How A CIA Whistleblower Survives Behind Bars

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How A CIA Whistleblower Survives Behind Bars

Ukraine government survives in parliament while rage boils outside

By Thomas Grove

KIEV Tue Dec 3, 2013 4:05am EST

1 of 2. Police stand guard in front of protesters during a demonstration in support of EU integration in front of the Parliament building in Kiev December 3, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Gleb Garanich

KIEV (Reuters) – Thousands of pro-EU protesters calling for the resignation of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich gathered outside parliament on Tuesday with opposition leaders pressing for a vote of no-confidence in his government.

Only days after a massive rally that brought 350,000 protesters into central Kiev, Yanukovich is set to travel to China, leaving the country plunged into crisis by his decision to spurn a landmark deal with the European Union and boost ties with Ukraine’s Soviet master Russia.

In addition to political opposition, Yanukovich is under pressure from international markets, increasing the risk of a financial crisis that could force his hand.

Ukraine’s currency and bonds have come under pressure, along with share prices, and the central bank was forced to assure people their savings were safe and there was no need for panic withdrawals.

The cost of insuring Ukraine’s debt against default has risen to its highest since September, while the government must find billions to meet debt repayments and the cost of gas imports next year.

Outside parliament, several thousand protesters holding EU and Ukrainian flags stood face to face with riot police. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov accused the opposition of planning to seize the building.

Protesters had blocked the entrances to the main government building on Monday, and Azarov said the government could not perform its basic functions, which could affect the payment of pensions and salaries.

“This has all the signs of a coup d’etat. This is a very serious matter,” Interfax news agency quoted him as telling the ambassadors of the EU, United States and Canada.

Parliamentarian Hannah Herman, from Yanukovich’s Party of Regions, said there was a possibility that some members of the party could vote against Yanukovich’s government.

Deputies were due to debate whether to hold a no-confidence vote. The opposition needs at least 226 votes to get the confidence motion on the agenda, and the same again to pass it.

LONG CAMPAIGN

In Kiev’s Independence Square protesters set up tented camps in preparation for a long campaign against Yanukovich’s last-minute decision to reject the free trade deal, which had been due to be signed on Friday.

On Monday, demonstrators halted traffic and called a general strike, seeking to force Yanukovich from office after massive demonstrations at the weekend, the biggest since the pro-democracy “Orange Revolution” of nine years ago.

The United States said violence by the authorities against protesters on Saturday was unacceptable that reports of media representatives being targeted were “disturbing”.

With temperatures dropping well below zero, the numbers of protesters have dropped sharply, and Yanukovich clearly felt the security situation was under control when he announced he would stick to a plan to travel on Tuesday to China, from which he is seeking loans and investment to avert a debt crisis.

But some felt leaving was unwise nevertheless.

“It is a very bad time to go abroad. The president’s absence may make talks with the opposition much more difficult,” said Ukrainian political analyst Gleb Vyshlinsky.

Russia wants to draw Ukraine into a Moscow-led customs union and prevent it moving closer to the EU, a move that would signal a historic shift towards the West and away from Kiev’s former Soviet masters in Moscow.

But the tug-of-war between Brussels and Moscow for influence in Ukraine has so far done little to alleviate its looming debt crisis and the China visit will involve the signing of at least 20 economic and trade agreements.

“Yanukovich is trying to show that the European Union and Russia are not the only possible partners for Ukraine,” said Volodymyr Fesenko of Ukraine’s Penta think-tank.

However, he said Beijing may now demand assurances over Ukraine’s political and economic stability, adding: “Ukraine is unlikely to secure direct financial aid (from China).”

Beijing has already provided the former Soviet republic with loans worth $ 10 billion, but the government must find more than $ 17 billion in 2014 to meet gas bills and debt repayments.

(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk; editing by Richard Balmforth and Giles Elgood)

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Reuters: Top News

Ukraine government survives in parliament while rage boils outside

Hunter, 72, survives 19 days in snowy California wilderness

By Karen Brooks

Mon Oct 14, 2013 11:26am EDT

(Reuters) – A 72-year-old California deer hunter was recovering Monday after surviving on squirrels and packing leaves around him for warmth for nearly three weeks while he was lost and alone in the snowy wilderness, authorities said.

Gene Penaflor was discovered by hunters on Saturday after 19 days in the Mendocino National Forest in the Coastal Mountain Range of northwestern California, according to a report by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

“This is a miracle,” reads a message on a website dedicated to the search, www.genepenaflor.com, updated with a family photo at a local hospital over the weekend.

The Mendocino National Forest is run by the U.S. Forest Service and has been closed due to the government shutdown, according to the forest website. An outgoing voicemail message by a forest spokesperson said she had been furloughed.

Penaflor, described on the site as an avid hunter with more than 30 years of wilderness experience, had been hunting with a friend when they became separated on September 24, the report said.

After four days of searching by at least 18 agencies from more than a dozen counties, the official search was suspended because searchers could find no clues to his locations and because storms were coming.

On Saturday, 19 days after Penaflor disappeared, the search was resumed – but it was a group of hunters who heard Penaflor’s cries for help and eventually found him in a canyon in the 53,887-acre Yuki Wilderness area of the national forest.

He told officials he had walked too far away from the road, fell and hit his head, and was knocked unconscious. When he regained consciousness he was disoriented, surrounded by thick fog in a forest where the temperature dipped to 25 degrees.

“He was able to make a fire and warm himself with leaves and grasses that he packed around his body,” the report said. “On days when it rained or snowed he was able to crawl under a large log to stay dry. He was able to kill and eat several squirrels in the area and there was plenty of water in a nearby drainage to sustain himself.”

Penaflor is recovering well, according to social media postings by his son, Jeremy Penaflor.

“My dad was found alive and well!” the younger Penaflor said on Twitter on Saturday. “God is good.”

(Editing by Andrew Hay)

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Reuters: Oddly Enough

Hunter, 72, survives 19 days in snowy California wilderness

Hayes: John Boehner Survives Another Day

The GOP met with President Obama and there may be signs of movement even though Speaker Boehner’s latest offer doesn’t accomplish what the president is asking for.  Chris Hayes talks with Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., and The Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim.

RealClearPolitics Video Log

Hayes: John Boehner Survives Another Day

U.S. Marine Survives Shrapnel To Ribs

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