Commandos have moved on the separatist stronghold of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine, prompting a warning of "consequences" from Russia's president. ● At least two separatists were reported killed as commandos, backed by armoured vehicles, cleared checkpoints on the outskirts of the town. But a BBC correspondent says the centre of Sloviansk is currently quiet. Pro-Russian separatists are occupying key buildings in at least a dozen eastern towns, defying Kiev. There was also further unrest earlier on Thursday in the south-eastern city of Mariupol. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said government forces had ousted pro-Russian militants from the city hall building. But another BBC correspondent says there is no sign of Ukrainian troops anywhere nearby. Speaking on Russian TV as news of the Sloviansk operation was coming in, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "If the regime in Kiev has begun using the army against the population inside the country, then this is undoubtedly a very serious crime.

RIA Novosti: Clashes in Slaviansk Caused by Kiev’s Irresponsible Policy – Lavrov ■ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that deadly clashes in Slaviansk and Mariupol are the result of Kiev’s irresponsible policies that rely on extremism. “What is going on in Slaviansk, and what happened that night in Mariupol, is the result of such irresponsible policies; policies that, and I repeat, rely on ultra-extremism, extremist, and for the most part neo-Nazi groups,” Lavrov said.

The Telegraph: Ukraine crisis: as it happened - April 24
Al Jazeera: Russia tells Ukraine to pull back troops
RIA Novosti: Russia to Hold Military Drills in Response to Ukraine Crackdown
Itar-Tass: Use of army against people criminal decision — Lavrov
Itar-Tass: Eastern Ukrainian region announces mobilization
RIA Novosti: Right Sector Extremists Attacking Civilians in East Ukraine – Russian Defense Minister
RIA Novosti: 5 Killed, 1 Injured in Special Operation in Ukraine’s Slaviansk
RIA Novosti: Armored Vehicles Moving Towards Slaviansk, Federalists Ready for Defense
RT.com: US troops arrive in Poland for drills amid rising tensions over Ukraine
Vineyard of the Saker: The US plan for the Ukraine - a hypothesis
RT.com: Civil war looms as fighting rages in eastern Ukraine - LIVE UPDATES
RT.com: Kiev military op: Ukrainian army tanks, APCs, troops attack Slavyansk
RT.com: Kiev must immediately de-escalate east Ukraine crisis, call back troops - Moscow
Reuters: Russia says Ukraine peace deal cover for power grab

If Kiev has actually started using its army in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk, then that is a serious crime against its own people, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, Voice of Russia correspondent Svetlana Kalmykova reports. "If today's regime in Kiev has actually begun using its army against civilians within the country, then that, without a doubt, is a serious crime against its people," Putin said during a MediaForum in St. Petersburg. The Ukrainian authorities should start dialogue within the country and not legalizing radical organizations to settle the conflict in the country, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. "We participated in the meeting in Geneva and signed definite agreements which include that both sides need to disarm their people, vacate administrative buildings, and so on. What's happening: no 'Right Sector,' or any other radical groups have been disarmed, no one in Kiev has vacated anything. It's just the opposite, these groups are beginning to be legalized. And who's doing the legalization? You shouldn't go on this path, you need to take the path of dialogue among all of the country's residents wherever they are living," Putin said during a MediaForum in St. Petersburg.

Stephen Lendman: Kiev Declares War ■ In mid-April, CIA director John Brennan went to Kiev. He did so quietly. He held secret talks. He met with Obama's new friends. He came to plot war strategy. He wants Eastern Ukrainian freedom fighters eliminated. He wants them slaughtered in cold blood. He wants challengers to Washington's imperium crushed. After his visit, coup-appointed president Okeksandr Turchynov announced a northern Donetsk region "anti-terrorist operation." To "protect the citizens of Ukraine," he claimed. To be conducted "stage-by-stage," he added. So-called "terrorists" are committe freedom fighters. They're Ukraine's best and bravest. They're putting their bodies on the line courageously. They're doing it for fundamental rights everyone deserves.

The media war continues to see a showdown of some kind. Does the West want to provoke Russia into a military conflict? And will Russia back down? CrossTalking with Vladimir Suchan, Marcus Papadopoulos and Patrick Henningsen.

Vineyard of the Saker: The US plan for the Ukraine - a hypothesis
Tony Cartalucci: West Visits Newly Installed Regime in Kiev
VoR: US intentionally drove Ukraine to regime change – Russia's envoy to UN

A camp on the Libyan coastline meant to train terror-hunters has instead become a haven for terrorists and al Qaeda. ● A key jihadist leader and longtime member of al Qaeda has taken control of a secretive training facility set up by U.S. special operations forces on the Libyan coastline to help hunt down Islamic militants, according to local media reports, Jihadist web forums, and U.S. officials. In the summer of 2012, American Green Berets began refurbishing a Libyan military base 27 kilometers west of Tripoli in order to hone the skills of Libya’s first Western-trained special operations counter-terrorism fighters. Less than two years later, that training camp is now being used by groups with direct links to al Qaeda to foment chaos in post-Qaddafi Libya. Last week, the Libyan press reported that the camp (named “27” for the kilometer marker on the road between Tripoli and Tunis) was now under the command of Ibrahim Ali Abu Bakr Tantoush, a veteran associate of Osama bin Laden who was first designated as part of al Qaeda’s support network in 2002 by the United States and the United Nations. The report said he was heading a group of Salifist fighters from the former Libyan base. In other words, Tantoush is now the chief of a training camp the U.S. and Libyan governments had hoped would train Libyan special operations forces to catch militants like Tantoush.

Mainstream Media Is Being Forced to Retract Its Propaganda More and More Quickly. ● The New York Times pushed fabricated evidence in the run up to the Iraq war. A year later, the newspaper apologized for its inaccurate, one-sided coverage. The U.S. and the New York Times pretended that Syria’s government was responsible for the chemical weapons attack … but that claim was debunked, and even the New York Times was forced to retract it several months later. (The alternative media, including Pulitzer prize winning reporter Seymour Hersh, has also pointed out that it was the Syrians rebels – with the help of the Turkish government – did it). Then the U.S. and the New York Times pretended that they had proof that Russian soldiers were the mysterious “masked men” seizing government buildings in Russia. But a couple of days later, they were forced reporting from the alternative media – especially Robert Parry, winner of the George Polk Award for National Reporting – into retracting that claim, and admitting that their “proof” was almost as flimsy as proof of Saddam’s “weapons of mass destruction”. It seems like the alternative media is forcing the New York Times to retract half-baked, pro-war, propaganda claims more and more quickly.

VoR: NY Times' fake photos: US gov't keeps silent ■ The New York Times released fake photos of a so-called Russian militant in Ukraine amid warning from world media and the US government just watched on the sidelines in silence. This is just one of the ways the US propaganda machine is trying to contort the truth to favor its own money-hungry agenda. [...] As tensions only rise between the US and Russia over the situation going on in Ukraine, it is safe to suppose the false photos have angered many loyal NY Times subscribers along with other world viewers who put their trust in the news organization. What is worse, even though the NY Times distributed false photos, no penal action has been taken against the news outlet nor has any fine been issued for its careless wrongdoing. It seems like the US government allows for the NY Times to make diabolical mistakes because of their close ties with each other, and has let them get away with distributing such an atrociously fabricated story to the public. The bigger question is whether or not people believe the NY Times to be a credible source after its ground-shaking gaffe was exposed.

President says US opposes any attempts to undermine Tokyo's control of disputed islands. ● US President Barack Obama has angered Beijing by saying the uninhabited Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, which are claimed by China and Japan, would be covered by the US-Japan security treaty. He is the first US president to spell this out. He gave the assurance as he began a four-nation Asia tour in Tokyo yesterday. China was quick to hit back. "The so-called security alliance between the US and Japan is a bilateral arrangement made during the cold war period, and it should not be used to damage China's sovereignty and legitimate interest," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said. "We resolutely oppose applying the Diaoyu Islands to the Japan-US security treaty." China and Japan are engaged in a bitter territorial dispute over the Diaoyus, known as Senkakus in Japan. The risks of an unintended conflict were highlighted in January when Tokyo alleged that a Chinese frigate locked its radar on a Japanese destroyer in the East China Sea. In December, the US military cruiser Cowpens had to take evasive action in the South China Sea to avoid hitting a warship supporting China's first aircraft carrier, Liaoning. Adding fuel to those fears, both PLA Navy commander Admiral Wu Shengli and Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force chief of staff Katsutoshi Kawano, attending a defence forum in Qingdao this week, said an accidental conflict between the two militaries could not be ruled out, according to Phoenix TV reports.

The U.S. imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. There is a reason for it — but not a good one. ● Michelle Alexander is a civil rights lawyer, advocate, legal scholar and author of the highly acclaimed 2010 book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The book is an impressive work of nonfiction in which Alexander disproves common misconceptions about criminal justice in the United States and paints an appalling picture of where the system stands today.