23/02/2014 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. Efforts are under way in Ukraine to form a unity

government after MPs there voted to remove President Yanukovych from

office yesterday following weeks of protests. Today the Ukrainian

parliament voted to strip the president of his powers and

appointed the speaker of the assembly as interim president. It's

not know where Mr Yanukovych is. Duncan Crawford is live in Kiev for

us now. Duncan. There is a lot of uncertainty on the

streets of Kiev today, nobody seems to know where President Yanukovych

is, and they don't know what his next move is going to be. There is a

political vacuum in this country at the moment. The situation is

unstable. This report contains some flash photography.

Even in rushing speaking east of Ukraine, President Yanukovych's grip

on power could be going in flames. Anti-government demonstrators in

khaki of wanting the same revolutionary deal as those in the

West. -- Kharkiv. This was a stronghold for the President, and

the sporadic clashes continue to break out between his supporters and

protesters. Police still guard some government buildings, but others

have been abandoned. They ran away, they just understood, they realised

that they can't change things here. So we really happy. The BBC cannot

independently verify this footage, but video has emerged which appears

to President Yanukovych's entourage fleeing from his luxurious mansion

outside the ever yesterday. -- outside Kiev yesterday. The

Parliament have been told they must form a unity government within the

next 48 hours to replace a president who has gone missing. Millions of

Ukrainians want to know, where is Yanukovych? He disappear. The

President has disappeared. That is why we have to elect a new one.

There is a power vacuum in the country. Police and security have

disappeared from the streets of Kiev. These men run the streets now.

They are the heroes of what people call a revolution. Nobody knows who

is in control of this country. The Parliament has tried to push the

President from power, but he has remained defiant so far, and he

could still try to mobilise his supporters. Huge crowds have turned

out to honour the dead. They say the men who died were killed fighting

for a freer, United Ukraine. But the country is now desperately in need

of leadership to secure its future. Duncan Crawford, BBC News, Kiev.

After the fast developing events of the last few days, more changes

today with politicians in Parliament is trying to stabilise the political

situation in the country. They have voted today to strip the president

of his powers, they have voted for the Speaker of the parliament to be

given temporary presidential powers, and they also voted to

dismiss the Foreign Secretary, the Foreign Minister, under President

Yanukovych's government. Also, developments across the country,

some tensions are still there, in Donetsk, for example, in the Far

East of Ukraine, very close to the Russian border. That is President

Yanukovych's home city. A BBC colleague there has told me that

dozens of anti-government protesters are protesting, there is a stand-off

involving supporters of the government. Those supporters are

saying the protesters are fascists, that they want to maintain closer

ties with Russia, they don't want to seek closer ties with the West. And

those kinds of situations are popping up in other parts of the

country as well, so the situation remains unstable. But here in Kiev,

thousands of protesters behind me, the situation remains calm.

The North Sea oil industry will be stronger if Scotland stays within

the United Kingdom, David Cameron has said. The Prime Minister pledged

to invest in the sector to attract business and create jobs. But

Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, said independence would

bring enormous potential to the sector. Tomorrow both men will chair

cabinet meetings in north-east Scotland. Our political

correspondent Vicki Young is here. Vicki, what are we expecting? I

think it is a clear sign that Westminster politicians want to have

a higher profile role, really, in the whole referendum debate. We had

George Osborne going to end a warning that an independent Scotland

would not be able to keep the pound, but the focus to morrow will be on

the oil industry, and David Cameron's message is that only the

broad shoulders of the UK can maximise the potential of North Sea

oil. He says it is a very volatile international commodity and its

knees the might of a large UK economy to stand behind the industry

in difficult times. -- its needs. The opposite message from Alex

Salmond, who was going to say that if there were an independent

Scotland, he would set up a new department with headquarters in

Glasgow and Aberdeen which would build and capitalise on the

expertise that is already there. But it is clear that employment and the

economy is central to this debate on independence. Vicki Young, thank

you. The British Chambers of Commerce is

calling on the Chancellor to invest in youth training and employment to

avoid what it calls a lost generation. Ahead of next month's

Budget, the group's pressing for a fund to be established to get 16 to

24-year-olds into work or apprenticeships. Here's our business

correspondent Joe Lynam. 19-year-old Charlotte Coon is

getting her hair done this weekend. She's struggled to find work since

leaving school, but now she's got an apprenticeship, although it's not in

education, where she'd love to work full-time. I left sixth form in

June, and I tried to get a job all the way until September, and I

couldn't get one. Most of the jobs I applied for all had to have

experience, and it was just like, how are you going to get it if

nobody's taking on people that aren't experienced?

Youth unemployment may be falling, but the British Chambers of Commerce

says that young people are still three times more likely to be

unemployed than the rest of the population, and it wants action. In

its Budget submission, the BCC says that every firm should get a grant

of ?1,000 for employing a young person who's been out of work for a

while. It also wants to nearly double the tax relief to 50% for

those individuals who invest in companies started by young people.

The young people are our future, they're the who are going to create

the wealth of the future. To get them into the workforce is very

important. It gives them better life chances, but it's also very valuable

for the economy. The Government says that the economy

is creating jobs and that it is delivering half a million

apprenticeships and abolishing national insurance for under-21s.

It's also saying, though, that there'll be no let-up in the

deficit-reduction policies, meaning very little room for manoeuvre in

next month's Budget. Joe Lynam, BBC News.

Taliban fighters have killed at least 20 Afghan soldiers in one of

the deadliest attacks against the security forces in the past year. It

happened at a checkpoint in the Kunar province near the Pakistan

border. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility and said it had taken

soldiers as prisoners. In Thailand, a five-year-old girl

was killed when gunmen opened fire on anti-government protesters in the

east of the country. Dozens of others were hurt. Attackers threw

explosives and shot at people gathered for a rally in a market. So

far, no group has said it carried out the attack.

And there've been more demonstrations across Venezuela,

both in favour of and against the government of Nicolas Maduro. Over

the past two weeks, at least ten people have been killed on both

sides, with more than 100 injured. It's the worst violence since

President Maduro came to power last April, replacing the late Hugo

Chavez. It's the last day of competition at

the Winter Olympics. This afternoon will see the Games' closing

ceremony. Earlier, there was one last chance for a medal for Team GB.

Our correspondent Andy Swiss is live in Sochi with news of the four-man

bobsleigh. Andy. Yes, Nick, they came close, but the

bobsleigh team couldn't quite win another medal for Team GB. They

began the day in seventh position, they ended up in fifth, so just out

of the medals, but it was another good performance in a Games that has

had plenty of very good British performances. Ball medals in total,

gold for Lizzy Yarnold, bronze for Jenny Jones, medals for both curling

teams. -- four medals. It is the best since the first Winter Games in

1924 in Chamonix. No fifth medal for Team GB, that would have been a

record breaker, but it has still been a very good games as far as

British athletes are concerned. And have the Games overall been seen

as successful? Yes, it is an interesting one, isn't it? We have

the closing ceremony coming up later tonight inside the Olympic Stadium,

so have the Games been a success overall? There were a lot of

concerns in the build-up to these Winter Olympics about a number of

issues, security, human rights, the cost of the games, ?30 billion, the

most expensive in Olympic history, but generally things have gone

smoothly. The venues have been very impressive, the crowds have been

good, and Russia has finished top of the medals table, I can tell you, so

as far as the hosts, the people here are concerned, these Games have been

a success. Andy Swiss in Sochi, thank you very much. The last

surviving member of the Von Trapp family singers made famous in The

Sound Of Music has died. Maria von Trapp was 99. She died at her home

in the United States. She and her family fled Nazi occupied Austria in

1938 and ended up performing around the US.

You can see more on all of today's stories on the BBC News Channel. The

next news on BBC One is at 6:10. From me, for now, goodbye.

Good afternoon. It looks like a lively week of weather ahead of us.

There'll be fairly strong winds at time and rain. It's been windy so

far