12/04/2014 BBC Weekend News

The crisis in Ukraine has deepened tonight, with a war of words

erupting between Russia and the United States.

It follows pro-Russian gunmen seizing key buildings in eastern

Ukraine, raising the Russian flag and demanding independence from

Kiev. We'll be live in eastern Ukraine. We will ask how can and how

will he ever respond? -- Kiev. Also on the programme:

A rallying cry from Scotland's First Minister. Alex Salmond said the time

had come to say yes to independence. This is our moment. To be a beaon of

hope. A land of achievement. Our country. Our Scotland. Our

independence. The nine-month-old charged with

attempted murder in Pakistan finally has his case thrown out by a court.

Arsenal are cup finalists again! Has this last-gasp penalty finally

put some silverware within Arsene Wenger's reach?

Good evening. The crisis in Ukraine further intensified today after

pro-Russian militants seized key police and government buildings in

the east of the country. Shots were fired and police were forced to

defend their building in Kramatorsk. In Slaviansk, near the Russian

border, armed men stormed a police station and a state security office.

And the police chief in Donetsk was forced to resign after hundreds of

protesters carrying the Russian flag marched on the headquarters there.

America has once again accused Russia of interfering. In the last

hour, the Russian Foreign Minister said it showed Ukraine's government

was unable to take responsibility for the fate of the country. This

report from our Moscow Correspondent Daniel Sandford.

Filmed secretly from a flat overlooking the entrance to

Sloviansk police station, the moment when well-armed men in camouflage

used a vehicle to rip the bars off the window and smash their way in.

They quickly took control of the building in the regional town around

80 miles from the Russian border. TRANSLATION: Our people want to live

peacefully and quietly, without the junta in Kiev, and not under America

and the West. We don't want to be their slaves. We want to be with

Russia. They also took over the streets outside and a few hundred

people came out to support them. Some of the men carried military

weapons and seemed well organised. This was one of at least four public

buildings in the area seized today by Russian activists. -- pro-Russian

activists. Soon, checkpoints were springing up on the main roads. All

of it a sign that the new Kiev government is struggling to control

the east of the country. As police defended government buildings still

in their hands, the Ukrainian Interior Minister accused Russia of

an act of agression and said his ministry and the Ministry of Defence

was preparing a response. Over the border in Russia, there is still a

huge military presence. These photographs, taken on Wednesday and

Thursday this week, show the extent of the army that is camped just

beyond Ukraine's eastern frontier. America has again accused Russia of

stirring up trouble in Ukraine to destabilise the new government. NATO

generals still warn that the Russian army is equpped to invade, but the

Kremlin has swiftly denied any involvement, saying only that it

wants to see a new federal constitution in Ukraine, protecting

the rights of Russian-speaking people.

Let's go to Donetsk now and David Stern. What options are open to Kiev

now? Welcome in Ukraine's new leaders are facing not only a

spreading insurrection, but also growing anger at their own inability

to deal with these military and herein lies the dilemma of this new

revolutionary government. Up until now, they had studiously tried to

avoid direct confrontation but now it appears they are losing control

of large parts of Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei

Lavrov has said that the Government is demonstrating its inability to

take responsibility for the fate of the country, but violence will also

create a backlash both inside and outside of Ukraine. Russia again has

warned that they could defend their interests in the country, which

include the Russian speaking population. So the question is, will

the Government now take forceful action against what they are calling

an act of Russian aggression? David, thank you.

Scotland's First Minister has urged voters to set aside party

differences and back independence. Addressing his party's final

conference before the referendum on independence, the SNP leader Alex

Salmond said the momentum was with those campaigning to leave the

United Kingdom. Our Special Correspondent Allan Little was in

Aberdeen to see it. He turned the SNP from a party of

protest into a party of government and now they believe he's about to

lead them to an independent Scotland in little more than 100 days from

now. But to win in September, he needs to persuade hundreds of

thousands of Labour voters in particular to vote yes. So an

independent Scotland would be more just, he said, a fairer, more equal

society. This was a speech aimed not at the party faithful but at the

SNP's old foes, disaffected Labour supporters now tempted to vote yes.

Independence will be good for Scottish Labour. The Labour Party

freed from Westminster control will have the chance to return to core

values, many of which we in this party agree with - indeed, many of

which we share. And this is the difference. The Westminster

establishment telling Scots what we can't do, running Scotland down. The

Scottish National Party, stressing what we can do, building Scotland

up. APPLAUSE.

It's been a recurring theme of this conference, the appeal to voters

outside the traditional SNP support base. Alex Salmond consciously

characterising the Yes Campaign as a broad-based coalition, drawing

support from across the political spectrum. Will it work? Will Labour

voters back independence in sufficient numbers to tip the

balance? The SNP think so. I think it's already happening. I think

there's many people. We know, it's a fact. I think a lot of Labour people

are really disillusioned with where Labour's gone, and I think they want

to reclaim their party. Alex Salmond's opponents say most Scots

want to keep their devolved parliament inside the UK. The vast

majority of Scots want to continue with devolution, we think it gives

us the best of both worlds. The strength and security of being part

of something bigger alongside more decisions being made in Scotland on

things like schools and hospitals. That's what the people of Scotland

want. The faithful are undeterred. Some here have been campaigning for

independence for 50 years or more and firmly believe their day, at

last, is coming. Concerns have been expressed about

plans by the Chancellor, George Osborne, to clamp down on people who

hide their money abroad. Under the proposed laws, it would no longer be

necessary to prove intention to cheat the system. But a former

senior figure in Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs said the

proposed laws would probably have a limited impact. Here's our Business

Correspondent Joe Lynam. Most ordinary people can't avoid

paying tax, but some very wealthy people have been able to hide their

money away in offshore tax havens. Now the Government wants to tilt the

law in favour of the taxman. We have already done a lot to crack down on

those who don't pay their taxes. Now we are introducing a new criminal

offence for people who hide their money offshore. And the message is

very simple, if you are hiding your money offshore, we are coming to get

you and the criminal law is going to come and find you. The recent slew

of crackdowns on tax evasion has not yielded as much as hoped for. The

Government had expected over ?3 billion from undeclared income in

Switzerland but ended up with only a fraction of that. Labour said that

the failure to raise the expected money from tax clamp-downs simply

wasn't good enough. The Government has made a big play about pursuing

aggressive tax avoidance and tax evasion at an international level.

It was the mainstay of last year's G8 Summit in Enniskillen. It is

doing so because on its own, Britain cannot pursue these very wealthy and

highly mobile individuals. But will they get the money in from these

clamp-downs as much as they hope they will? The Revenue will be quite

keen, if these do become law, to have a few example cases within a

short period of time, just to justify to to the Minister that they

are taking it seriously, but I don't anticipate large queues of people

outside the Old Bailey waiting to be tried under this new offence. These

proposals will only affect individuals and not large

multinational companies, who have also been accused of aggressively

avoiding tax. The Labour Leader Ed Miliband has

criticised the growth of Israeli settlements while on a visit to the

West Bank. He said the continued expansion represented a "mortal

threat" to the peace process. Mr Miliband is on the last stage of a

three-day visit to the region. He's already met the Israeli Prime

Minister and tomorrow will meet the Palestinian President.

A Pakistani court has dismissed a case against a nine-month-old baby

who had appeared in court last week for attempted murder. Musa Khan was

today again brought before a judge. Our World Affairs correspondent Mike

Wooldridge sent this report from Lahore.

If he looks a little bewildered as he waits to make his second

appearance in court, Musa Khan is, after all, here for attempted

murder. It follows an affray between protesters and police in his

neighbourhood in January. Under intense media spotlight, the case

against Musa was dealt with swiftly today as the police said they had no

interest in investigating or arresting him. The judge wants

action against the officer who handled Musa's case. Afterwards,

Musa appeared to feel the need for a celebratory drink. His grandfather,

meanwhile, accused the police of pressurising and threatening him. An

extraordinary affair is now over, at least as far as little Musa Khan is

concerned, but it's left raising many questions about how he ended up

here in court and then was put on bail at all. His lawyers are saying

that if a toddler can be implicated in a case like this, then what does

that say for other people? And so, Musa was on his way, adult members

of the family continuing to face charges over the January

confrontation with the police. It is not the first time flaws in

Pakistan's judicial system been highlighted. -- have been

highlighted. Perhaps never before, though, by a babe in arms.

Time for the sport now. Here's Karthi at the BBC Sport Centre.

Good evening. Arsenal are through to the FA Cup final but they needed

extra time and penalties to get past cup holders Wigan. The Championship

side took the lead at Wembley but Arsenal, who last won the

competition in 2005, eventually booked their place in the final with

a 4-2 victory. Their manager Arsene Wenger admitted he was relieved by

the result. Natalie Pirks reports. 25 years at the 96 fans went to an

FA Cup semifinal and didn't come home -- after, a minute's silence

broke into spontaneous applause at Wembley. Wigan, relegated after

winning this cup last year, knew they would need something big and,

as expected, Arsenal started far stronger. The longer Wigan stayed in

the game, the more frustrated the Gunners became. And it was a

frustrated leg from the big German per Mertesacker. Jordi Gomez did not

waste within's big chance and Arsenal fans have plenty to chew on.

But with ten minutes left, Arsenal kicked into gear and the one they

called the BFG made amends. Extra time brought clarity of Arsenal,

finally attacking as if their season depended on it. But fate now

depended on who could hold their nerve. Lukasz Fabianski won the

first two battles of the penalties and with the score at 3-2, Santi

Cazorla finally put the fans out of their misery. We were trying to win

the league and in four weeks, everything collapsed, so for us, it

was massive today and I am really happy with the way the players

reacted. With Arsenal stuttering in the league, fans may have hoped

today's game against lower league opposition would have been a bit

more straightforward. Lucas Fabianski's stops not only put them

into a final they simply must win but also helped stop an inquest, for

now. Sportscene follows on BBC One in

Scotland and Match of the Day is next elsewhere, so if you don't want

to know the scores before seeing the goals, please pop out of the room

now. In the Scottish Cup, it is Dundee United who are into the final

after beating Rangers 3-1. They'll face either St Johnstone or

Aberdeen, who play each other tomorrow.

Fulham's new manager Felix Magath said he was "happy but not

satisfied" after his side beat Premier League relegation rivals

Norwich 1-0 today. Fulham are still in the bottom three but are now only

two points behind Norwich after Hugo Rodallega scored the winner.

But Cardiff are just one point behind Fulham after they beat

Southampton 1-0. Everton moved up to fourth place thanks to a Wes Brown

own goal that leaves Sunderland still bottom of the table. There

were also wins for Crystal Palace and Stoke. While Tottenham came from

3-0 down to draw 3-3 with West Brom. America's Bubba Watson, who was the

overnight leader at the halfway stage of the Masters at Augusta

National, isn't having the best third round. The 2012 Champion has

dropped a couple of shots today and is now joint leader alongside Jonas

Blixt and Thomas Bjorn. -- has picked up a shot today, and is still

up as the outright lead. Jonas Blixt was in joint second place, this putt

for a birdie on the ninth hole helping him move up the leaderboard.

Rory McIlory is back in joint 23rd place.

And that the British swimming Championships in Glasgow, teenager

Sophie Taylor set a new 200 metres breast stroke record, taking four

seconds off her personal best. That is all of the sport.

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

That's all from me. Goodnight. Good evening. Over the last few

hours, we have been watching a band of cloud spilling its way south

across England and Wales, bringing sunlight, patchy rain with it.

Behind that, clear spells and into the north and west