Putin warns Ukraine on brink of civil war

IZYUM, UKRAINE: Russian leader Vladimir Putin warned that Ukraine is on the verge of civil war, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after the Kiev government sent in troops against pro-Moscow separatists in the east of the country.

"The Russian president remarked that the sharp escalation of the conflict has placed the country, in effect, on the verge of civil war," the Kremlin said in a statement on telephone talks between Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But the leaders both "emphasized the importance" of planned four-way talks on Ukraine on Thursday between top diplomats of Russia, the European Union, the United States and Ukraine.

Ukraine pushed tanks towards a flashpoint eastern city on Tuesday to quash a separatist surge backed by Moscow, a high-risk operation that was sharply condemned by the Kremlin but won Washington's support.

The 20 tanks and armoured personnel carriers sent to Slavyansk were the most forceful response yet by the Western-backed government in Kiev to the pro-Kremlin militants' occupation of state buildings in nearly 10 cities across Ukraine's rust belt.

"They must be warned that if they do not lay down their arms, they will be destroyed," Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) General Vasyl Krutov told a group of reporters tracking the sudden tank movements.

'Untenable' situation

He insisted that the militants were receiving support from several hundred soldiers from the Russian army's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) that had been dispatched to Slavyansk and surrounding villages.

The economically depressed industrial city of 100,000 has effectively been under the control of separatist gunmen since Saturday.

Ukrainian troops were also helicoptered into a military aerodrome at Kramatorsk, south of Slavyansk which the interior ministry said was "liberated" without any casualties.

However pro-Russia activist Oleg Issanka told AFP that the troops had opened fire injuring two people.

The Kremlin statement described the actions of the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine as an "anti-constitutional course to use force against peaceful protest actions".

Kiev's response to the eastern insurgency prompted Putin to tell UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that Moscow "expects clear condemnation from the United Nations and the international community of the anti-constitutional actions" by Ukraine.

Ban in turn "expressed his alarm about the highly volatile situation in eastern Ukraine" and told the Russian leader that everyone involved needed to "work to de-escalate the situation", his office said.

But the White House described Ukraine's military operation as a "measured" response to a lawless insurgency that had put the government in an "untenable" situation.

The threat of all-out war breaking out just beyond the European Union's eastern frontier sent stock markets across Europe tumbling on Tuesday.

"New fears about Ukraine worried the market and could, at any time, send it plunging once again," said Saxo Bank analyst Andrea Tueni.

'Frank' Putin-Obama talks

The rapid turn of events on the ground was preceded by a telephone conversation Monday between US President Barack Obama and Putin that the White House described as "frank and direct".

The Kremlin chief continued to reject any links to the Russian-speaking gunmen who have proclaimed the creation of their own independent republic and asked Putin to send in the 40,000 troops now massed along Russia's border with Ukraine.

But Obama accused Moscow of supporting "armed pro-Russian separatists who threaten to undermine and destabilise the government of Ukraine".

The worst East-West standoff since the Cold War was exacerbated over the weekend by a Russian warplane "buzzing" a US destroyer in the Black Sea and a visit to Kiev by CIA chief John Brennan that was confirmed by the White House and condemned by Moscow.

The US meanwhile said it was coordinating with its European allies to slap more sanctions on Russia over the crisis.

"Our national security team is in active discussions about the next round of sanctions," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

She added however that new measures were unlikely before the highly anticipated EU-US mediated talks on Thursday in Geneva between Moscow and Kiev.

Southeast 'on fire'

Kiev's untested interim leaders, who took power after four months of pro-European protests ousted Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych in February, have struggled to meet the high-stakes challenge presented by the coordinated series of raids that began in the industrial hubs of Donetsk and Lugansk and have since spread to nearby coal mining towns and villages.

The breakaway move could potentially see their vast nation of 46 million people break up along its historic Russian-Ukrainian cultural divide.

Moscow last month annexed the largely Russified region of Crimea after deploying military forces there and backing a hasty local referendum calling for the Black Sea peninsula to be absorbed into the Russian Federation.

But a forceful military response by Kiev could prompt a devastating counterstrike by Russian troops who are waiting to act on Putin's vow to "protect" Russian-speakers in the neighbouring state.

Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov told an agitated session of parliament that the country was facing an eastern enemy rather than domestic discontent.

"They want to set fire not only to the Donetsk region but to the entire south and east, from Kharkiv to the Odessa region," the acting president said.

The Kremlin set nerves in Kiev further on edge on Monday by announcing Putin had received requests from eastern Ukraine "to intervene in some form". Some in Kiev saw that as a new effort to create a pretext for an invasion.

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Pistorius trial: Judge sets 2-week adjournment

PRETORIA, South Africa: The judge in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius has ruled that proceedings will adjourn for more than two weeks after Thursday and resume on May 5.

Judge Thokozile Masipa said on Wednesday that she was responding to a request for a break from the chief prosecutor and which was supported by the defense. Pistorius's trial started March 3 and Masipa said the case had lasted longer than expected.

Chief defense lawyer Barry Roux has said he will call between 14 and 17 witnesses. Forensic expert Roger Dixon, the third witness called by the defense, was testifying Wednesday.

Pistorius was charged with premeditated murder for shooting girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home last year. He says he shot her by mistake; the prosecution says he killed her intentionally after an argument.

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Prosecution pillories Pistorius expert

PRETORIA: The prosecution on Wednesday derided a forensic expert hired by Oscar Pistorius, accusing him of being unqualified to testify and rubbishing his account of the circumstances of Reeva Steenkamp's death.

State prosecutor Gerrie Nel sought to prove that forensic geologist Roger Dixon was out of his depth when he was testifying about bruises on Steenkamp's body and other key elements of the crime scene.

Dixon, a university professor, told the court about the sound made by Pistorius's cricket bat hitting his toilet door, visibility in the star sprinter's bedroom and blood splatter.

Under intense pressure from Nel, Dixon described himself as a "layman," a phrase the prosecutor seized on.

"You see Mr Dixon how irresponsible it is to try and be an expert on an area that you're not," said Nel.

Pistorius's defence team has tried to prove that neighbours who testified to hearing "bloodcurdling screams" followed by gunshots were mistaken.

If proven correct, the neighbours' account could punch a hole in Pistorius's claim he did not know Steenkamp was in the toilet.

The defence team — with the help of Dixon — has tried to show that the noises were in fact Pistorius bashing a cricket bat against his toilet door after realising he mistakenly killed the model.

"Are you a sound expert, sir?" asked Nel. "Have you received training in decibels and sound?"

Not specifically, said Dixon. He also testified that Pistorius's bedroom was so dark the athlete could not have seen whether Steenkamp was in bed.

When Nel asked the geologist about how he analysed the visibility in Pistorius's bedroom room at night, Dixon said: "My lady, the instruments I used there were my eyes."

"Are you a blood splatter expert?" said Nel. "I have received no training in blood splatter analysis," said Dixon, a former employee of the South African Police Service.

Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux is expected to call up to 17 witnesses to bolster the athlete's story that he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by mistake, believing she was an intruder breaking into his upmarket home in a gated Pretoria community.

The Paralympic gold medallist has pleaded not guilty to intentionally killing the 29-year-old model and law graduate.

He has also pleaded not guilty to three other charges connected with the reckless discharge of a firearm and the illegal possession of ammunition.

He stepped down from the witness stand on Tuesday, after a gruelling cross-examination at the hands of Nel.

Legal experts said Pistorius, who was evasive and argumentative on the stand, did himself more harm than good.

"I think it's a desperate man," said William Booth, a criminal lawyer based in Cape Town. "The more questions you ask somebody like Oscar, it could actually get worse."

Earlier, the judge overseeing Pistorius's trial granted an adjournment from Thursday afternoon until May 5, citing scheduling concerns raised on behalf of the state.

The prosecution, with the backing of the defence, had asked for a delay because an assistant prosecutor is involved on another case and other members of the legal team had planned holidays.

"A private matter always poses a challenge, especially when it is a long-term matter," said Judge Thokozile Masipa.

"For that reason it will take precedence," said the judge. "As well as the fact that counsel have made themselves available way beyond the time that was initially estimated."

Judge Masipa said she and her assessors will use the time to study the hefty record, which runs over 2,000 pages excluding the bail application.

"Much of the evidence is technical evidence from expert witnesses, there is a lot of reading to be done and my assessors and I will use the break to read the record," she said.

Taking into account Easter holidays, the adjournment is for seven working days, a period the judge said was "not unduly long" and could "hardly cause the accused prejudice."

The Pistorius murder trial has run far over the originally allotted time of three weeks.

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Gunmen abduct Jordan ambassador in Libya

TRIPOLI (Libya): Masked gunmen seized the Jordanian ambassador in the Libyan capital on Tuesday, officials said, the latest in a wave of abductions and kidnappings that have swept Libya underscoring the lawlessness in the North African nation since the 2011 overthrow of late dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

According to the spokesman of the Libyan foreign ministry, several masked gunmen in civilian clothes and in two cars opened fire at Ambassador Fawaz al-Etan's vehicle early Tuesday morning in Tripoli.

The assailants wounded the Jordanian ambassador's driver and forced al-Etan out at gunpoint, said the spokesman, Said al-Aswad.

Jordan's foreign ministry spokeswoman Sabah al-Rafie confirmed the kidnapping but had no further details. She said the Jordanian government was following the matter closely with the Libyan authorities.

The motives behind the abduction were not clear and no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Abductions have been rife in Libya since Gadhafi's ouster, and officials, diplomats and journalists are frequently subjected to kidnappings, threats and attacks.

In January, gunmen briefly kidnapped six Egyptian diplomats and embassy employees following the arrest of a Libyan militia leader in Egypt. The diplomats were released only after Egypt released the detained militia commander.

Most of the abductions, though, have targeted Libyan officials and their family members.

On Sunday, Libya's interim prime minister, Abdullah al-Thinni, declined a parliamentary mandate to form a new government, saying he would step down instead after a new premier is named.

Al-Thinni said his action was prompted by a recent attack against him that, in his words, endangered the lives of the residents in his neighborhood. Details of the attack were not revealed but al-Thinni, who was the country's former defense minister, said he did not want to be the cause of any fighting or bloodshed because of his position.

Al-Thinni's son was kidnapped and held by a militia for four months until his release in January.

And last year, former Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan was briefly abducted from his five-star hotel in central Tripoli by an Islamic militia group before he was released by another rival armed group.

Also, the current powerful head of the Libyan Parliament, Nouri Abu Sahmein, appeared last month in leaked video in which he is seen was begging with an Islamic militia commander, trying to explain why he was caught with two women in his residence and insisting nothing scandalous was going on.

The incidents reflect the weakness of Libyan politicians and officials in the face of powerful militias that have become both the enforcers of the law and the fuel of lawlessness after successive governments depended on them to restore order in the absence of a strong police force or military.

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Tax fraud: Italian court orders Berlusconi to do community service

ROME: An Italian court on Tuesday ordered former Prime Minister and billionaire tycoon Silvio Berlusconi to do a year of community service in an old person's home in a symbolic but humiliating punishment for tax fraud.

The flamboyant 77-year-old media magnate will have to work at the centre "one day a week and for not less than four hours", Milan judge Pasquale Nobile De Santis said in his ruling published by Italian media.

The ANSA news agency identified the centre as the Fondazione Sacra Famiglia -- a Church-run centre for disabled and elderly people with 2,000 patients in Cesano Boscone, a southwestern outskirt of Milan.

The court in Milan said Berlusconi would have to stay in the Lombardy region most of the week but would be granted special dispensation to travel to Rome between Tuesdays and Thursdays for political engagements.

He will have to respect a curfew and be back home on Thursdays in his villa near Milan by 11pm.

Berlusconi will also now be banned from meeting other people with criminal convictions, which includes at least one of his close associates.

The ruling did not say when the community service would start but reports said it could be within days.

Berlusconi was at his residence in Rome on Tuesday and meeting with his lawyers, Italian media reported.

Berlusconi has been expelled from parliament and is barred from running in an election for six years but is still the leader of Italy's main centre-right party, Forza Italia (Go Italy) and a major political player.

The ruling is certain to ease the veteran politician's concern about campaigning for European Parliament elections next month.

The court was deciding between granting him community service or placing him under house arrest, which would have severely limited his movements.

Berlusconi's lawyers Niccolo Ghedini and Franco Coppi welcomed the ruling as "balanced and satisfactory relating to the requirements of his political activity".

But Daniele Capezzone, a lawmaker from Forza Italia, said it was still "a blow for democracy".

Berlusconi was sentenced last year in the case, which relates to the purchase of television distribution rights by his Mediaset business empire in the 1990s.

He was spared prison time because of leniency in Italy for convicted over-70s and the sentence could be further cut for good behaviour to nine months.

Berlusconi claims total innocence of any crime he has ever been charged with and regularly accuses a large part of the Italian judiciary of plotting to exclude him from politics because of an alleged leftist bias.

He is currently involved in two other court cases. In a trial set to start on June 20, he will appeal a seven-year prison sentence and lifetime ban from parliament for having sex with an underage 17-year-old prostitute and abusing his official powers.

He is also a defendant in a trial for allegedly paying a three-million euro ($4 million) bribe to get a centre-left senator to join his party in 2006 in a move that helped bring down a rival government.

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South Sudan fighting threatens an oil center

JUBA (South Sudan): Rebel fighters in South Sudan claimed on Tuesday that they captured the capital of an oil-rich state, and they issued an ultimatum to oil companies to shut down production and evacuate workers. UN peacekeepers rescued 10 oil workers from the violence, but not before five were wounded.

UN peacekeepers from Mongolia rescued 10 staff members from the Russian oil company Safinat just north of the city of Bentiu, said Joe Contreras, a UN spokesman. He said two of the five wounded were in critical condition.

A rebel commander, speaking by phone from Unity state, said rebel forces recaptured Bentiu from government troops.

"Our forces have completed mopping and cleaning up operations in and around Bentiu Tuesday morning while other combat units are in hot pursuit of government generals running toward," the northern border, said Brig Gen Lul Ruai Koang, a spokesman for rebel troops. "The recapturing of Bentiu marks the first phase of liberation of oil fields from anti-democratic and genocidal forces of" President Salva Kiir, he said.

South Sudan saw massive violence sweep the country in December, when fighting broke out between troops loyal to the former vice president and those loyal to Kiir. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed, and more than 1 million have fled their homes.

Koang urged oil companies operating in government controlled areas to immediately begin closing down oil production and evacuate staff within a week. He said a failure to comply would risk the forced shutdown of oil facilities and threaten the safety of staff there.

Despite Koang's claims, the spokesman for South Sudan's military, Col Philip Aguer, said that the fighting is still ongoing and the picture from Bentiu is not yet clear.

As the fighting continued, Toby Lanzer, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, expressed outrage and frustration with the political and military leaders of South Sudan. He said the renewed outbreak of warfare will further hamper efforts to avoid oncoming hunger.

"What we've been pleading was give the people of your country some breathing space, give the people of South Sudan the space to tend to their cattle, allow them the safety to get to their fields and plant and cultivate," he said.

More than 9,000 civilians are now seeking refuge in the UN's Bentiu base, he said. Peacekeepers have been deployed to protect civilians hiding in a hospital to prevent a repeat of past hospital massacres, he said.

"There are hundreds of women and children, trying to stay safe in a hospital," Lanzer said, adding later: "I really feel a sense of outrage."

International aid officials have increasingly invoked the word "famine" to describe what South Sudan could face in coming months. The country is extremely poor and most residents survive only on the crops they plant and harvest. Because of the fighting, many residents are not able to plant crops ahead of the coming rainy season.

Last weekend top U.S. and European Union aid officials called for increased global support to combat the oncoming crisis. They noted that 800,000 South Sudanese are internally displaced and 280,000 have fled to neighboring countries. International aid actors say South Sudan faces a funding gap of nearly $800 million.

"This declaration is a wake-up call to prevent a deeper catastrophe from unfolding in South Sudan," said Rajiv Shah, the head of the U.S. government aid arm USAID. "Today, indicators tell us that South Sudan is on the brink of famine, and it's clear that the world must now do more to address this crisis."

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Blast kills 'dozens' in Nigerian capital

ABUJA: Dozens of people are feared dead in an explosion that blasted through a busy commuter bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital, Abuja, before 7am (0600 GMT) on Monday as people were traveling to work.

Reporters saw rescue workers and police gathering body parts and ambulances rushing the wounded to the hospital.

Suspicion immediately fell on the Boko Haram terrorist network that has been threatening to attack the capital, in the middle of the country and hundreds of miles from its traditional base in the northeast, where it has killed nearly 1,500 people this year. The militants' violent campaign poses the greatest threat to the cohesion and security of Africa's biggest oil producer as the country prepares for elections in February 2015.

Monday's blast ripped a hole 4-feet deep (1.2 meters) in the ground of Nyanya Motor Park about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the city center and destroyed more than 30 vehicles, causing secondary explosions as their fuel tanks ignited and burned.

"I can't count the number of people that died. They took them in open vehicles. People were running and there was confusion," said civil servant Ben Nwachukwu.

Security personnel belatedly cordoned off the area and a bomb detonation team was combing it for secondary explosives, a common occurrence here.

The explosion appeared to come from a vehicle at about 6.45am, according to Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. "It affected quite a number of people because it was still very early in the morning and there was a lot of traffic," according to the agency's Air Commodore Charles Otegbade. He did not give a death toll.

There was no immediate claim for Monday's rush-hour explosion though bus stations are a favored target of Nigeria's Islamic extremists.

The Boko Haram terrorist network claimed responsibility for a 2011 suicide bombing by two explosives-laden cars that drove into the lobby of the United Nations office building in Abuja. It killed at least 21 people and wounded 60.

Last week, Boko Haram suspects detained at the State Security Service headquarters in Abuja, next door to the residence and office of President Goodluck Jonathan, staged a failed jailbreak in which it is suspected that they had outside help. The agency said 21 detainees were shot and killed and two agents wounded in a shootout that lasted more than two hours.

The militants are blamed for attacks in northeast Nigeria that have killed more than 50 people in the past five days, including eight teachers living at a boarding school that had been closed because of frequent attacks on schools in which hundreds of students have died.

Boko Haram — the nickname means "Western education is forbidden" — has been attacking schools, villages, market places and military barracks and checkpoints this year in increasingly frequent and deadly attacks. Its mission is to force an Islamic state on Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of some 170 million people divided almost equally between Muslims living mainly in the north and Christians in the south.

The military has claimed that it has the extremists on the run with near-daily air bombardments and ground assaults on hideouts in forests and mountain caves along the border with Cameroon.

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Pistorius, Steenkamp 'argued' on night she died

PRETORIA: Oscar Pistorius argued with his girlfriend shortly before shooting her dead, the prosecution lawyer alleged on Monday as his gruelling cross-examination of the sprinter went into a second week.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel accused the 27-year-old of concocting evidence in his defence against the charge of murdering Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines' Day last year.

"It's the state's case, Mr Pistorius, that she wanted to leave and that you weren't sleeping, you were both awake," said Nel.

"That's not correct my lady, that's untrue," Pistorius replied softly. "There was an argument," Nel said, drawing another denial. Nel repeatedly described the athlete's explanation that he accidentally shot Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door as "so improbable that it cannot be reasonably possible".

The prosecutor's relentless questioning has elicited tears and taut replies from the world-famous double amputee, who insists he and the 29-year-old model were in a loving relationship.

During the relentless back-and-forth Pistorius and Nel at times appeared to come close to bickering.

Nel complained that Pistorius was being evasive and challenged him: "Today I pick up you're not sure about things, is anything wrong?" Nel asked. "You're fine?"

Pistorius grew increasingly restless during the morning, wiping his face, pinching the bridge of his nose and clenching his jaw.

Jumping from one event or piece of evidence to another, Nel sought to keep Pistorius off balance.

The athlete could not explain why the model and law graduate had undigested food in her stomach up to eight hours after the couple ate under his version of events.

A forensic pathologist earlier testified that she must have eaten around two hours before her death, which contradicts the accused's version they were sleeping at the time.

The defence has disputed the science that stomach contents could accurately indicated the time of the last meal.

The athlete was also asked to explain why Steenkamp's jeans were lying on the floor while the rest of her possessions were neatly arranged.

Nel has openly called the athlete's version "a lie" contending Pistorius knew exactly what he was doing when he fired the lethal shots.

"You knew Reeva was behind the door and you shot at her!" he said Friday, with athlete replying softly "It's not true, milady."

Pistorius claims he woke up in the early morning hours, brought in two fans from his balcony, then switched armed himself after hearing the noise in the bathroom.

Steenkamp's older sister branded Pistorius a "disgusting liar" after attending some of his testimony in court with her mother.

"He is trying to convince the court that they were really close and that he cared for her. It's not true," said Simone Steenkamp, 48.

Attending the trial "almost destroyed me", she told Britain's Mail on Sunday.

"He knew we were there but he almost lost his balance and fell over when he saw us.

"Then he sat in the dock, smirking. He killed my sister and yet he still seems to be enjoying his celebrity status.

"During the adjournments he marched around as if he was still a star while my mother and I just wanted to hide away," she added.

"I don't understand how anyone could commit that act — kill someone — and behave like that."

Pistorius will likely remain on the stand for another few days as a witness in his own defence.

His lawyers have said it will call up to 17 witnesses, including ballistics experts.

The double amputee gained world-wide fame for running on two carbon fibre blades at the Paralympics and 2012 London Games. His legs were amputated below the knee shortly after he was born without calf bones.

The shooting brought his career to an abrupt halt, but die-hard fans insisting on his innocence have attended the trial from time to time.

On Friday a fan handed him a bouquet of flowers as he came out of court, while on Monday three women outside the building held white balloons with "Oscar" and "Love" scribbled in permanent marker.

Originally set down for three weeks, the trial on Monday enters its sixth week and has been extended until May 16.

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Ukraine: Police building, airport seized

HORLIVKA, UKARINA: A pro-Russian mob on Monday 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.

One of the men directing the raid in Horlivka introduced himself as a lieutenant colonel of the Russian army to a line of policemen who switched sides, but he did not state his full name. The man, dressed in green camouflage uniform, instructed them to obey their new chief and to attach St. George's ribbons to their uniforms, which have become a symbol of pro-Russian protesters in eastern Ukraine.

The episode fed into accusations from the government in Kiev and Western officials that the protests are being instigated by the Kremlin and that some of the insurgents are Russian agents.

Oleksandr Sapunov, one of the men who took part in storming the police building in Horlivka, said the insurgents were fighting against appointees of the Kiev government, including the local police chief, and wanted to appoint a leadership of their own.

"The people came to tell him that he is a puppet of the Kiev junta and they won't accept him," Sapunov said.

Acting Deputy Interior Minister Mykola Velichkovych acknowledged Monday that some police officers in eastern regions were switching sides. "In the east we have seen numerous facts of sabotage from the side of police," Velichkovych told reporters.

The events echoed those in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia last month after key regional facilities were seized by Russian troops aided by local militiamen.

Ever since pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia in late February, Russia has demanded constitutional reforms that would turn Ukraine into a loose federal state.

After refusing demands for a referendum by separatists in the east, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov indicated Monday that holding a nation-wide referendum on the nation's status was a possibility and that such a vote could be conducted on May 25, along with presidential elections. Turchynov expressed confidence that Ukrainians would vote against turning the country into a federation and against its break-up.

Meanwhile, a deadline set by the Ukrainian government for pro-Russian gunmen to leave government buildings in eastern Ukraine and surrender weapons passed early Monday, with no immediate sign of any action to force the insurgents out.

Turchynov had issued a decree Sunday that those protesters who disarm and vacate government offices in several cities in the Russian-leaning east of the country by 0600 GMT Monday will not be prosecuted. Turchynov vowed that a "large-scale anti-terrorist operation" would take place to re-establish control over those areas.

There was no immediate comment from the government on the deadline passing.

But Serhiy Taruta, governor of the Donetsk region, where government buildings in several cities, including the regional capital Donetsk, have been seized by pro-Russian gunmen, said an "anti-terrorist operation" was underway in the region, according to the Interfax news agency.

Taruta gave no details of what the operation would entail and there were no signs of increased police presence on the streets of Donetsk Monday. The governor usually does not have authority to launch such measures on his own and he was likely acting on the orders of top security officials in Kiev.

Taruta said the action would be aimed at "protecting the peace and order on our land, which today is being taken away from us by armed, aggressive fanatics cynically and cold-bloodedly," he was quoted as saying. "They are terrorists and we will not let them rule on our land." He did not provide any details of the operation.

The West has accused Moscow of fomenting the unrest.

"The fact is that many of the armed units that we've seen were outfitted in bulletproof vests, camouflage uniforms with insignia removed," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said during a UN Security Council session Sunday. "These armed units ... raised Russian and separatist flags over seized buildings and have called referendums and union with Russia. We know who is behind this."

Vadim Karasyov, a political analyst in Kiev, said the Kremlin was using the ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych, to help foment separatist tensions. "The Kremlin is implementing its scenario in the East, using Yanukovych and his loyalists, while Russian instructors are running the show," Karasyov said.

Russia has tens of thousands of troops massed along Ukraine's eastern border, and Western government have expressed fears that Moscow might use the violence in the mainly Russian-speaking region as a pretext for an invasion, in a repeat of events in Crimea weeks ago.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin denied Western and Ukrainian claims that Moscow was behind the violence, and told U.N. diplomats that Ukraine's interim government has been using radical neo-Nazi forces to destabilize its eastern region.

"Some people, including in this chamber, do not want to see the real reasons for what is happening in Ukraine and are constantly seeing the hand of Moscow in what is going on," Churkin said. "Enough. That is enough."

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Israel allows settlers back into disputed land

JERUSALEM: Israeli defence minister Moshe Yaalon on Sunday approved the return of Jewish settlers to a contested house in the West Bank city of Hebron, a statement from his office said.

Israel's Supreme Court ruled last month that settlers were the lawful owners of the building in the heart of the occupied city, ending a legal dispute lasting nearly seven years.

"Following the court decision... Moshe Yaalon today (Sunday) approved habitation of the house," the statement said, adding that the area military instructor had been told to allow "a limited number of families to the house".

The Palestinian Rajabi family has for years said its four-storey building had been taken over fraudulently by Israeli settlers.

An Israeli lower court in 2012 accepted their claim, ruling that the settlers' assertion that they had legally purchased the property "does not hold water".

The Supreme Court overturned that judgment on appeal. The building is near a contested holy site known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs in a tightly controlled Israeli enclave where many streets are off-limits to Palestinian cars.

The settlers were evacuated in 2008, and the Supreme Court ruling said they would not be allowed to move back in without defence ministry approval.

The flashpoint city of Hebron, home to nearly 200,000 Palestinians, also comprises some 80 settler homes in the centre of town housing about 700 Jews who live under Israeli army protection.

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