Syria: Deaths After Turkish Border Blast

A car has exploded at a border crossing between Turkey and Syria, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens more.

The mayor of Reyhanli, the nearest town to the border checkpoint, told CNN Turk that four of those killed were Turkish and that the car which exploded had Syrian licence plates.

Witnesses said they saw it drive up to the border post, one of the main crossing points for Syrian refugees into Turkey, shortly before the explosion.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the government was investigating all possible causes for the blast, including a suicide attack, but it was wrong to jump to hasty conclusions.

"The information that we have for now is that a minibus with Syrian number plates coming from the other side exploded. It was a powerful explosion," Arinc, who is also the government spokesman, told reporters after a regular cabinet meeting.

Cars at the border crossing were badly-damaged in the blast

"But whether this was a vehicle laden with explosives or another type of explosion, I think, at the latest, will become clear tomorrow," he said.

Turkey's interior, justice and customs ministers are due to fly to the area to be briefed on the exposion.

Arinc said the death toll from the blast had risen to 12, including three Turks and nine Syrians. At least 28 people were wounded, 13 of them seriously.

Television footage and photographs showed severe damage to a series of cars at the border, where a gate was blown open and part of the roof collapsed.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan interrupted a cabinet meeting to be briefed on the explosion, Turkish media reported.

Turkey is a staunch supporter of the almost two-year-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has harboured both Syrian refugees and rebels.

Five Turkish civilians were killed in October 2012 when a mortar shell hit a house in the Turkish border town of Akcakale.

Turkey has also responded in kind to gunfire and mortar rounds hitting its territory along the 910km (565 mile) border and is hosting six NATO Patriot missile batteries meant to defend it against attacks from Syria.

Tensions have increased in recent weeks after NATO said it had detected launches of short-range ballistic missiles inside Syria, several of which have landed close to the Turkish border.

Turkey has scrambled warplanes along the frontier, fanning fears the war could spread and further destabilise the region.

Speaking from scene of the explosion, Syrian opposition campaigner Osama Semaan said he believed the explosion was an attack by Assad loyalists in response to an offer of talks from opposition Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib.

"It seems it is a deadly message from the Syrian regime after Sheikh Moaz offered it to talk in northern Syria," Mr Semaan said.

The Cilvegozu border gate, several kilometres outside the town of Reyhanli, sits opposite the Syrian gate of Bab al-Hawa, which the rebels captured last July.

Refugees cross back and forth and Turkish trucks also deliver goods into no-man's land between the two gates, where they are picked up by Syrians.

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Ex-LAPD Cop Hunt: Dorner Charged With Murder

By Greg Milam, US Correspondent

Fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner has been charged with the murder of a police officer under special circumstances that could bring the death penalty.

Dorner, who is suspected of killing three people and wounding two others last week, also faces an attempted murder charge over the shooting of another Riverside police officer.

The former LAPD cop, who remains on the run for a fifth day, declared "war" on his former colleagues in a threatening online manifesto.

Police say they are following up hundreds of new leads prompted by a $1m (£632,000) reward.

Police have battled snow in their search in the San Bernardino mountains

A spokesman for the Los Angeles police says they are investigating more than 600 new clues resulting from tips from members of the public.

The reward - made up of donations from local authorities, council officials, police organisations and anonymous donors - was offered at the weekend with the trail having seemingly gone cold.

Police have been searching for Dorner since last week and are protecting the families of 50 officers who are considered targets.

Dorner seen on surveillance clip at an Orange County hotel in January

The 33-year-old made clear in a Facebook rant that he holds many of his former colleagues responsible for his being sacked by the LAPD in 2009.

The search has sparked numerous false alarms. Police raced to a home improvement store at the weekend only to discover the reported sighting of Dorner was in fact a couple having an argument in the car park.

Officers also continue to scour the Big Bear area of the San Bernardino Mountains where Dorner's burned-out pick-up truck was found torched. There has been no confirmed sighting of him there.

Dorner's pick-up truck was found torched

The search - believed to the largest manhunt in Los Angeles history - has stretched the resources of city's police force. The department is on "tactical alert", meaning officers are staying on duty beyond their shifts.

Meanwhile, a lawyer representing a man whose pick-up was mistakenly peppered with bullets by police hunting Dorner says the officers were reckless.

Surfer Dan Perdue was driving to the beach in Torrance on Thursday when he was stopped by officers guarding the home of a law enforcement official targeted by Dorner.

Police mistakenly shot Mr Perdue's truck in Torrance

After driving away, his vehicle was hit by a squad car and, when it spun round, officers began shooting. Mr Perdue was not injured.

It happened just blocks away from another mistaken identity shooting. A mother and daughter delivering newspapers in a pick-up truck were wounded when police opened fire on them.

It has all added to the impression of a region on edge with no sign of Dorner and police convinced he has every intention of carrying out his threat to kill.

The LA police chief has said he will re-open the investigation into Dorner's dismissal from the force. He was fired after being found guilty of making false allegations against a colleague.

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North Korea Confirms 'Successful' Nuclear Test

North Korea has confirmed it has carried out a third nuclear test after monitoring agencies reported an "unusual seismic event".

"A third nuclear test has been successfully staged," the North's state-run Korean Central News agency said.

Protesters in Seoul voiced their anger and condemned leader Kim Jong-un

"The nuclear test was conducted as part of measures to protect our national security and sovereignty against the reckless hostility of the United States that violated our republic's right for a peaceful satellite launch."

A 4.9 magnitude earthquake was detected just north of a site where Pyongyang conducted nuclear tests in 2009.

The South Korean defence ministry, which raised its military alert level after the quake, said the blast had an explosive yield of between six and seven kilotons (6-7kt) and was of "enormous destructive power".

In comparison, the nuclear weapons detonated above Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 carried a yield of around 20kt each.

A spokesperson for the UN boss Ban Ki-moon said: "The Secretary-General condemns the underground nuclear weapon test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea today.

A Japanese seismic official shows where the blast occurred

"It is a clear and grave violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions."

Tibor Toth, the executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), said the event's location was "roughly congruent with" nuclear tests carried out by North Korea in 2006 and 2009.

"This act would constitute a clear threat to international peace and security, and challenge efforts made to strengthen global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, in particular by ending nuclear testing," he added.

China expressed its "firm opposition" to North Korea's nuclear test, saying its wayward ally had gone ahead with the blast "despite widespread opposition from the international community".

"We strongly urge the DPRK to honour its commitment to denuclearisation, and not to take any actions which might worsen the situation," the foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

A North Korean soldier stands guard after the test

The UN Security Council will hold urgent talks on the blast at 2pm GMT and US President Barack Obama said the test posed a threat to international peace and security.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "The UK will begin urgent consultations with Security Council partners calling for a robust response to this latest development."

Mr Obama said the US will "continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies" and it will work with other nations "to pursue firm action".

He added that North Korea's action "warrants further swift and credible action by the international community".

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "North Korea's development of its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities poses a threat to international and regional security.

South Korean troops march along the demilitarised zone at the 38th parallel

"Its repeated provocations only serve to increase regional tension, and hinder the prospects for lasting peace on the Korean peninsula."

Japan said the North Korean nuclear test was a "grave threat", according to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"(The test) is a grave threat to the safety of our country and a serious challenge against the global framework of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation," Mr Abe said in a statement, adding it "cannot be tolerated".

After the blast took place a North Korean newsreader urged the Korean People's Army (KPA) to prepare for combat against its foes.

She stressed that If an order was given "the KPA should blow up the stronghold of aggression at a strike".

"And wipe out the brigandish US imperialists and South Korea puppet army to the last man and thus accomplish the historic cause of national reunification."

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Royal Hoax Call: Australian DJ Back On Air

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

One of the Australian DJs at the centre of the royal prank call controversy in which a nurse was found hanged has quietly returned to the airwaves.

Michael Christian is back on the air presenting the mid-morning show on Melbourne's Fox FM radio station.

The show he presented with co-host Mel Grieg was suspended and eventually cancelled after the pair made the prank call to King Edward VII's Hospital in London in December.

They pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles and asked about the health of Prince William's pregnant wife Kate, who was being treated at the hospital at the time.

Nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who transferred the call to a colleague, was found hanged three days later, sparking a backlash against the DJs.

Mother-of-two Jacintha Saldanha and her husband Ben Barboza

Rhys Holleran, CEO of Austereo, said: "We are happy to have Michael back on air.

"We have always supported our talent returning to work when appropriate and today marks that occasion for Michael.

"We look forward to welcoming Mel Greig back when the time is right."

According to Australian media news website Mumbrella, Christian did not identify himself to listeners during on-air links.

His name was also missing from the station's listings on its website.

Neither Mr Christian nor Ms Greig will be prosecuted over the hoax call, during which details of the Duchess of Cambridge's rare form of morning sickness were revealed.

Both presenters appeared on national television in Australia to apologise for the stunt.

"If we played any involvement in (Ms Saldanha's) death then we're very sorry for that," Mr Christian said during the interview.

An inquest found no suspicious circumstances over the death of Ms Saldanha, a mother of two who was born in India.

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Indian Festival Stampede: Dozens Killed

At least 36 people, mostly women, have been killed in a stampede at a railway station near India's Kumbh Mela festival.

Amit Malviya, a spokesman for the northern and central railway, confirmed that 20 bodies had been identified, with authorities waiting for relatives to come forward to claim 16 others.

Of those identified, 14 are female and six are men, with the youngest victim being an eight-year-old girl. The oldest victim was a 75-year-old man.

"Twenty persons have been identified (and) we are trying to ascertain the identities of the remaining persons," he said.

Dozens more were injured in the stampede.

The stampede occurred at Allahabad station when pilgrims were heading home from the most auspicious day of the Kumbh Mela, which drew 30 million people to the banks of the River Ganges.

Hindus believe a swim in the sacred waters of the river cleanses them of their sins.

Local officials said the railings on a bridge at the station had given way under the pressure of the mass of people, while witnesses said that police had baton-charged the crowd, triggering panic.

Injured people were taken away in ambulances from Allahabad station, but relatives said emergency services took hours to reach the scene.

"My sister is lying here unattended to for the last two hours. Why is no-one coming?" a woman from the state of Bihar told the NDTV channel from the platform.

After the stampede, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a statement saying that he was "deeply shocked to learn of the unfortunate incident".

Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal headed to Allahabad to investigate what happened.

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Nine Killed In Northern Russia Mine Explosion

Nine people have been killed and eight are feared trapped after a mine explosion in northern Russia.

The Russian Interior Ministry said the blast, at a mine owned by a division of one of the country's largest steel producers Severstal, was caused by a buildup of methane gas.

Workers were feared trapped under rubble at the pit in the northern Komi region.

More follows...

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US Blizzard: Warnings Of Flash Flooding

A major clear-up is under way after a blizzard battered the northeast US.

People in New England began the job of digging out from as much as a metre of snow, while emergency crews used snowmobiles to reach shivering motorists stranded overnight in New York's Long Island.

Many now fear heavy flooding when the snow begins to melt, and some residents in Massachusetts are being told to evacuate their homes. In the town of Hull, a mandatory evacuation order for coastal areas was issued.

At least eight deaths were blamed on the storm, including three in Canada.

About 475,000 homes and businesses were still without power late on Saturday night, down from a peak of about 650,000.

Roads across the New York to Boston corridor of roughly 25 million people were impassable, while many cars remain stuck in drifts.

The snow was so deep that some people could not get their doors open.

"It's like lifting cement," said Michael Levesque, from Quincy, Massachusetts. "They say it's two feet, but I think it's more like three feet."

One of the reported deaths was of an 11-year-old boy in Boston, who was overcome by carbon monoxide as he sat in a running car to keep warm while his father shovelled snow.

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee said that while the snow had stopped, the danger had not passed.

"People need to take this storm seriously, even after it's over. If you have any kind of heart condition, be careful with the shoveling."

However, the storm was not as bad as some of the forecasts led many to fear.

In New York, around 30cm of snow was recorded in Central Park, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city "dodged a bullet".

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China Ushers In Year Of The Snake

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

Across Asia and beyond, well over one billion people have welcomed in the Lunar New Year, this year represented by the snake.

In China, the traditional heart of what is also known as Chinese New Year, one fifth of the world's population marked the close of the Year of the Dragon and the dawn of a new year with all the traditional fanfare.

In the capital Beijing, fireworks have been echoing in the skies for hours. Traditionally set off to ward off evil spirits, they are sold and lit on almost every main street corner.

Beijing's Temple of the Earth Park has been transformed into a sea of red lanterns. Crowds are gathered around traditional dance performances.

Police officers march as part of a re-enactment of an ancient ceremony

Hundreds of stalls sell food, drinks, toys, souvenirs and snake-themed items of an apparently infinite variety.

Food and family are the two dominant themes for Chinese New Year.

In the park we met An Ying and her parents. She lives in Beijing but is originally from Inner Mongolia.

Her parents have travelled to Beijing to be with her; a break with tradition which usually dictates that younger generations travel back to their family home.

"I will celebrate with my family here in Beijing and we will gather to watch the gala on television," she told me.

A woman and a child pose for photo next to a snake sculpture

The New Year gala is a long-standing institution in China. Broadcast on state television it is a celebration of the year with performances from comedians, singers and musicians.

This year Celine Dion became the first non-Chinese person to perform at the gala singing her Titanic hit "My Heart Will Go On".

Through the day families have been absorbing the atmosphere, the colour and the sounds in the frozen temperatures.

Some carry inflatable or stuffed toy snakes and the more superstitious will be wondering what the coming year will bring. There is significantly less affection for the snake than there was for last year's rather more auspicious dragon.

Fearful that the Year of the Snake might bring with it all that the slithering reptile represents, there has been a rush of weddings and attempts at carefully planned births to ensure they fell within the last year and not the coming one.

In an attempt to overcome people's suspicions, the toy snakes produced for the new year all seem to sport unusually happy or smiley faces.

The less superstitious insist that the snake does have its value. Some refer to the snake as the little dragon. It is said that children born in the year of the snake will be rational, organised and intelligent.

The lunar calendar follows a 12-year cycle with 12 animals representing each year.

As dusk falls on Chinese New Years Eve, the tradition is to gather at the family home and watch the gala before eating a meal together at midnight.

For a country that has changed beyond recognition over the past three decades, the desire to stick to tradition is still remarkably strong though there are increasing signs of strains every year.

As the Chinese middle class grows with more money to spend, many are opting to travel abroad for the break rather than to spend it with families.

But for the traditionalists who have stayed at home and travelled to see families, the festivities will draw to a close at the end of the week with the traditional Lantern Festival.

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Tunisia: Protests As PM Threatens To Resign

The Tunisian Prime Minister has threatened to resign if he fails to form a new government within next few days sparking protests from ruling party supporters.

Hamadi Jebali has offered to form a new nonpolitical government in the wake of the assassination of the opposition leader Chokri Belaid.

It would be a key concession to the opposition who have been protesting against the Islamist government since the murder of Mr Belaid outside his home in broad daylight on Wednesday.

However, some in the ruling Ennahda party are fiercely opposed to the proposal and pro-government supporters who have rallied in the capital are protesting against his proposals.

Mr Jebali said: "I will present the team no later than the middle of next week.

"If it is accepted … I will continue to carry out my duties as head of the government. Otherwise, I will ask the president of the republic to find another candidate to form a new government."

Thousands gathered for pro-government demonstrations

He said that key ministries held by fellow Islamists would be assigned to independents in his planned new government and said: "All the ministries will be independent, including the interior, justice and foreign affairs ministries."

Several thousand supporters of the moderate Ennahda party rallied in the capital in support of the government and against the Prime Minister's plan.

The supporters also hurled insults at France accusing the country's former colonial ruler of interfering in North African politics after the French Interior minister branded the assassination of Mr Belaid as an attack on "the values of Tunisia's Jasmine revolution".

Hamadi Jebali has threatened to go unless he can form a new government

Demonstrators gathered in front of the National Theatre in Tunis, waving flags of the Ennahda party and shouting "Get out, France."

Mr Valls had said on Europe 1 radio on Thursday that Mr Belaid was "one of the democrats and we must support these democrats so that the values of the Jasmine Revolution are not betrayed. There is an Islamic facism rising everywhere, but this obscurantism must, of course, be condemned because it denies the democracy for which the Libyan, Tunisian and Egyptian people have fought."

Mr Valls was clearly pointing the finger at Salafists, with their strict interpretation of Islam, who have come to the fore, and smeared Ennahda's moderate image. 

Demonstrators were seen with black Salafist flags

At least one black Salafi flag was spotted in the sea of white Ennahda flags at the demonstration, which took place several hundred metres from the French Embassy.

The rally came the day after 50,000 gathered on Friday in the capital of Tunis for the funeral of Mr Belaid following days of increasingly violent protests in the country following his killing.

Chokri Belaid had been a staunch critic of the Tunisian government

A general strike in protests was also called by the biggest labour union, which saw Tunis shutdown and flights in and out of the country halted.

It has been the worst violence since the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, which was the trigger for the Arab Spring.

Mr Jebali said he was confident he could get Ennahda's support for his proposals for a new government, however it has exposed its own divisions between moderates and hardliners.

But the coalition's failure to stem the country's economic crisis and stop the often-violent rise of hardline Salafi Muslims have drawn fierce criticism, especially from staunch secularists such as Mr Belaid.

He had also accused Ennahda of backing some of the political violence through its own goon squads.

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Christopher Dorner: Cop 'Disturbed' Claims Ex

Details are emerging about the former police officer at the center of a massive manhunt as the high-altitude search for him enters its second day.

Court documents show an ex-girlfriend of Christopher Dorner, the suspect in three murders, called him "severely emotionally and mentally disturbed" after the two split in 2006.

In an online manifesto Dorner, 33, has vowed "warfare" against a list of "high value targets" whom he believes have wronged him.

Police say Dorner is out for revenge against people he sees as involved in his 2008 firing from the Los Angeles Police Department.

Officers have been sent to protect more than 40 potential targets, including police personnel and their families.

A former Navy reservist who served in Iraq, Dorner also goes into detail about how he was fired from the LAPD for whistle-blowing about what he claims was brutal behaviour by other officers.

Dorner's burned-out truck is towed away from Big Bear

He claims the department has not changed since the Rodney King beating incident and that he was out to correct the officers' "moral compass".

On Friday Irvine police officers and US Marshalls served a search warrant on the Las Palmas home of Dorner's mother.

His mother and sister were home at the time and were cooperating, said Irvine Lieutenant Bill Whalen.

Dorner once lived at the home but did not appear to have been there recently, he said.

Police found Dorner's burned-out pickup truck abandoned on a mountain forest road on Thursday, and followed tracks they believed to be his leading away from the scene before losing the trail.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's SWAT officers join the search

The hunt for Dorner continued on Friday in the Southern California ski resort community of Big Bear, even as a winter storm brought fresh snow to the mountain region 80 miles (130km) east of Los Angeles.

The FBI had joined the growing group of local law enforcement agencies searching for the suspect.

There have been no leads since then.

"Here's the bottom line: We don't know if he's on foot or not," said LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese. "Is he on foot up on the mountain? Is he down the mountain? We don't know."

The search for Dorner now stretches across California and Nevada and into Mexico.

Monica Quan was killed on Sunday

Court documents obtained on Friday show Dorner unsuccessfully requested a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend after she posted his badge number on a website called Dontdatehimgirl.com.

In the online posting, Ariana Williams called Dorner "twisted" and "super paranoid" and warns other women on the website not to date him.

Williams' attorney could not be reached for comment.

Dorner is wanted for the killings of Monica Quan, the daughter of a former LAPD captain and her fiance, Keith Lawrence. They were found shot in their car at their condominium in Irvine on Sunday night, authorities said.

Ms Quan, 28, was an assistant women's basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton. Mr Lawrence, 27, was a public safety officer at the University of Southern California.

Ms Quan's father, who became a lawyer in retirement, represented Dorner in front of the Board of Rights, a tribunal that ruled against him at the time of his dismissal in 2008.

Authorities also said Dorner opened fire early on Thursday on police in cities east of Los Angeles, killing an officer and wounding another.

In his Facebook manifesto, Dorner says: "I am here to correct and calibrate your morale (sic) compasses to true north."

He said: "I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty. ISR is my strength and your weakness.

An undated photo of Dorner

"You will now live the life of the prey. Your RD's and homes away from work will be my AO and battle space.

"I will utilize every tool within INT collections that I learned from NMITC in Dam Neck. You have misjudged a sleeping giant.

"There is no conventional threat assessment for me."

He also singles out various celebrities for praise, including Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Charlie Sheen and Kate Winslet, but does not issue threats against them.

Dorner has a number of weapons including an assault rifle, according to LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.

Mr Beck said: "Of course he knows what he's doing; we trained him. He was also a member of the Armed Forces," he said. "It is extremely worrisome and scary."

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