, from multiple countries, on a well-defined, sensible exercise.

But 600 troops? Pah. Half measures never work.

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