Ukraine rebels mull Putin\\\'s U-turn

Pro-Russian rebels fighting in eastern Ukraine were on Thursday weighing whether to postpone a vote on independence, as urged by President Vladimir Putin to dial down a crisis that threatened to plunge the country into civil war. Self-proclaimed rebel leaders in the flashpoint towns of Slavyansk and Donetsk were poised to brief reporters after Putin said the referendums planned for Sunday should be put off to allow negotiations to take place. In a stunning about-turn, Putin late on Wednesday also welcomed the holding of a presidential election in Ukraine on May 25 -- something the Kremlin had dismissed as "absurd" only two days previously. But he predicated that on reforms giving Russian speakers in Ukraine's east more autonomy under the ex-Soviet republic's constitution, according to AFP.