Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 27 Desember 2014 | 22.58
Three boys who spent Christmas night with their grandmother because they did not want her to be alone were killed in a fire at her house.
The blaze ripped through the home in the town of Washington Court House, Ohio, at 4am on Friday morning, killing Terry Harris, 60, and three of her grandchildren.
Braylon Harris, nine, 11-year-old Broderick and 14-year-old Kenyon had wanted to stay with Mrs Harris because they were concerned about her.
Mrs Harris lived on her own in the single-storey, ranch-style house while her children lived two houses away.
Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth said: "They didn't want their grandma to be by herself on Christmas night; that's why they spent the night there.
"The children just adored their grandmother.
"The grandma was close to the front door. The other children were behind her and so we're just assuming that she was by the front door, that she was trying to corral the children to help them get out."
He told CBS News in Cleveland: "To lose three children and a grandparent, it's devastating to the family. The fact that it's the holidays makes it even worse for the community."
He said he had known the family for some time. The oldest boy is understood to have wrestled competitively.
"They're a very close-knit family. They were good boys," he said.
A prayer vigil was held for the family in the town on Friday night.
It took firefighters several hours to find the bodies as the site remained very hot and unstable for some time.
Fayette County coroner Dr Dennis Mesker said the badly burned bodies had been turned over to the Montgomery County coroner's office to allow the identities to be confirmed and post mortem examinations to be carried out.
An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the fire. Counselling services were being made available for classmates of the children who had died.
North Korea has blasted the US President following the release of The Interview, which features a fictional plot to kill its leader Kim Jong-Un.
In a statement, the reclusive nation's National Defence Commission (NDC) described the president as a "monkey inhabiting a tropical forest".
The statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, accused Mr Obama of encouraging the release of the film, and threatened the United States with "inescapable deadly blows".
It also blamed the US for shutting down its Internet earlier this week, something the United States has denied.
Kim Jong-Un at a military event in a picture released on Christmas Day
The Interview was first screened on Christmas Day after Mr Obama and a number of high-profile Hollywood figures slammed Sony Pictures for pulling the film.
Sony had cancelled the film's release following a cyber attack and threats of violence against cinemas that chose to screen it.
Video:Sony Hack Timeline
Mr Obama accused North Korea of being responsible, warning that the US would respond "in a place and time and manner that we choose".
Pyongyang denied any involvement in the attack.
It went on to suffer internet blackouts, triggering speculation the US had launched a retaliatory attack.
"Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest," the NDC statement said.
Video:The Interview: Official Trailer
"If the US persists in American-style arrogant, high-handed and gangster-like arbitrary practices despite (North Korea's) repeated warnings, the US should bear in mind that its failed political affairs will face inescapable deadly blows."
The statement once again condemned The Interview, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco, as "a movie for agitating terrorism".
Former British ambassador to North Korea John Everard told Sky News Pyongyang's latest statement was likely to have been well "calculated".
"This is the second statement that the North Koreans have released on this subject in a few days," he said.
Video:The Interview Opens In US Cinemas
"In their first statement on the 21st of December they took great care not to insult President Obama
"Clearly they have calculated there is nothing to be gained from trying to be nice to him."
The Interview took in a million dollars after its limited release on Christmas Day when it was screened in some 300 largely independent theatres.
It was also released online for rental or purchase.
Video:Sky News Special: The Defectors
It is not the first time North Korea has resorted to crude insults to slam foreign leaders.
Earlier this year it called US Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a "hideous" lantern jaw and described South Korean President Park Geun-hye as a prostitute.
In May, it published a dispatch saying Obama had the "shape of a monkey".
Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russian separatists are set to complete a prisoner swap which has already seen the release of almost 370 people.
Ukraine expects another four soldiers to be freed in the coming hours, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, a spokesman for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.
The number of separatists earmarked for release has not been confirmed.
The swap will complete a two-day mass prisoner exchange which forms part of a 12-point peace plan aimed at ending fighting which has claimed the lives of more than 4,700 people.
The swap was supervised by heavily-armed soldiers
Ukraine handed over a total of 222 prisoners on Friday in exchange for 146 soldiers.
The swap, which took place in an area of no man's land north of the eastern rebel stronghold of Donetsk, was supervised by heavily-armed soldiers.
Video:2 Dec: Rockets Fired Over Donetsk
They were later met by President Poroshenko.
"As a president and as an ordinary citizen my heart is full with joy," he said.
Although hundreds of captives have been released over the past few months, it was the largest single exchange since the conflict in eastern Ukraine erupted in April.
Announcing the swap on Facebook, Mr Tsegolko said Ukraine's security service, the SBU, expected the remaining four soldiers "to be able to celebrate New Year ... with their families".
The peace plan, agreed by both sides in September, also included a ceasefire which has since seen numerous violations.
According to the United Nations, 1,300 people have died since the implementation of the deal. Nevertheless, fighting is reported to have decreased significantly throughout December.
Video:Sept: Trapped Between Battle Lines
Peace talks attended by envoys for Ukraine, Russia, the separatists and European security watchdog the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the Belarussian capital Minsk ended without resolution on Wednesday.
The talks had been aimed at paving the way for the signing of a comprehensive peace accord on Friday, although the only deal reached was on the least contentious of four agenda points - the prisoner swap.
Ukraine has since suspended all bus and rail links to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March, citing security concerns.
The rebel uprising in eastern Ukraine began shortly after Crimea's annexation, and followed the overthrow of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych.
It is not known exactly how many prisoners are still held by the two sides.
However, Ukraine said this month that about 600 of its nationals were in rebel hands.
More than 160,000 people have been forced to flee Malaysia's worst flooding in decades, local media has reported.
According to The New Straits Times, the number of people forced to evacuate was up from 100,000 just a day earlier.
Rescue teams are struggling to reach the worst-affected areas in the northeast of the country, where at least five people have lost their lives.
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has admitted that rescue efforts have been hampered by power outages and roads being washed away by the floods.
At least five people have been killed in the flooding
"I admit the situation is challenging to the rescue workers and we are trying our best to make sure that the food arrives to the victims depending on the flood situation," the Star newspaper quoted him saying.
Prime Minister Najib Razak travelled to the worst-hit state of Kelatan on Saturday, a day after cutting short his holiday in Hawaii.
He also pledged a further 500m ringgit (£91.9m) in support for flood victims, significantly boosting the government's initial 50 million ringgit offer.
However, that has done little to ease public anger over the Government's perceived slow response to the crisis.
The Prime Minister (r) has been criticised for his absence
The Prime Minister became the focus of criticism after pictures emerged of him playing golf in Hawaii with US President Barack Obama during the storms.
Forecasters have warned that the worst is not yet over for the northeastern states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.
Northeastern Malaysia is regularly hit by flooding during the annual monsoon, although this year torrential rains have been unusually bad.
Thousands of police have been gathering in New York for the funeral of an officer who was shot dead with his partner.
Rafael Ramos was sitting in a patrol car with colleague Wenjian Liu on December 20 when they were both shot and killed by 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley.
Brinsley, who claimed he was avenging the killing of black people by police, then shot himself dead moments later.
Hundreds of officers dressed in blue uniforms have been seen standing outside the Christ Tabernacle Church in the New York City suburb of Queens.
Vice President Joe Biden has already spoken and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is among those expected to speak.
Mr Biden, who drew applause when he claimed the New York Police Department was the finest in the world, said the killings had "touched the soul of an entire nation."
When the Ramos family arrived, his eldest son - wearing his father's New York Police Department jacket - was hugged by a police officer.
Funeral plans for his partner, Officer Wenjian Liu, have yet to be announced.
The execution-style killing was so swift, according to the city's police commissioner, that the officers may never have seen their assailant.
Mr Ramos, 40, had been on the force for two years and was raising two teenage sons with his wife, Maritza.
It follows Mayor de Blasio and thousands more officers gathering outside the church for Officer Ramos' wake last night.
Written By Unknown on Rabu, 17 Desember 2014 | 22.57
Pakistani police have issued a warning that terrorists are planning to plant magnetic bombs on school buses.
Authorities in Islamabad issued a letter calling on schools to increase security and to check underneath buses and other vehicles.
It comes after seven Taliban gunmen killed more than 130 children and nine teachers during a massacre at an army-run school in Peshawar on Tuesday.
The letter warns schools to increase security and check under vehicles
Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif and the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) flew to Afghanistan on Wednesday to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to discuss tackling Taliban militants in both countries.
Army spokesman Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa said: "We are hoping that we will see strong action from the Afghan side in the coming days."
Video:Pakistan Mourns Lost Children
Relations between the two countries have been tense, with both sides blaming the other for covertly supporting anti-government insurgents.
On Wednesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reinstated the death penalty in terrorism cases in the wake of the attack as three days of mourning began after the country's deadliest terror attack.
Government spokesman Mohiuddin Wan said: "It was decided that this moratorium should be lifted. The prime minister approved.
1/23
Gallery: Bloody Aftermath Of School Attack
A Taliban massacre that killed 141 teachers and children at an army-run school in Pakistan has left a scene of heart-wrenching devastation
Blood is seen still splattered on the floor and the stairs as local media are allowed inside the school a day after the attack
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Video:Britons Reveal IS Fight In Syria
By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Two Britons who went to Syria to fight IS have told of their battles on the front line - and how they vowed to kill each other rather than get captured.
Jamie Read and James Hughes told how they dodged bullets during chaotic patrols with Kurdish forces after recording a "goodbye" video for their families in case they died.
They described spending hours lying in the "pitch black" in no-man's land, in conditions they said were reminiscent of World War One.
On one occasion, it was so cold that a young Kurdish comrade collapsed with hypothermia - "body-popping" on the ground next to them.
In an exclusive Sky News interview after their return to the UK, the pair also revealed how panic alarms have been installed in their homes, amid fears they could be targets for IS supporters.
They strongly denied being mercenaries, telling how they had sold possessions to fund their flights and had returned to the UK to "mounting debts and bills".
1/8
Gallery: British Pair Joined Fight Against Islamic State
James Hughes and Jamie Read gave an exclusive interview to Sky News
James Hughes from Worcestershire is a former soldier who served three tours in Afghanistan
]]>
Jamie Read from Lanarkshire, Scotland, spent time training with the French army
]]>
He said that he had 'zero tolerance' for terrorism
]]>
The men joined Kurdish fighters in Syria battling IS
]]>
They had not been paid "a penny" for their exploits, though they had been "treated like royalty" by some of the Kurdish troops, the men said.
And the former soldiers gave a detailed account of their time in Iraq and Syria, explaining that they had travelled to fight IS militants because they had "zero tolerance for terrorism".
Describing what had prompted them to travel, Mr Read said the beheading of British aid convoy volunteer Alan Henning had been the final straw.
"Alan Henning - aid worker, British - put him on his hands and knees and cut his head off, you know what I mean," Mr Read said.
"Can you really find justification in sitting back here and doing nothing?"
Mr Read, 24, and Mr Hughes, 26, revealed that organising the trip had been quite simple with a "phone call here or there" and some communication over Skype.
They were screened by simply having their Facebook posts checked and ensuring that social media friends were not IS supporters, Mr Read said.
The pair said that after arriving in Irbil, northern Iraq, they were transported via the Kurdish HQ to the front line in Syria.
During the journey the Britons said they had no idea whether they had landed in a trap.
"I'm not going to lie, this was one of the most frightening processes you can go through, you know, the paranoia: through the roof," Mr Read said.
"You get picked up by a guy who doesn't speak English, so straight away there's a language barrier.
Video:UK Needs 'Stronger Foreign Policy'
"When we got to the safe house... it's sort of dodgy-looking, so you think 'I don't really like this'. At one point, you think 'is this the point I'm going to get handed over?'"
After getting a uniform and weapons, Mr Hughes said they eventually "rocked up" on the frontline to an old schoolhouse covered in mud.
They arrived to cheers from their Kurdish comrades, were plied with chai (tea) and cigarettes, and met three other Westerners who had joined the fight.
During their three weeks on the front line, their duties included terrifying night patrols where it was the "blackest black... like being in a cave with no lights".
"You are left staring into the pitch black, hoping no one sees you first," Mr Read said.
The Britons said they had hatched a plan to shoot each dead rather than being caught and paraded on television as hostages.
"We wouldn't get captured, bottom line, we couldn't get captured, we're not getting our heads paraded on YouTube, we made that vow before we went out.
"Everybody out there is carrying a round for themselves. Nobody wants to be captured by IS. Nobody wants to end up on YouTube getting their head cut off.
"So for us, as harsh as it sounds, it's probably the better way to go. It's the old saying, 'you keep a round for each other'."
Describing their final day, Mr Read told how the pair had been out on patrol towards a nearby village where IS militants had been holed up.
"All of a sudden we just got opened up on. Quite a lot of small arms (...) quite a lot of AKs and they were quite close.
1/12
Gallery: Peshmergas On The Front Line In The Battle Against Islamic State
Kurdish Peshmerga forces sweep the Bakirta village near the town of Makhmur, south of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan
Members of Kurdish "peshmerga" troops ride a vehicle during an intensive security deployment on the outskirts of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad
]]>
"There were rounds coming in and they were really close - they were pinging and they were bouncing, whizzing over your head - obviously it's a very distinctive noise.
"There was a lot of shouting, a lot of screaming, a lot of F-words being dropped."
The pair said they were forced to flee through a village which was "littered with IEDs (improvised explosive devices)" before returning to base.
"We eventually made it out but this was a real eye-opener - this is how these people were going to act - there's something more that needs to be done there."
They returned to Britain last week and were questioned by anti-terrorism officers for six hours at Heathrow airport before being released.
Asked whether they would return to Syria, Mr Read said: "I'd like to think we would have the opportunity to go back."
But he added: "I'm unsure on the political stance - I'm not sure whether our Government would appreciate us going back."
:: You can watch an extended special report on the IS-fighting Britons at 2.30pm, 4.30pm and 8.30pm, today, as well as a half-hour special programme at 9.30pm.
Watch the report on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 132 and Freesat channel 202.
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Exclusive: Death Pact Of IS-Fighting Britons
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Video:Britons Reveal IS Fight In Syria
By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Two Britons who went to Syria to fight IS have told of their battles on the front line - and how they vowed to kill each other rather than get captured.
Jamie Read and James Hughes told how they dodged bullets during chaotic patrols with Kurdish forces after recording a "goodbye" video for their families in case they died.
They described spending hours lying in the "pitch black" in no-man's land, in conditions they said were reminiscent of World War One.
On one occasion, it was so cold that a young Kurdish comrade collapsed with hypothermia - "body-popping" on the ground next to them.
In an exclusive Sky News interview after their return to the UK, the pair also revealed how panic alarms have been installed in their homes, amid fears they could be targets for IS supporters.
They strongly denied being mercenaries, telling how they had sold possessions to fund their flights and had returned to the UK to "mounting debts and bills".
1/8
Gallery: British Pair Joined Fight Against Islamic State
James Hughes and Jamie Read gave an exclusive interview to Sky News
James Hughes from Worcestershire is a former soldier who served three tours in Afghanistan
]]>
Jamie Read from Lanarkshire, Scotland, spent time training with the French army
]]>
He said that he had 'zero tolerance' for terrorism
]]>
The men joined Kurdish fighters in Syria battling IS
]]>
They had not been paid "a penny" for their exploits, though they had been "treated like royalty" by some of the Kurdish troops, the men said.
And the former soldiers gave a detailed account of their time in Iraq and Syria, explaining that they had travelled to fight IS militants because they had "zero tolerance for terrorism".
Describing what had prompted them to travel, Mr Read said the beheading of British aid convoy volunteer Alan Henning had been the final straw.
"Alan Henning - aid worker, British - put him on his hands and knees and cut his head off, you know what I mean," Mr Read said.
"Can you really find justification in sitting back here and doing nothing?"
Mr Read, 24, and Mr Hughes, 26, revealed that organising the trip had been quite simple with a "phone call here or there" and some communication over Skype.
They were screened by simply having their Facebook posts checked and ensuring that social media friends were not IS supporters, Mr Read said.
The pair said that after arriving in Irbil, northern Iraq, they were transported via the Kurdish HQ to the front line in Syria.
During the journey the Britons said they had no idea whether they had landed in a trap.
"I'm not going to lie, this was one of the most frightening processes you can go through, you know, the paranoia: through the roof," Mr Read said.
"You get picked up by a guy who doesn't speak English, so straight away there's a language barrier.
Video:UK Needs 'Stronger Foreign Policy'
"When we got to the safe house... it's sort of dodgy-looking, so you think 'I don't really like this'. At one point, you think 'is this the point I'm going to get handed over?'"
After getting a uniform and weapons, Mr Hughes said they eventually "rocked up" on the frontline to an old schoolhouse covered in mud.
They arrived to cheers from their Kurdish comrades, were plied with chai (tea) and cigarettes, and met three other Westerners who had joined the fight.
During their three weeks on the front line, their duties included terrifying night patrols where it was the "blackest black... like being in a cave with no lights".
"You are left staring into the pitch black, hoping no one sees you first," Mr Read said.
The Britons said they had hatched a plan to shoot each dead rather than being caught and paraded on television as hostages.
"We wouldn't get captured, bottom line, we couldn't get captured, we're not getting our heads paraded on YouTube, we made that vow before we went out.
"Everybody out there is carrying a round for themselves. Nobody wants to be captured by IS. Nobody wants to end up on YouTube getting their head cut off.
"So for us, as harsh as it sounds, it's probably the better way to go. It's the old saying, 'you keep a round for each other'."
Describing their final day, Mr Read told how the pair had been out on patrol towards a nearby village where IS militants had been holed up.
"All of a sudden we just got opened up on. Quite a lot of small arms (...) quite a lot of AKs and they were quite close.
1/12
Gallery: Peshmergas On The Front Line In The Battle Against Islamic State
Kurdish Peshmerga forces sweep the Bakirta village near the town of Makhmur, south of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan
Members of Kurdish "peshmerga" troops ride a vehicle during an intensive security deployment on the outskirts of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad
]]>
"There were rounds coming in and they were really close - they were pinging and they were bouncing, whizzing over your head - obviously it's a very distinctive noise.
"There was a lot of shouting, a lot of screaming, a lot of F-words being dropped."
The pair said they were forced to flee through a village which was "littered with IEDs (improvised explosive devices)" before returning to base.
"We eventually made it out but this was a real eye-opener - this is how these people were going to act - there's something more that needs to be done there."
They returned to Britain last week and were questioned by anti-terrorism officers for six hours at Heathrow airport before being released.
Asked whether they would return to Syria, Mr Read said: "I'd like to think we would have the opportunity to go back."
But he added: "I'm unsure on the political stance - I'm not sure whether our Government would appreciate us going back."
:: You can watch an extended special report on the IS-fighting Britons at 2.30pm, 4.30pm and 8.30pm, today, as well as a half-hour special programme at 9.30pm.
Watch the report on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 132 and Freesat channel 202.
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When confronted with the atrocious truth of the Islamic State death cult's murder videos there is a natural instinct to "do something".
In the case of the British Government, the reflex has led to muddled thinking. In the case of two former British soldiers, it led to the front line.
Both are naïve. But only one of these groups is guaranteeing their own failure.
Jamie Read and James Hughes travelled to Kurdistan and took up arms against IS. They spent a little over three weeks on the front line.
They were interviewed by the police on their return but not, unlike every other group of Britons that has travelled to fight in the Syrian civil war, arrested and charged with terrorism.
Volunteers who have gone to fight against the regime of Bashar al Assad are all deemed to be dangerous terrorists.
Those who fight alongside the Kurds are seen as intelligence assets.
Jamie Read (L) and James Hughes (R) met American Jordan Matson
Of course, some of those who choose to fight in Syria do so because they subscribe to the theology of the IS and its global ambitions to enforce a Caliphate.
But other Syrian groups fighting against Assad do not have this agenda. Seen as "moderates", these rebel movements have received funding, training, and non-lethal aid from London and Washington.
Video:Ex-Soldiers 'Did Nothing Wrong'
Join them, though, and you'll be jailed.
Right now, in Jordan, there is a Military Operations Centre (MoC) staffed by, among others, British and American officers working with Syrian rebels and trying to put together a coherent ground force to exploit the effects of air strikes by the US-led coalition against Islamic State.
It's a bit of a struggle to win the trust of Syria's non-Kurd rebels.
The West has done very little to help them, has not imposed a no-fly zone on the Damascus regime but has bombed the al Nusra Front, probably the most effective rebel group fighting Assad.
Video:'You Are Treated Like Royalty'
Syrian rebel sources have told Sky News that the coalition has "about six months" before they collapse completely and may throw their lot in with Islamic State or al Qaeda affiliate the al Nusra Front.
Meanwhile, a small but steady trickle of volunteers - all of them unpaid - are making their way to the Kurds from the UK and other parts of Europe.
Their motivations are mixed.
Some, Hughes and Read admitted, have a "death wish" and nothing to live for back home. Others, like them, felt a compulsion to do their bit to stop IS, and no doubt others are war junkies, fantasists or downright nutters.
Video:Jamie Read: 'Absolutely No Regrets'
They have, though, managed to do something that their governments have shied away from. They have reached a conclusion about who in this war are the "goodies" and then joined up.
UK and US leaders have not quite figured out who they want to win in Syria.
The Kurds get backing for their plucky defence of their autonomous region.
But Syria's other rebels are a mixed bag, which in terms of UK law, are all being defined as "terrorists" - even the ones that the UK and US are funding.
1/8
Gallery: British Pair Joined Fight Against Islamic State
James Hughes and Jamie Read gave an exclusive interview to Sky News
James Hughes from Worcestershire is a former soldier who served three tours in Afghanistan
American Alan Gross has been released from Cuba after five years in prison, signalling a potential shift in US-Cuba relations.
Mr Gross is on a US government plane bound for Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, and is expected to arrive around midday.
Cuba also released a non-American "asset" with Mr Gross, US officials said.
Their release was part of a reported prisoner exchange that included three Cubans imprisoned in Florida for spying.
Supporters rally for Alan Gross near the White House in December 2013
The Vatican played a key role in helping both sides reach the agreement, said US Senator Dick Durbin, who hailed President Barack Obama for moving toward better relations with Cuba.
"I was overjoyed by this news," Sen Durbin told Reuters.
The White House said the President will make a statement on US-Cuba relations at 12pm (5pm GMT).
Cuban President Raul Castro is also scheduled to make an announcement, according to state television.
Mr Gross' imprisonment has been a major sticking point in improving ties between the two countries, which have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1961.
American officials said the US government will hold talks with Cuba to normalise full diplomatic relations, including the opening of a US embassy in Havana.
Mr Obama is expected to ease a decades-old embargo and travel restrictions that prevent most Americans from travelling to Cuba, officials said.
US Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat, criticised the decision to release Cuban spies in exchange for Mr Gross' freedom.
He said Mr Obama's "actions have vindicated the brutal behaviour of the Cuban government".
"Trading Mr Gross for three convicted criminals sets an extremely dangerous precedent," Sen Mendendez said in a news release.
Mr Gross, 65, was arrested on 3 December 2009.
The US government contractor was sentenced to 15 years in prison for importing banned technology and trying to establish clandestine internet services for Cuban Jews.
At the time of his arrest, Mr Gross was working as a subcontractor for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a government agency that works to promote democracy on the island.
In April, Mr Gross pressed President Obama to get personally involved in negotiating his release.
He announced at the time that he was going on a hunger strike "to object to mistruths, deceptions, and inaction by both governments".
Written By Unknown on Selasa, 16 Desember 2014 | 22.57
The deputy chairman of Russia's central bank has conceded the rouble is in deep trouble but says it will take action to remedy the problem soon.
"The situation is critical. We could not imagine this in our worst nightmare a year ago," Sergei Shvetsov was quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax as saying.
He said the shock overnight hike in its key interest rate from 10.5% to 17% "will be followed by other measures to stabilise the situation".
Despite the increase the rouble continued to fall sharply throughout the day, hitting the 80 to the dollar mark and decreasing in value by 20% in a matter of hours.
"Trust me, the choice the central bank's board of directors made was one between bad and much, much worse," Mr Shvetsov added.
Video:Russian Economy In A Crisis
"In the coming days, the situation will be comparable with the toughest period of 2008. I think that the experience we accumulated over the past crises will help us find the right solution and survive this situation. I very much hope so."
The Bank of Russia's shock decision to up its core rate was a response to the rouble's value sinking by almost 50% over the course of the year - hit by Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine conflict and plummeting oil prices.
It was also intended to settle nerves back home as fears grow that the extent of Russia's economic problems - largely unreported by state media - could spark panic among consumers as price rises become unmanageable.
By raising interest rates, the bank also hoped investors would find it more financially appealing to keep their money in Russia, whose economy relies heavily on oil revenues.
Central bank chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina said earlier the move should stem inflation, although she admitted it will take the rouble "some time" to find its correct value.
Russian stocks fell slightly on Tuesday morning with the MICEX benchmark 1.5% lower, reflecting the additional pressure on businesses.
Video:What's Causing Falling Oil Prices?
Falls of more than 50% in world oil prices are tipped to plunge Russia into recession next year.
On Tuesday the value of Brent crude slipped to new five-year low, falling below $60-per-barrel for the first time since July 2009.
The Bank Of Russia had raised the rate from 5.5% earlier this year to 10.5% just last Thursday.
It said then that it expected inflation to run at 10% this year and climb higher in the first quarter of 2015.
But the rouble has plunged further against the dollar this week, to 65 on Monday and then 80 on Tuesday, after dropping from 55 roubles last week.
Alexei Kudrin, Russia's finance minister from 2000-2011, said on Twitter: "The fall of the rouble is not just a reaction to low oil prices and the sanctions but also (a show of) distrust to economic policies of the government."
Video:Putin Points Finger At The West
He called on Russian president Vladimir Putin to take appropriate measures, although he did not specify what these should be.
Moscow's involvement in Ukraine has led to the US and the European Union imposing a range of sanctions which have added to Russia's economic woes.
These have included blocking Western financial markets to key Russian companies and limiting imports of some technologies.
Further sanctions are likely after the US Congress passed legislation on Monday that could see Washington providing weapons and other assistance to Ukraine.
