Pro-Russia protesters in east Ukraine seize weapons: Interior Ministry - Yahoo News

Pro-Russia protesters in east Ukraine seize weapons: Interior Ministry - Yahoo News
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
Pro-Russian protesters who broke into state security headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk have seized weapons, and highway police have closed down entrances into the city, local police said on Monday.

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Mainly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine has seen a sharp rise in tension since Moscow-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's overthrow in February and the advent of an interim government in Kiev that wants closer ties with Europe.

"Unknown people who are in the building have broken into the building's arsenal and have seized weapons," police said in a statement. Nine people had been injured in the disturbances in Luhansk, they said. Separately, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page that the regional administrative building in the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, had been cleared of "separatist"

protesters. Pro-Russian protesters in the east seized official buildings in three cities on Sunday, including the regional administrative building in the mining hub of Donetsk. Demonstrators in Donetsk and Luhansk demanded a referendum be carried out on whether to join Russia like that held in Crimea that paved the way for its annexation by Russia.

Avakov on Sunday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating the "separatist disorder" and promised that disturbances would be brought under control without violence. The protesters appeared to be responding in part to deposed Yanukovich, who fled to Russia after he was ousted and on March 28 issued a public call for each of Ukraine's regions to hold a referendum on its status inside the country.

Russia has branded the new government in Kiev illegitimate and has annexed Ukraine's Crimea region citing threats to its Russian-speaking majority - a move that has sparked the biggest standoff between Moscow and the West since the end of the Cold War.

Jeb Bush says illegal immigration often 'an act of love' - Yahoo News

Jeb Bush says illegal immigration often 'an act of love' - Yahoo News
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
Jeb Bush, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2016, said on Sunday that illegal immigrants who come to the United States to provide for their families are not committing a felony but an "act of love."

In comments at odds with the views of many in his party, Bush, the son of the 41st president and brother of the 43rd, said of the divisive immigration issue: "I think we need to kind of get beyond the harsh political rhetoric to a better place.

"I'm going to say this and it will be on tape and so be it," Bush said in an interview with Fox News host Shannon Bream in an event at the Texas presidential library of his father, George H.W. Bush.

"The way I look at this is someone who comes to our country because they couldn't come legally ... and they crossed the border because they had no other means to work, to be able to provide for their family, yes,
they broke the law, but it's not a felony. "It's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family.

Jeb Bush Discusses Politics, But Not Presidency

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Bush, 61, added: "I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime. There should be a price paid, but it shouldn't rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families." Bush repeated at the event that he would decide on a presidential bid by the end of the year.
A comprehensive immigration reform bill passed the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate in June 2013 but has stalled in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Republican lawmakers have cited deep divisions in the party over the issue, including granting legal status to 11 million undocumented immigrants.

A Republican Party review after the last presidential election had urged the party to embrace immigration reform to attract more Hispanic support. Democratic President Barack Obama, who was re-elected in 2012, won 71 percent of the Hispanic vote to Republican challenger Mitt Romney's 27 percent.

Immigration Reform Activists Block Tucson Court

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Recent polls have suggested that if he were to run, Bush, a former Florida governor, would be weighed down by Americans' lingering attitudes toward his brother, George W. Bush, who left office in January 2009 as one of the least popular presidents in U.S. history.

In a Washington Post/ABC News poll last month, nearly half the voters surveyed said they "definitely would not" vote for Jeb Bush in 2016 - a level of disapproval matched only by Romney. Even Bush's mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, has been lukewarm about the notion of another son running for president.

Asked by Bream about the critical considerations that would go into his decision on whether to run for the presidency, Bush said one was whether he could do it with a "hopeful, optimistic message" that avoids drawing him into a political "mudfight."

The other consideration, he said, "is it OK for my family? Is it something that isn't a huge sacrifice for our family." He added: "It turns out that not running has generated more interest than if I said I was running."