Shorts (left)
Ukraine’s acting government issues warrant for Yanukovych’s arrest
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s acting interior minister issued a warrant Monday for the arrest of former President Viktor Yanukovych, accusing him of mass killing civilian protesters in demonstrations last week.
Arsen Avakov, the acting official, made the announcement on his official Facebook page Monday. He also said Yanukovych had arrived in Crimea on Sunday and had fled to an unknown location without his security detail, according to The Associated Press.
The temporary government has moved swiftly since Yanukovych’s ouster and flight on Saturday, trying to head off the potential for infighting among several opposition groups or even a broader conflict.
Since Saturday, a series of bureaucratic steps — a session of parliament and the continued running of government institutions — seemed to pull the country back from the brink. As parliament acted, even Yanukovych’s party denounced him for the deadly crackdown on protesters. And the military vowed to support the new government rather than rallying to the ousted president’s side.
—David M. Herszenhorn, The New York Times
Suicide bomber in Pakistan strikes near Iran’s consulate
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber detonated near the residence of the Iranian consul general in Peshawar on Monday, killing two security personnel and wounding 11 others, a security official said.
The official said that no one inside the residence or the nearby Iranian Consulate General had been hurt.
The city’s top police official, Ijaz Khan, said that the bomber, because of heavy security outside the consulate and the adjacent residence, turned toward a nearby tent camp for forces of the Pakistani Frontier Constabulary who had been deployed to help protect the Iranian facilities.
“The bomber alighted from his car and started moving toward the tents of the Frontier Constabulary,” Khan said. “The constabulary warned him to stop and fired at him. In the meantime, he blew himself up, killing one of the men on the spot; the other succumbed to his injuries later.”
A doctor at a nearby hospital said that nine people had been brought there for treatment of injuries.
—Ismail Khan, The New York Times
Connecticut plans to market health exchange expertise
WASHINGTON — Connecticut has been so successful in getting people to sign up for health insurance through its online marketplace that it is setting up a consulting business to help other states build and operate websites where people can compare and buy private insurance policies.
And the Obama administration has encouraged the effort, in the hope that more states will run their own exchanges in 2015 or 2016.
Kevin J. Counihan, the chief executive of the Connecticut exchange, said Monday that it would license or franchise its technology, selling an “exchange in a box” to other states. It would offer a package of basic services, with an option for states to buy more.
“We have something that’s working, and we want to share it,” said Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, who is chairwoman of the board of the state exchange, Access Health CT.
The Connecticut exchange has performed better than the federal insurance marketplace and its troubled website, HealthCare.gov, and better than many state-run exchanges.
—Robert Pear, The New York Times