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Yanukovych Leads in Ukraine Election

Yanukovych went ahead and declared victory, but his opponent Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a leader of Orange forces, rejected the exit poll data and said Sunday’s race was too close to call.

« It is too soon to draw any conclusions, » she said, urging supporters to fight for every ballot.

Ukraine’s Central Election Commission reported early Monday that opposition leader Yanukovych was leading Tymoshenko by 51.3 percent to 43.3 percent with 27.4 percent of the vote counted.

The National Election Poll exit survey predicted that after the count, Yanukovych would capture 48.5 percent of the vote to 45.7 percent for 부천 안마 Tymoshenko, with other voters mostly choosing « Against all. » The 2.8 percentage point gap is only slightly larger than the NEP’s margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent.

The NEP poll initially showed Yanukovych with a 3.2 percentage point lead, but the later released revised figures. All other major exit polls had Yanukovych winning, some by larger margins.

The race narrowed sharply from the first round vote on Jan. 17, when Yanukovych held a 10 percent lead.

At the Yanukovych camp, top party officials broke into rapturous applause as they heard the exit polls announced, and Anna German, deputy head of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, called on Tymoshenko to concede.

« The first rule for a true democrat is to accept defeat when that is the will of the people, » she said. « It is now Yulia Tymoshenko’s responsibility to do that. »

Tymoshenko has vowed to challenge a vote she claims was rigged by in Yanukovych’s favor, as it was in the 2004 elections that set off the Orange Revolution. After weeks of demonstrations, a court threw out the results of that 2000 vote contest and Yanukovych lost a court-ordered revote to Orange forces

Tymoshenko’s campaign chief Alexander Turchinov insisted Sunday there was evidence of fraud. « Intrigue still remains in place, we remain certain, » he said.

But Matyas Eorsi, head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s election observation mission, called the balloting « calm » and « professional » and said there was no evidence the vote had been stolen.

« We are 100 percent sure that this election was legitimate, » Eorsi said. « All the international community, and even more important, the Ukrainian public can accept this result. »

A preliminary report by international monitors is expected later Monday.

Mikhail Okhendovsky, a member of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission, said the board had no evidence of large scale falsification but expects that the loser will challenge the results in court anyway.

« In keeping with the traditions of Ukrainian elections, the loser never accepts defeat, » he said before the polls closed.

The Central Election Commission projected the turnout among Ukraine’s 37 million voters at about 70 percent, 3.2 percentage points higher than the Jan. 17 first-round vote in which 18 candidates competed.

Early figures showed a heavier turnout in Yanukovych’s strongholds in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking east than in Tymoshenko’s districts in the country’s Ukrainian-speaking west.

Tymoshenko’s impassioned leadership of the 2004 Orange protests made her an international celebrity, and she fought hard in recent weeks to rekindle the heady emotions those days. At one point she debated an empty lectern to dramatize her opponent’s refusal to debate her.

She sought to depict herself as a populist whose appeal crossed Ukraine’s east-west divide but she bore the scars of five years of political battles with Yanukovych and her sometime Orange ally, outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko, and has struggled to cope with Ukraine’s severe economic crisis.

Ukraine has been among the hardest-hit nations in the global credit crunch. Its currency crashed in 2008, wiping out almost half of people’s savings, and the International Monetary Fund had to step in with a $16.4 billion bailout. GDP plunged more than 14 percent in 2009 and the country is expected to have only anemic growth this year, according to the World Bank.

As the election approached, Yanukovych, awkward when speaking in public, tread carefully, sticking mostly with photo opportunities and bland statements to try to hang onto his lead.

He would not be drawn into a Russia-versus-West debate, and pledged to balance ties between Ukraine’s diverse neighbors.

« Ukraine will never be a friend with Russia at the expense of Europe, or Europe at the expense of Russia, » said Boris Kolesnikov, deputy leader of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions. « That will guide the foreign policy under the Yanukovych presidency. »

But Yanukovych represents the hopes of many Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine, who feel they have been relegated to second-class status behind the urban elite who favored the Orange reform forces.

Yanukovych supporters have been camped out in front of the Central Election Commission headquarters and other key points in Kiev in an apparent effort to prevent Tymoshenko supporters from staging mass demonstrations like those of the Orange revolt.

If Yanukovych wins, it will be an impressive reversal of fortune. During the 2004 protests, foes cast him as a Kremlin lackey. But he battled back, serving for a time as prime minister under his main Orange adversary, Yushchenko.

He gained ground as voters said they were weary of broken promises, a dysfunctional economy and political chaos under the Orange government.

Casting his ballot in Kiev, once an Orange bastion, Yanukovych said the election would mark the « first step in overcoming the crisis. »

« The people of Ukraine deserve a better life, so I voted for positive changes, stability and a strong Ukraine, » he said.

Tymoshenko voted in her hometown, the industrial center of Dnipropetrovsk, in Yanukovych’s stronghold of eastern Ukraine.

« I voted for a new Ukraine — a beautiful and European Ukraine — and for people to live happily. I will serve Ukraine with all my heart, » Tymoshenko said, standing next to her husband.

Sunday’s vote may shift the balance of power in Ukraine, but it will not heal the country’s deep divisions.

« I am voting against the return of our Soviet past, » 40-year-old businessman Vladimir Khivrenko said at a polling station near the Maidan, the central square in Kiev, the capital. « Tymoshenko has promised us a new path to Europe, and I believe her. »

Tatyana Volodaschuk, 60, said she was sick of political uncertainty.

« I want stability and order, » she said. « Yanukovych offers us the guarantee of a normal life. »

Their movie, « El Cantante » is in theaters next week

Jessica Alba must’ve really messed with her boyfriend’s head when she dumped him over the phone. Us magazine says she called to say that she didn’t love him any more and later sent her assistant to the home the couple shared to pack up his things and move him out.

It’s a whole mess of trouble that Mindy McCready is facing after she allegedly scratched her mom in the face while in Fort Myers, Fla. She was accused of assault and resisting arrest. When she returned home to Nashville, Tenn., she was picked up on a probation violation charge.

Britney Spears made a complete mess of the room, not to mention her reputation, at a photo shoot for 전주 안마 OK! magazine this week. She wiped her greasy hands on a designer gown after eating chicken, stood by while her puppy messed on another gown and went to the bathroom with the door open several times. Spears eventually walked off the set abruptly, allegedly taking thousands of dollars’ worth of clothes and jewelry that OK! had brought to the shoot.

Actor Esai Morales is in the middle of a messy legal battle with an ex-girlfriend who claims he assaulted her and gave her genital herpes. The « NYPD Blue » star said on his MySpace page that the accusations are false and he’s prepared to defend himself and his reputation.

Singer Kelly Clarkson decided to clean up the mess she’s made over the release of her latest album, « My December. » In a note on her Web site, Clarkson wrote, « I really regret how this has turned out and I apologize to those whom I have done disservice. I would never intentionally hurt anyone. »

Meanwhile, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony hope to sell a whole mess of tickets when they go out on the joint concert tour they announced this week. Lopez and Anthony will play their own sets on the tour, but will also perform together in English and Spanish. Their movie, « El Cantante » is in theaters next week.

Finally, don’t mess with Drew Carey if you’re planning on winning the Showcase Showdown. The portly comedian announced Monday that he’ll be the new host of « The Price Is Right. »

Pakistan Bombs Target Shiite Worshippers

<img src="http://image.baidu.com/search/http:%5C/%5C/dingyue.nosdn.127.net%5C/p6wt4kovpnltq2jfuvp5yktoiviwzmgopwrq7ornd4l3n1526305459080compressflag.jpg" alt="22933513212319 9768212265 20765 03″ style= »max-width:410px;float:right;padding:10px 0px 10px 10px;border:0px; »>A bomb tore through a bus carrying Shiite Muslim worshippers in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Friday, killing at least 12 people, officials said. A second blast, apparently targeting family members from the first explosion, struck outside a hospital in Karachi shortly after the initial attack.

Karachi has seen a number of attacks aimed at minority Shiites in recent weeks, including one that killed dozens at a procession for 전주 안마 a religious holiday and sparked subsequent riots. Extremists from Pakistan’s Sunni Muslim majority have been blamed.

Police chief Waseem Ahmad appealed to Shiites in the teeming, chaotic city of more than 16 million to remain calm.

The first bomb apparently was attached to a motorcycle, detonating as the bus drove by.

A doctor said at least five people were killed in the hospital attack, which CBS News’ Maria Usman reports occurred amid a group of ambulances outside the Jinnah hospital, where victims of the first explosion were being treated.

Local TV footage showed security officials examining the twisted metal pieces of the wrecked motorbike. The bus nearby appeared severely damaged. Windows in nearby buildings also shattered.

The bus carried mainly women and children headed to a Shiite religious gathering, senior police official Javed Akbar said.

Dr. Simi Jamali said at least 11 bodies were brought to a local hospital.

Pakistan’s Sunnis and Shiites generally live in peace, but extremists from the two sects have targeted one another’s leaders and worshippers.

Karachi is a port city and the main commercial hub in Pakistan. It has a history of political, ethnic and religious violence. The Taliban, a Sunni Islamist movement, also are believed to use Karachi as a place to rest and raise money.

It is not clear exactly what information other than location that law enforcement gleaned from its use of a Stingray targeting Cohen

The FBI wanted Michael Cohen’s cellphones, but knew they couldn’t be found at his home. The problem: Cohen and his family had moved into a hotel while renovating their apartment.

The solution, on April 8, 2018, was to use a controversial surveillance technology to determine his exact location: Room 1728 at the Loews Regency Hotel.

An FBI special agent wrote in an affidavit unsealed Tuesday that federal agents « sought and obtained authority to employ an electronic technique, commonly known as ‘triggerfish,’ to determine the locations » of Cohen’s two iPhones.

Federal agents later obtained a warrant to retrieve the phones from the room. A court-ordered Special Master later determined that federal agents could review the vast majority of nearly 300,000 files on the two phones, as well as an iPad obtained in the search.

Triggerfish devices — often referred to as Stingrays — mimic cellphone towers, allowing them to pinpoint a phone’s location, sometimes even before it makes a call or text.

It is not clear exactly what information other than location that law enforcement gleaned from its use of a Stingray targeting Cohen. The devices also capable of collecting the calls, text messages and even the emails sent to and from phones.

And because they act as cell towers, they don’t just collect information from the targets of investigations. Stingrays are capable of taking in information from entire neighborhoods, which is why civil liberties groups have for years objected to their use.

The devices are made by defense contractor Harris Corporation, and its patents indicate Stingrays and similar devices have been used for about two decades, though law enforcement rarely acknowledges their use.

The government has even withdrawn charges against criminal defendants rather than turning over information to defense teams about the Stingray, according to a 2017 policy analysis by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

As a result, it’s not clear just how widespread use of the devices is. In a November 2018 report, the ACLU cataloged Stingray use by 75 agencies in 27 states and 대구 마사지 the District of Columbia, but that list is almost certainly incomplete. The ACLU found 14 federal agencies that use the devices, but does not currently include one identified by CBS News: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In response to a 2016 Freedom of Information Act request filed by CBS News, the agency wrote it could not « disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigation and prosecutions. »