China Ready To Usher In Year Of The Snake

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

China is preparing to usher in the Year of the Snake as 1.3 billion people celebrate the Lunar New Year.

In cities, towns and villages across this vast country, one fifth of the world's population is marking the close of the Year of the Dragon and the dawn of a new year.

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

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

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

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.

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

This year Celine Deon will become the first non-Chinese person to perform at the gala.

All around the park are families absorbing the atmosphere, the colour and the sounds in the frozen temperatures.

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

Some are carrying 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.

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.

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Belgium Plane Crash Kills Five

A small passenger plane has crashed at Belgium's Charleroi airport, killing five people and closing the international hub used by low-cost carriers.

The aircraft, a Cessna, had problems on takeoff and tried to return to Charleroi to make an emergency landing but crashed on the side of the runway, airport officials said.

"There was a problem on takeoff and they tried to come back, but unfortunately the plane crashed," said Melissa Milioto, an airport spokeswoman.

After having problems the plane crashed next to the runway, trying to land

Two adults and three children, reportedly all from the same family, were killed.

According to the news website sudinfo.be, the victims were a 68-year-old grandfather, a 39-year-old mother, and three children aged 7, 6 and 3. They are thought to be from Brussels.

There were no immediate indications of what caused the crash, which happened at 10am local time (9am GMT).

Firefighters sprayed water on the plane that was reduced to a wreck of twisted metal, with only the tail still visible.

Police said the airport, which is a hub for Ryanair and other low-cost carriers, would be closed until mid-afternoon. Several flights were cancelled and others delayed or diverted.

Queues of passengers built up after the airport was closed

"Our priority is dealing with this drama. Flights are being diverted to Liege and Brussels," Ms Milioto said.

The crash came at the start of the Belgium school half-term holidays.

Charleroi airport, also known as Brussels South Charleroi, serves as the country's second international airport after Brussels' main Zaventem airport and expects to handle 140,000 passengers over the half-term holiday period.

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YouTube Suspended In Egypt Over Prophet Film

An Egyptian court has ordered the suspension of YouTube for a month for hosting a film insulting the Prophet Mohammed.

The country's administrative court ordered the ministry of communication to block the Google-owned site inside Egypt because it had carried the film "Innocence of Muslims", according to state news agency Mena.

The 13-minute video, billed as a film trailer and made in the United States, provoked a torrent of anti-American unrest in Egypt, Libya and dozens of other Muslim countries in September.

The video depicts the prophet as a fool and a sexual deviant.

For most Muslims, any portrayal of the prophet is considered blasphemous.

The court said it was ruling on a case brought about by the film several months ago, without going into further detail.

YouTube had "insisted on broadcasting the film insulting Islam and the prophet, disrespecting the beliefs of millions of Egyptians and disregarding the anger of all Muslims" the court said.

Egypt's National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority said it would abide by the ruling as soon as it received a copy of the verdict.

No-one from Google or YouTube has commented.

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German Minister Quits Over Plagiarism Scandal

Germany's education minister has resigned after being accused of plagiarism over three decades ago and having her doctorate withdrawn.

Annette Schavan, a close ally and confidante of Chancellor Angela Merkel, was stripped of her doctorate by her former university earlier this week after it was claimed she had plagiarised parts of her thesis over 30 years ago. The minister denies the allegations.

Duesseldorf's Heinrich Heine University decided to revoke her PhD following a review of her 1980 thesis after an anonymous blogger last year raised plagiarism allegations.

The university said she had "systematically and intentionally" copied parts of her thesis, titled "Person and Conscience".

On announcing her decision to quit, 57-year-old Mrs Schavan reiterated her vow to fight the allegations but said she did not want the claims to damage the office, party or Government.

The empty seat of the education minister before a Cabinet meeting this week

She said: "I will not accept the decision (by the university) and will take legal action against it.

"When a (education) minister sues a university, then that comes with strains, for my office, for the ministry, the government and for the Christian Democrats (Mrs Merkel's party). I want to avoid just that."

Chancellor Merkel said she accepted her resignation "with a heavy heart".

The resignation is a political blow for Germany's leader less than eight months before elections in which the she is hoping to win a third term in office.

Mrs Schavan becomes the second close ally of the Chancellor to step down over plagiarism.

Minister Schavan has promised to fight the plagiarism allegations

Only two years ago then-defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg lost his doctorate and quit when it emerged that he copied large parts of his doctoral thesis.

The extent of Mrs Schavan's alleged plagiarism is thought to be less than that of Mr zu Guttenberg's, whose actions earned the aristocrat the nicknames "Baron cut-and-paste" and "zu Googleberg".

Nevertheless, Mrs Schavan's mistakes were seen as indefensible given her position as education minister in a country where academic titles are taken extremely seriously.

At the time of Mr zu Guttenberg's downfall Mrs Schavan she said she was "ashamed" of her former cabinet colleague.

"As someone who was herself awarded a doctorate 31 years ago and who has supervised several doctoral candidates, I am ashamed and not just behind closed doors," she told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung in 2011.

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US Blizzard Dump Cuts Power To 650,000

A massive storm packing hurricane-force winds and blizzard conditions has dumped more than two feet of snow on the northeast of the United States and knocked out power to 650,000 customers.

A state of emergency has been declared in five states and thousands of air flights have also been affected as a result of the monster storm.

Snow made identifying cars virtually impossible

The storm has been blamed for at least four deaths in New York and Canada.

More than 28 inches of snow had fallen in parts of central Connecticut by early Saturday, and areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched over two feet or more.

Massachusetts has also prohibited vehicles from using any road in the state.

The National Weather Service (NWS) says up to three feet is expected in Boston, threatening the city's 2003 record of 27.6 inches.

Throughout the Northeast, hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses lost electricity.

Airlines cancelled more than 5,300 flights through Saturday, and New York City's three major airports and Boston's Logan Airport closed.

Numerous cars that had been abandoned on the Long Island Expressway on Friday night remained stuck on Saturday morning, trapped by ploughed snow.

High winds blastered houses with driving snow

A nuclear power plant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, automatically shot down due to the snow but regulators say there is no threat to public safety.

The most intense part of the storm moved into Connecticut on Saturday morning as conditions eased around New York City.

According to forecasters, the storm is expected to hit New England throughout Saturday afternoon, with 75mph winds and a risk of up to 36 inches of snow.

The NWS also warned about the risk of flooding along the Atlantic Coast possibly affecting up to eight million residents.

Boston was expected to receive more snow on Saturday

NY mayor Michael Bloomberg earlier advised against panic buying of food and fuel, like what occurred during Hurricane Sandy.

Central Park in New York City reportedly received up to 8in of snow during the dumping.

Flights to and from Britain and other international destinations have been badly affected and airport staff advised passengers to check status with their airlines.

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Ex-LA Cop Names Targets In 'Killing Manifesto'

The former police officer at the centre of a manhunt after a shooting spree that left three people dead has issued a killing list of "high value targets".

Christopher Dorner vowed "warfare" on anyone working for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), promising an element of surprise by attacking where they work, sleep or eat.

In a long diatribe posted on his Facebook page, Dorner lists a number of "high value targets" and says he will use his military training against them.

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

The LAPD has also pulled officers from motorcycle duty, fearing they would make for easy targets.

Police officers carry out door-to-door enquiries

"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own, I'm terminating yours," Dorner says in his online manifesto.

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.

The 33-year-old claims the department has not changed since the Rodney King beating incident and that he was out to correct the officers' "moral compass".

The focus of the manhunt has shifted to the snowy mountains around Big Bear Lake, about 80 miles (130km) east of Los Angeles, where police found Dorner's burned-out pickup truck and tracks leading away from the vehicle.

Dorner's burned-out pickup truck found 80 miles from Los Angeles

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.

Monica Quan was the daughter of Dorner's lawyer

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.

"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."

Police chief Charlie Beck has appealed to Dorner to turn himself in

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

Dorner has a number of weapons including an assault rifle, according to police 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."

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said 125 officers were making door-to-door inquiries and a SWAT team was providing added security for local residents, who have been advised to stay indoors.

The scene where two police officers were shot

Schools were put on high alert while investigators examined the vehicle and combed the area. The hunt has spread across three states and into Mexico.

"He could be anywhere at this point, and that's why we're searching door- to-door," Mr McMahon said, adding the manhunt would continue "as long as we can."

A snow storm was expected in the region with temperatures dropping into the teens overnight.

Throughout the day, thousands of heavily-armed officers patrolled highways throughout Southern California, while some stood guard outside the homes of Dorner's stated targets.

Dorner: "There's no conventional threat assessment for me"

Dorner was fired from the LAPD in 2008 for making false statements. Thursday was the eighth anniversary of his first day at work there.

According to documents from a court of appeals hearing, Dorner was fired from the LAPD after he made a complaint against his field training officer, Sgt. Teresa Evans.

Dorner said that in the course of an arrest Evans kicked suspect Christopher Gettler, a schizophrenic with severe dementia.

Richard Gettler, the schizophrenic man's father, gave testimony that supported Dorner's claim.

After his son was returned home on July 28, 2007, Richard Gettler said he asked "if he had been in a fight because his face was puffy". His son responded that he was kicked twice in the chest by a police officer.

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Major Snowstorm Poised To Strike US Northeast

A blizzard of potentially historic proportions is threatening to strike the Northeast US with a vengeance.

Up to two feet of snow is forecast along the densely populated corridor from the New York City area northwards.

Boston and Providence in Rhode Island closed schools on Friday, and airlines cancelled more than 2,600 flights.

"Everybody's going to get plastered with snow," said Massachusetts-based National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Dunham.

The snow was expected to start on Friday morning, with the heaviest amounts falling at night and into Saturday.

Wind gusts could reach 65mph. Widespread power failures were feared, along with flooding in coastal areas still recovering from Superstorm Sandy in October.

The last significant snowfall to hit Boston was back in January 2011

New York City was expecting up to 14ins (35.5cm) of snow. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said ploughs and 250,000 tons of salt were being put on standby.

"We hope forecasts are exaggerating the amount of snow, but you never can tell," he said.

Blizzard warnings were posted for parts of New Jersey and New York's Long Island, as well as portions of the New England region, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

The warnings extended into New Hampshire and Maine.

In New England, it could prove to be among the worst 10 snowstorms ever, and perhaps even break Boston's record of 27.6 ins (70cm), set in 2003.

It comes just after the 35th anniversary of the blizzard of 1978, which paralysed New England with more than 2ft (60cm) of snow and hurricane-force winds.

The last major snowfall in southern New England was, unusually, well over a year ago - the Halloween storm of 2011.

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Papua New Guinea: 'Witch' Burned Alive By Mob

A young mother was stripped, tortured with an iron rod and then burned alive on a pile of tyres after being accused of being a witch in Papua New Guinea.

Hundreds of bystanders, including many children, looked on as Kepari Leniata, 20, was doused in gasoline and set alight. Some took photographs.

Grisly pictures were published on the front pages of the country's biggest circulating newspapers, The National and Post-Courier.

Prime minister Peter O'Neill, police chiefs and diplomats condemned the killing - by a mob of up to 50 - as barbaric and vowed to punish the culprits.

Kepari, who had an eight-month-old baby, had been accused of sorcery by relatives of a six-year-old boy who died in hospital the day before.

She was tortured and set alight by a mob in the Western Highlands provincial capital of Mount Hagen, national police spokesman Dominic Kakas said.

"The incident happened in broad daylight in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses and yet we haven't picked up any suspects yet," Mr Kakas said.

Mr Kakas said onlookers were shocked by the brutality but were powerless to stop the mob.

Police officers were also present but were outnumbered and could not save the woman, he said. No arrests have yet been made.

Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has condemned the killing as 'barbaric'

Mr O'Neill said: "What has been reported is very barbaric and inhuman. No one commits such a despicable act in the society that all of us, including Kepari, belong to.

"Barbaric killings ... are becoming all too common in certain parts of the country.

"It is reprehensible that women, the old and the weak in our society, should be targeted for alleged sorcery or wrongdoing that they actually have nothing to do with."

Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga described the slaying as "shocking and devilish."

In rural Papua New Guinea, witchcraft is often blamed for unexplained misfortunes.

Sorcery has traditionally been countered by sorcery but responses to allegations of witchcraft have become increasingly violent in recent years.

In other sorcery-related killings, police arrested 29 people in July last year accused of being part of a cannibal cult in Papua New Guinea's jungle interior.

They were charged with the murders of seven suspected witch doctors.

Police alleged they ate their victims' brains raw and made soup from their penises.

By eating witch doctors' organs the cult members believed they would attain supernatural powers.

Murder is punishable by death in Papua New Guinea, a poor tribal nation of seven million people, although no one has been hanged since independence in 1975.

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Tunisia: 50,000 March For Murdered Politician

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets for the funeral of the assassinated opposition leader Chokri Belaid, amid fears of escalating violence in the country.

Protesters surrounded an army truck carrying Mr Belaid's coffin, draped in a red and white Tunisian flag, to the cemetery in the capital Tunis as a helicopter circled overhead.

Police fired tear gas and there were minor clashes as groups of stone-throwing young men tried to steal the cars of mourners outside the cemetery.

The army stands by as protesters march for the funeral of Mr Belaid

All flights to and from Tunisia were cancelled as the capital was shut down after the country's largest labour union called a general strike.

Tunisia has been rocked by clashes and strikes since Mr Belaid was shot dead outside his home on Wednesday, with violence in Tunis also leaving one policeman dead.

Another officer is said to be in a coma in hospital after being dragged from his car and beaten by protesters, who also set fire to a police station in the town of Gafsa.

The widow of Chokri Belaid, Basma Khalfaoui Belaid, amid protesters

The country is now embroiled in its worst crisis since the 2011 revolution that saw the overthrow of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and triggered the Arab Spring.

Mr Belaid had accused the ruling Islamist Ennahda party of resorting to thugs to attack opposition rallies.

His family and allies have accused the party of complicity in his killing, sharply raising tensions ahead of the funeral.

Protesters carried flowered tributed to the murdered politician

More than a dozen offices of the Ennahda party were attacked overnight in towns around the country.

Schools, shops, banks and other institutions were all shuttered following the general strike called by the main labour union in protest over the assassination.

The army has been called in amid fears of further violence

The decision by the army to provide security for the funeral procession may be key in preventing the situation from degenerating into violence as it remains a respected institution in the country, as opposed to the much-reviled police.

Several times in the past year the army has had to be called out in rioting towns to replace police forces that only seem to further antagonise protesters.

Chokri Belaid was shot outside his home in broad daylight

Tunisia's prime minister, Hemadi Jebali, offered to replace the government after Mr Belaid's killing in response to long-standing opposition demands.

However, his own ruling Islamist party rejected his decision - exposing divisions within the party itself between moderates and hardliners.

The Ministry of Interior has appealed for calm but the ministry building has been the focus of protests and has been ringed by several lawyers of iron barriers and barbed wire.

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EU Leaders Agree Historic Budget Deal

European Union leaders have agreed a historic budget deal at a summit in Brussels.

The breakthrough was declared in a tweet from the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, saying: "Deal done! #euco has agreed on #MFF (Multi-annual Financial Framework) for the rest of the decade. Worth waiting for."

Initial reports said the agreement fixes a spending limit of 960bn euros (£820bn) for projects the EU can promise to fund between 2014 and 2020. That is far less than the 1.03tn euros (£871bn) that the EU Commission originally proposed, reflecting Europe's tough economic times.

But not all those projects will ever be completed, meaning the maximum amount it will ever pay out is 908.4bn euros (£774bn).

The current spending limit is 942.8bn euros (£803.4bn) so the actual spending cap will be reduced by 34.4bn euros (£29.3bn).

However, the EU Parliament must still approve the deal - and they have suggested that such drastic cuts are unacceptable.

More follows...

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Iran: Syria's Assad Regime Ready To Negotiate

Syria's government is ready to sit down with the opposition to bring a two-year uprising against the regime to an end, Iran's foreign minister believes.

Ali Akbar Salehi told the Egyptian state news agency MENA: "I think that the Syrian government is ready to negotiate with the opposition."

Opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib has offered to talk to Syria's rulers about trying to end the conflict - subject to conditions including the release of 160,000 detainees.

But President Bashar al Assad has not yet commented on the offer and a key opposing faction flatly rejected the initiative.

The Syrian National Council, the main component of the opposition, has dismissed the possibility of any negotiations.

It said it was committed to ousting the Assad regime, rejecting dialogue with it, and protecting the revolution.

But Mr Alkhatib, who called on Mr Assad to agree to let Vice President Faruq al Sharaa open peace talks with his coalition, appealed for the opposition to "declare our willingness to negotiate" the regime's departure.

However, he also set a deadline of Sunday for the government to release all women detainees, otherwise he would regard his offer of dialogue as rejected by the president.

The Assad regime has signalled it believes it can still break the military stalemate, as its forces relentlessly pounded rebel lines around Damascus.

Fighting between rebels and the regime continues

"The army has launched a co-ordinated all-out offensive on all of the areas surrounding the capital," a Syrian security official said.

"All entries to Damascus have been sealed," he added.

Artillery and air strikes have prevented rebels entrenched to the east from advancing despite their capture of army fortifications, opposition activists said.

"We have moved the battle to Jobar," said Captain Islam Alloush of the rebel Islam Brigade. The district links rebel strongholds in the suburbs with the central Abbasid Square.

"The heaviest fighting is taking place in Jobar because it is the key to the heart of Damascus," he added.

Shia Iran is Mr Assad's main backer in the region, and has disagreed with mostly Sunni-led Arab states that have called for him to step down.

Meanwhile, the presidents of Iran, Turkey and Egypt held a meeting on the sidelines of an Islamic summit in Cairo to discuss the crisis.

"There was a three-way summit of Egypt, Turkey and Iran about the crisis and we look forward to it leading to the resolution of this crisis. We are optimistic," Mr Salehi said.

He said Iran had welcomed Mr Alkhatib's remarks. "In the end, the government and the opposition must sit together to negotiate," he said.

The UN has said more than 60,000 people have died in violence since the uprising started in March 2011.

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Alaska Serial Killer Keyes' Chilling Poetry

Newly-released blood-stained notes recovered from serial killer Israel Keyes' Alaskan prison cell contain chilling poetry about his victims and superficiality in American society.

But the rambling tracts found under the 34-year-old's body contain no specific details about his crimes, or the names of additional victims.

Keyes, suspected of murdering 18-year-old Anchorage barista Samantha Koenig and several other people across the US, slit his wrists and strangled himself with a bedsheet in jail in December.

His poetry refers to a person under his control, the person's obvious fear, and inevitable doom.

"You are my love at first sight, and though you're scared to be near me, my words penetrate your thought now in an intimate prelude," he wrote.

"Your face framed in dark curls like a portrait, the sun shone through highlights of red. What color I wonder, and how straight will it turn plastered back with the sweat of your blood.

"Your wet lips were a promise of a secret unspoken, nervous laugh as it burst like a pulse of blood from your throat. There will be no more laughter here."

The yellow legal pad was at first too bloody to read, so it was sent to an FBI laboratory in Virginia and restored.

Agents determined Keyes left behind no code or hidden message in his writings - but the first two pages make reference to his hatred for US consumerism.

"Land of the free, home of the lie, land of the scheme, Americanize! Consume what you don't need, stars you idolize, pursue what you adore it is a dream, then its American die," Keyes wrote.

CCTV of Samantha Koenig's abduction by Keyes

Miss Koenig was abducted at gunpoint from a coffee stand last February, sparking a massive police hunt.

Keyes was arrested in March in Lufkin, Texas, after using her debit card. Her dismembered body was eventually fished out of an Alaskan lake.

Before he died - and before he could be tried - Keyes confessed to the killings of at least seven more people.

The FBI is working closely with state and local law enforcement agencies to identify other victims.

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Iran Airs 'Footage' From Captured US Drone

Iran's state television has broadcast footage allegedly extracted from the advanced CIA spy drone captured in 2011.

The video aired late on Wednesday shows an aerial view of an airport and a city, said to be a US drone base and Kandahar in Afghanistan.

The TV also showed images purported to be the Sentinel landing at a base in eastern Iran, but it was unclear if that footage was the moment of the drone's seizure.

The chief of the Revolutionary Guard's airspace division, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said that only after capturing the drone, did Iran realise it "belongs to the CIA".

A US ScanEagle Iran claims it seized last December

"We were able to definitively access the data of the drone, once we brought it down," he said.

Iran has long claimed it managed to reverse-engineer the RQ-170 Sentinel, seized in December 2011 after it entered Iranian airspace from its eastern border with Afghanistan.

It claims it is capable of launching its own production line for the unmanned aircraft.

After initially saying only that a drone had been lost near the Afghan-Iran border, American officials eventually confirmed the Sentinel had been monitoring Iran's military and nuclear facilities.

Washington asked for it back but Iran refused, and instead released photos of Iranian officials studying the aircraft.

Iran has accused the US of stepping up its espionage activities as part of intensified Western efforts to force Tehran to abandon its uranium enrichment programme.

The US and its allies suspect Iran may be trying to develop atomic weapons, which Tehran denies.

In an attempt to embarrass Washington, Iran has claimed to have captured several American drones, most recently in December last year, when Tehran said it seized a Boeing-designed ScanEagle drone. 

US officials said there was no evidence that the latest claims were true.

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Tunisia: Belaid Assassination Sparks Clashes

Protesters have clashed with police in Tunisia as tension mounts following the assassination of a prominent opposition leader.

Petrol bombs were hurled by demonstrators in the central town of Gafsa, with officers there and in capital city Tunis reportedly using tear gas against those gathered.

The skirmishes in Gafsa, have come as protesters observed a symbolic funeral for Chokri Belaid, the leftist opposition leader killed on Wednesday.

Police fire tear gas at demonstrators in Tunis

The demonstration, in Tunisia's volatile central mining region was organised by the Popular Front, an alliance of leftist parties to which Mr Belaid belonged.

It was the first unrest reported in Tunisia on Thursday, after violence the day before left one policeman dead in Tunis and saw protesters ransack and set fire to offices of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party in a number of towns, including Gafsa.

The phosphate producing region has a history of unrest, with an uprising against the regime of ex-dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2008 brutally suppressed - but has been held up by some as the birthplace of the so-called Arab Spring.

Khalfaoui Belaid's family mourn his death

Meanwhile, around 300 people marched down Habib Bourguiba Avenue in central Tunis calling for regime change.

"The people want the fall of the regime," chanted the protesters as they headed towards the interior ministry.

Police used loudspeakers to urge the protesters to remain peaceful and not throw stones, but later deployed tear gas.

Shops had reopened in the centre of the city following Wednesday's clashes, but many of them kept their shutters down to save their windows from being smashed.

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Police Officer Killed In Fired Cop Manhunt

A disgruntled former Los Angeles cop is being hunted over the fatal shooting of a police officer and the separate murder of a newly-engaged couple.

The LAPD says Christopher Dorner is suspected of involvement in an overnight ambush in nearby Riverside that killed one officer and critically wounded another.  

An earlier shooting in Corona involved two LAPD officers working a security detail. One officer was grazed.

The Riverside officers shot overnight were not actively looking for Dorner.

"We're asking our officers to be extraordinarily cautious just as we're asking the public to be extraordinarily cautious with this guy. He's already demonstrated he has a propensity for shooting innocent people," Cmdr Andrew Smith said.

Dorner was already the prime suspect in the killings of Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence, who were found shot dead in their car in Irvine in California on Sunday night.

The 33-year-old implicated himself in a multi-page document that had threatened more violence, police have warned.

Monica Quan

"I know I will be villified (sic) by the LAPD and the media," he wrote.

"Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name."

Police said Dorner - a US Navy reservist - was believed to be "armed and dangerous".

He may be driving a blue 2005 Nissan Titan pickup truck.

A badge and identification belonging to Dorner have been found near San Diego airport.

Police said the items were turned in at 2.27am on Thursday.

His last known address was in La Palma in northern Orange County near Fullerton.

Dorner was with the department from 2005 until 2008, when he was fired.

He was found to have made false statements about a colleague's alleged mistreatment of a suspect. 

Ms Quan, 28, was an assistant women's basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton.

Her father is a former LAPD captain who represented Dorner in front of the police inquiry board that dismissed him.

Mr Lawrence, 27, was a public safety officer at the University of Southern California.

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Madeleine Lookalike Sends DNA Sample To Police

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia correspondent

A New Zealand girl repeatedly mistaken for missing Madeleine McCann has given police a sample of her DNA which will be sent to Scotland Yard.

The girl, who has not been named, is understood to have a similar eye defect to Madeleine, prompting members of the public to believe she is the missing child.

The DNA sample is a conclusive way of proving her identity, said Detective Senior Sergeant Kallum Croudis of Dunedin Police.

"The results of this process will not be known for some time," he told New Zealand newspaper The Southland Times.

On New Year's Eve police launched a five-day investigation when a retailer became suspicious of a man and a young girl, who bore a resemblance to Madeleine.

Kate and Gerry McCann say they will maintain their search for Madeleine

However, they said they were "absolutely satisfied" she was not Madeleine, and it was not the first time she had been mistaken for the missing girl.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's Portuguese holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant with friends.

Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, have never abandoned their high-profile campaign to find their eldest daughter, who would now be nine.

Sightings have also been reported in Sweden, Belgium and Australia.

It is not the first time a child has been DNA-tested in relation to the case of the missing British girl.

In 2011, a young girl spotted in India with a Belgian man and French woman was tested and was also found not to be Madeleine.

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Mali: 'Significant Losses' During Fighting

French forces have clashed with Islamist militants in the Mali town of Gao in a "real war" with "significant losses", the French Defence Minister has said.

Jean-Yves Le Drian said jihadists had used rockets against French troops during fighting on Tuesday.

He confirmed the first French casualties since a helicopter pilot was killed in the opening hours of the campaign.

Mr Le Drian said there had been several French troops injured but that their wounds had been relatively light.

French troops patrol the northern Mali town of Gao

It followed comments made by him that French troops had killed hundreds of Islamist fighters in Mali.

Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Mr Le Drian said: "This is a real war with significant losses but I'm not going to get into an accounting exercise.

"There were clashes yesterday around Gao. Once our troops, supported by Malian forces, started patrols around the towns that we have taken, they met residual jihadist groups who are still fighting.

"We will go after them. We are securing the towns we have been able to take along with the Malian forces. The jihadists around Gao were using rockets yesterday."

Malian troops in Gao

Malian soldiers patrolling Gao found a stash of industrial-strength explosives hidden in rice bags that could be used to make roadside bombs, Associated Press reported.

The explosives had been dumped with oter garbage from the town in a small square in the city.

Mr Le Drian added that no more troops would be sent to Mali to bolster the 4,000 personnel already there.

The size of the force matches the French deployment in Afghanistan at its height in 2010.

French troops negotiate a road block on the airport road at Gao

France has indicated it would like to see its troops start withdrawing by next month.

Mr Le Drian admitted that while there had been fierce fighting around Gao, the militants were still holding out around the northern Mali town.

Islamist group Mujao claimed to have attacked the positions of French and African troops around Gao. Witnesses suggested that there had only been long-distance exchanges of fire.

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Spain: 6,000 Tonnes Of Rubbish On City Streets

Days of strikes by dustmen in Seville have seen 6,000 tonnes of stinking rubbish pile up on the streets of the Spanish city.

Litter lies strewn across the Andalusian city's historic and narrow streets as wheelie bins overflow and plastic bags rip apart.

City dwellers say the stench is becoming unbearable, as the strike stretches into its 10th day.

Wheelie bins overflow on to the streets

Some 100 wheelie bins were set on fire during the night, an action the strikers have been quick to stress has nothing to do with them.

The 1,600 workers at the Lipsam municipal cleaning company went out on strike on January 27 in a dispute over their pay and hours.

A woman covers her face to cope with the stench of rotting rubbish

The refuse collectors have been asked by the regional government to take a 5% pay cut and to work longer.

However, Lipsam says the measures are not justified.

Waste has been piling up outside businesses

There have been three meetings to try to break the strike action, but talks have not been successful.

The strike is in its tenth day with little sign of a breakthrough in talks

The regional government in Andalusia has said it needs to make cuts because it has been told to put its finances in order.

There have been two similar strikes in the region's other big tourist cities, Granada and Jerez, in the last three months.

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Tunisia: Poltician Shot Dead Outside His Home

Protests are growing after Tunisian opposition politician Chokri Belaid was shot dead outside his home in what some have called an "act of terrorism".

Thousands of Tunisians took to the streets outside the interior ministry, shouting "Shame, shame Chokri died", "Where is the government?", and "The government should fall". Security forces cordoned off the area.

In Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings, police fired into the air and used tear gas to disperse demonstrators.

The family of Mr Belaid, who headed the opposition Democratic Patriots party and was a harsh critic of Tunisia's Islamist-led government, accused the ruling Ennahda party of being behind the murder.

Thousands have gathered in the streets of Tunis to protest

"My brother was assassinated. I am desperate and depressed," said his brother Abdelmajid.

"I accuse (Ennahda leader) Rached Ghannouchi of assassinating my brother," he said.

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali denounced Belaid's murder as an "act of terrorism" against the country.

Former president Zine al Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in the Arab Spring

"The murder of Belaid is a political assassination and the assassination of the Tunisian revolution.

"By killing him they wanted to silence his voice," said Mr Jebali, who heads the coalition government, formed after Tunisia's first post-Arab Spring election in 2011.

He said Belaid was shot dead with three bullets fired from close range by a man wearing a traditional long garment with a pointed hood, who then fled on a motorcycle ridden by an accomplice.

Mr Belaid was a high-profile member of the opposition Popular Front party.

The party's leader Ziad Lakhader said: "Chokri Belaid was killed today by four bullets to the head and chest ... doctors told us that he has died. This is a sad day for Tunisia."

Tunisia was the first Arab country to oust its leader and hold free elections as uprisings spread around the region two years ago, and has made a relatively smooth transition to democracy.

However, the government has faced many protests over economic hardship.

Declining trade with the crisis-hit euro zone means it has struggled to deliver the improved living standards that many Tunisians had hoped for.

Several opposition parties and trade unions have accused pro-Islamist groups of orchestrating clashes or attacks against them.

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Two Children Among Dead In Denver Shooting

Denver police have said at least two children are among three people shot and killed at a house in the northeast part of the city.

Police Lieutenant Matt Murray says one other child was taken to hospital, according to KUSA-TA.

Denver Police Chief Robert White said three people were killed. It is still unclear if the third person is the wounded child or if someone else was shot.

KMGH-TV reported that its news chopper filmed one child being carried out on a stretcher from the home at East 49th Avenue and Pearl Street.

Police did not release other details.

More follows...

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Syria: Exodus Swells Border Refugee Camps

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

The numbers of refugees from Syria is growing by the day. The reasons are simple; they can't take the bombing anymore; they can't live with the fear.

So they make the journey north, south, east and west to neighbouring counties that are letting them in; but are themselves increasingly concerned about the exodus.

Some 700,000 are registered as refugees in these countries. But the true number is much higher.

Two million are thought to be on the move in Syria. That number could be much higher as well.

On the border with Turkey, but still inside Syria, near the town of Azaz, the latest camp is taking root.

Seven thousand has turned to 11,000 in the past few days.

The camp is not squalid, but being on a muddy flood plain in snowy and rainy conditions it is miserable and cold.

Facilities in Bab al-Salam are basic and overcrowded

The newest arrivals have to wait, sometimes days at a time, for the aid agencies to find or even build them a tent.

A family of ten is living in two trucks. They have been here two days.

"We couldn't stay in our town anymore," the Matriarch told me.

"The shelling never stops. It is too dangerous so we left. But our men have no jobs and we have no money that is why we are here as well," she said.

The destruction of cities, towns and villages, the use of Scud missiles and air attacks are persuading Syria's battered population to leave.

Two years after the start of this uprising life for the ordinary people is actually getting far worse than they ever expected.

Young Syrian refugees in front of makeshift tents in the camp

The smoke of a thousand fires engulfs clothing lines looped between tents. Children wade through mud, playing games or picking up spaghetti stew in plastic cartons to take home to their tents from a series of distribution points.

A mother-of-six, Um Abdullah Najia, broke all protocols by allowing me, an unrelated male, into their tent, their home for the past five months.

They are not complaining about the conditions. But it is clear they are finding it tough.

"As you can see seven people are living in this small tent," she said.

"This is our kitchen, our bathroom, our shower, our living room, our dining room. Everything is in this tent - but the situation outside is even worse."

Every part of society in Syria is now being affected by this civil war. Huge numbers believe the end is not even remotely in sight. So the exodus goes on.

As was predicted long ago, one way or another, this whole region is now caught up in this crisis.

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Dreamliner Batteries Get CT Scans Over Meltdown

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Timeline

Updated: 9:31am UK, Tuesday 05 February 2013

The turbulent history of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner:

Feb 5, 2013: Japanese official reveal CT scans of failed batteries does not reveal fire cause.

Feb 4, 2013: Boeing requests US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for test flights of grounded model.

Jan 30, 2013: Amid revenue loss forecasts of $500m to $5bn, Boeing CEO addresses investors and downplays impact.

Jan 28, 2013: Investigators widen battery examination to sub-contractors of lithium ion battery maker GS Yuasa

Jan 21, 2013: Safety officials start probe of lithium ion battery maker GS Yuasa

Jan 19, 2013: Boeing says it is stopping deliveries of the Dreamliner to airlines

Jan 18, 2013: FAA officials arrive in Japan to examine a 787 and its melted battery pack after an All Nippon Air (ANA) emergency landing two days earlier

Jan 17, 2013: The European Aviation Safety Agency,  FAA and Qatar Airways ground Dreamliners under their regulatory control

Jan 16, 2013: Japan Air Lines Co Ltd (JAL) follows suit and suspends Dreamliner flights from Japan over safety concerns

Jan 16, 2013: ANA grounds all 17 of its 787s after four of its aircraft suffer problems

Jan 16, 2013: ANA 787 Dreamliner makes emergency landing in Takamatsu, Japan, after smoke appears in cabin

Jan 11, 2013: The Federal Aviation Authority announces a review of the 787 design and systems

Jan 11, 2013: ANA discovers engine oil leak after a domestic flight lands at Miyazaki

Jan 11, 2013: A separate ANA flight to Matsuyama reported a crack appearing in the pilot's window

Jan 9, 2013: ANA cancels a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight due to a brake problem

Jan 8, 2013: Japan Air Lines (JAL) grounds a jet at Boston Logan International Airport after a 787 leaks 150 litres of fuel

Jan 7, 2013: A fire erupts in a battery pack in another JAL Dreamliner at Boston

Dec 13, 2012: Qatar Airways grounds one of its Dreamliners because of a faulty generator

Dec 5, 2012: The FAA orders inspections of all 787 Dreamliners in service in the US

Dec 4, 2012: A United Airlines 787 is forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans after a generator fails

July 23, 2012: ANA grounds five Dreamliners due to an engine component issue

Feb 22, 2012: Boeing says around 55 Dreamliners may be affected by a flaw in the fuselage

Oct 26, 2011: The Dreamliner makes its maiden flight with paying passengers on board an ANA jet

Sep 26, 2011: Boeing delivers its first 787 Dreamliner to Japan's ANA, three years late

Jun 23, 2010: Boeing postpones the first flight of the Dreamliner because of a structural flaw

Dec 15, 2009: The passenger jet 787 Dreamliner takes off on its maiden test flight

Apr 9, 2008: Boeing says there will be a revised plan for the first 787 flight and initial deliveries

Dec 11, 2008: Boeing announces further delays due to strike action by machinists Sept-Nov

Oct 19, 2007: Boeing says there will be a six-month delay to deliveries due to assembly issues

Jul 8, 2007: The first assembled 787 goes on display to media, employees and customers

Jul 18, 2006: Boeing says it is making "solid progress" on the 787 Dreamliner programme

Jan 28, 2005: Boeing gives its new commercial airplane an official model designation number - 787

Jan 29, 2003: Boeing announces the launch of a new aircraft called the 7E7

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Alabama Hostage Boy 'Doing Well' After Rescue

A boy who was held hostage for a week is safe and his captor dead after FBI agents stormed an underground bunker in Alabama.

Officials said the raid went ahead after negotiations with 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes deteriorated and he was seen with a gun.

"Mr Dykes was observed holding a gun," FBI Special Agent Steve Richardson said.

"At this point, the FBI agents, fearing the child was in imminent danger, entered the bunker and rescued the child."

The five-year-old, so far identified only as Ethan, was being treated at a hospital, authorities said.

Officials break the news to the media

"I visited with Ethan. He is doing fine," Agent Richardson told reporters.

"He's laughing, joking, playing, eating - the things that you would expect a normal 5 to 6-year-old young man to do. He's very brave, he's very lucky, and the success story is that he's out safe and doing great."

The boy's great uncle, Berlin Enfinger, told ABC News that he was relieved to be home after his rescue a day earlier.

"He's happy to be home, and he looks good," Mr Enfinger said.

Dykes snatched the boy, who has Asperger's syndrome, from a school bus last week after killing the driver, Charles Poland.

Authorities initially declined to elaborate on how they had observed Dykes or on how he died.

However, an official in Midland City, citing information from law enforcement sources, said a high-tech camera had been inserted into the bunker and that police had shot Dykes. 

Daryle Hendry, who lives about a quarter of a mile from where Dykes was holed up, said he heard a boom followed by a gunshot.

The scene of the hostage drama

"Right now, FBI special agent bomb technicians are in the process of clearing the property for improvised explosive devices," the FBI said in a written statement.

"When it is safe to do so, our evidence response teams, paired with state and local crime scene technicians, will process the scene."

Neighbours described Dykes as a loner who hated the authorities.

They said he once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property, and patrolled his garden at night with a torch and a firearm.

But he was also a decorated Navy veteran, having spent around five years in Vietnam.

He had had some scrapes with the law in Florida, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanour was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.

He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbours.

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India Rape Trial: Victim's Friend In Court

A man who was with the student who died after being gang-raped in India "will go to any lengths to ensure the guilty are punished", according to his father.

The woman's companion appeared in court on Tuesday as a prosecution witness in the trial of five men accused of fatally assaulting her.

The 23-year-old medical student died in a Singapore hospital on December 29 from massive internal injuries she sustained during the rape a fortnight earlier.

The attack has caused outrage across India and put the country's attitude to women under the spotlight.

As he accompanied his 28-year-old son into the courtroom, the father said: "My son will go to any lengths to ensure that the guilty are punished. He will cooperate and is prepared to answer any questions posed by the defence."

Reporters are not allowed in to the court but the father, who, like his son, cannot be named for legal reasons, passed information about the proceedings to those outside.

Reporters were later allowed to watch the son being brought out of the court to identify a bus in which the attack took place. He has been left in a wheelchair as a result of injuries he sustained at the time of the attack.

He was later expected to be cross-examined by lawyers for the five accused, who all deny murder, rape and robbery charges.

A sixth defendant has also pleaded not guilty. He will appear in a juvenile court.

The woman and the student had spent the evening at the cinema and were allegedly lured on to the bus after failing to flag down a motorised rickshaw as they tried to get home.

As well as taking turns to rape the woman and violating her, the group are accused of attacking her companion so badly that he is still unable to walk properly.

Her companion is the main witness in a case that is being held in a special fast-track court in Delhi.

The judge has banned all reporting of proceedings inside the courtroom and ordered lawyers not to speak to journalists. Photographers were told they were forbidden to take pictures of the man as he identified the bus.

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Indian Girl Rock Band Quit After Fatwa

An Indian high school all-girl rock band has quit after a senior Muslim cleric issued a fatwa against them and branded them "indecent".

The teenagers became victims of an online hate campaign and were called "sluts" and "prostitutes" on social networking sites.

Separatists in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where the band are from, accused them of "Western-style cultural waywardness".

The group's music teacher and manager Adnan Mattoo said the three members of Pragaash, which means First Light in Kashmiri, were so scared by the backlash they had decided to disband.

Mr Mattoo said: "First, the girls had decided to quit live performance due to an online hate campaign and concentrate on making an album. But after an edict by the government's own cleric, these girls are saying goodbye to music."

One of the members has fled to another city.

Her mother, who did not wish to be named, said: "My daughter had been depressed and irritable so we decided to send her away to another city for some time."

Pragaash comprised drummer Farah Deeba, bass guitarist Aneeqa Khalid and singer and guitarist Noma Nazir.

Kashmir's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah urged the band to continue

They played in public for the first time in December in Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir.

It won them third place in an annual Battle of the Bands rock show organised by an Indian paramilitary force as part of a campaign to win hearts and minds in the region.

Soon after the show Kashmiri pages on social networking sites like Facebook hotly debated the band.

Some questioned whether the performance was appropriate in the Muslim-dominated region.

Many backed the girls but others were abusive and called for them and their families to be expelled from the region.

At the weekend Omar Abdullah, the region's top elected official, promised a police probe into the threats and wrote on Twitter that "the talented teenagers should not let themselves be silenced by a handful of morons."

On Sunday Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad, Kashmir's state-appointed cleric, issued a fatwa ordering the girls to "stop from these activities and not to get influenced by the support of political leadership".

Kashmir's main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, criticised Abdullah for selectively supporting freedom of expression and said the band's concert was "a step toward diverting young girls toward Westernisation".

The alliance distanced itself from the cleric's edict, however, and denied the girls were under threat.

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North Korea Nuclear Test: China Urged To Step In

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

South Korea has issued an urgent request to China to use its influence over North Korea to persuade the isolated nation to abandon its plans for a nuclear test.

Lim Sung-nam, a senior South Korean envoy, met with his Chinese counterpart on Monday as concern mounted that North Korea could carry out a nuclear detonation test this week.

China is North Korea's only real ally and widely seen as the only country with any leverage over Pyongyang.

Seoul's request to Beijing comes as South Korean and US naval forces begin a series of joint exercises in waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.

The drills, in the Sea of Japan, were pre-planned, but are widely regarded as a tacit warning to North Korea.

Kim Jong-Un held a military meeting at the weekend

Speculation over an imminent nuclear test intensified over the weekend after reports in North Korean state media claimed that Kim Jong-Un, the country's young leader, had chaired an "enlarged meeting of his Central Military Commission". At the meeting, Mr Kim reportedly discussed a "looming great turn" in the country's military capability.

The English-language version of the report did not say when or where the meeting was held, but claimed senior military members of the commission were all present.

The state report read: "Kim Jong-Un made an important concluding speech, which serves as guidelines for further strengthening the (North's Korean People's Army) into a matchless revolutionary army."

Pyongyang has been threatening to conduct a nuclear test for some time.

However, plans for the test, the third since 2006, appear to have been accelerated since the latest round of UN sanctions against the country, themselves prompted by the surprisingly successful rocket launch by Pyongyang in December.

Officials in the South Korean capital Seoul have said their intelligence suggests that all the preparations have been completed and that Mr Kim could order the detonation at any time.

A tunnel under a nuclear test site (Pic: Yonhap News Agency)

The South Korean News agency has published an image which they claim shows the inner structure of a North Korean nuclear test site.

The image is said to be a screen shot from a documentary on North Korean television which shows a tunnel about one kilometre long with 10 doors.

Another image released by the Yonhap News Agency in Seoul shows a mocked-up cross-section of what the nuclear site could look like.

Last week, satellite imagery of the Punggye-ri nuclear test facility in North Hamgyong province seen by the South Korean intelligence officials suggested that covers had been placed over a tunnel entrance.

These latest tensions on the Korean Peninsula were sparked in December when North Korea defied and surprised the international community with the launch of a satellite into orbit.

The move prompted the United Nations to levy further sanctions on Pyongyang. The UN resolution had the unusual support of China.

Punggye-Ri nuclear test facility

The Chinese backing is being seen as a clear suggestion of Beijing's frustration at North Korea's continued defiance of international law.

An editorial in China's state-run Global Times newspaper on Monday suggested that China should seize the initiative over the North Korean problem.

"China has the largest stake in Asia, and it will be hit hardest if the situation in Asia becomes disordered," said the editorial; words which would have been sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party machine.

"If China doesn't become more active in solving regional hot issues, it will inevitably be affected."

To date, most of Pyongyang's pronouncements have seen by Western governments as little more than bluster and rhetoric.

However, there is increasing international concern that North Korea's inexperienced leader plans to combine his two developing technologies - ballistic missile capability and nuclear detonation tests - to create a nuclear weapon.

Pyongyang's rockets already have the ability to reach far across East Asia, though suggestions that they could reach the west coast of the United States are thought to be wide of the mark.

Analysts also point out that there is a big technological gap between producing a rocket capable of firing a satellite into orbit and developing a nuclear warhead small enough to fit into a rocket which could then be fired accurately.

The concerns are compounded by the fact that reliable intelligence is significantly lacking.

Intelligence communities rely largely on the incomplete picture delivered through the many satellites passing over the peninsula.

Information from satellites is useful, but paradoxically, the key questions about how advanced Mr Kim's nuclear programme really is will only be answered once the third test has taken place.

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Syria War: 'Children Are Biggest Casualty'

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent, in Aleppo

The anguished cries of a little boy receiving treatment without anaesthetic for a shrapnel wound to the face fills the putrid air of a converted shop that is an Aleppo field hospital.

The walls are splattered with blood. All around are shop fronts with medics working on the latest injured.

A car pulls out and a young man shot in a drive-by attack staggers inside followed by his screaming mother.

In rebel-held Aleppo, this is just another day. It isn't particularly busy. It is just constant.

Medics, who have gone underground after their hospital was reduced to rubble by a targeted Syrian government bombing campaign, say children are being injured and killed in greater numbers now than the rebel fighters.

Stuck inside this city the children are on the streets more than anyone else. Playing or scavenging amongst piles of rubbish for anything of value to take home, they are now the most vulnerable.

Hamid Sakia was shot by a sniper while playing football

A short distance away in another makeshift hospital room nine-year-old Hamid Sakia whimpers in pain; a sack of draining blood lies on the floor. He was shot by a sniper while playing football. He will lose his kidney. The medics are waiting for a surgeon to get enough anaesthetic to operate.

He whispers a "Yes" as I ask him if it hurts. His mother looks on holding back tears. She buried her daughter this week. Her family is being torn apart.

It is not about the lack of food or heating or supplies, she says.

"What will happen in the future?" She asks: "What will happen? Everyone is scared."

In a room next door, surrounded by seat cushions to try to keep the breeze from her skin, Aya Hussein stares motionlessly ahead. She is dreadfully burnt. Her tiny body a web of fierce welts caused by a fire when her apartment was hit by an artillery round.

Aya Hussein was burned when she was hit by an artillery round

The cushions are her treatment. This is life in Aleppo.

This city is slowly being destroyed. There is barely a building unscarred by the bombing from fighter jets and artillery. A million plus people still live here amongst the ruins where shells and snipers are a constant.

Cars cross the most dangerous parts of town protected by mud walls. You can hear the sniper rounds thudding into the barricade or whining over head as you pass.

The dreadful sound of artillery rounds smashing into buildings never stops wherever you go.

Once tree-filled parks are now open spaces. There is no heat or electricity in Aleppo so wood has become a precious commodity.

In the markets there are plenty of local vegetables. But meat, gas, fuel and pretty much everything else comes from Turkey at a huge cost. Gas bottles are 15 times their proper cost.

The city's scarred buildings

People are living in battered apartment blocks. Theirs is a virtual twilight of dark stair wells and shuttered rooms.

The artillery comes from the south so they huddle in north facing homes. But the shrapnel and the explosive power of the bombs means nowhere is truly safe.

"I am hopeless. I can only trust in my God," 78-year-old Mahmoud tells me. He and his wife Emira are alone. Their family has fled, they depend on the handouts of neighbours. Their flat is freezing and bare.

On the next storey Rada cuddles two of her six children. It is freezing inside and they have just a few scraps of food to eat.

"My husband won't leave Aleppo. We want to stay here whatever happens. Our children are ill, they are frightened, but we have nowhere else to go," she says.

The rebels and the government forces appear to have fought themselves to a standstill. In the middle a population is stuck, surviving but dying as well, every day.

This is Aleppo.

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Fidel Castro Makes Surprise Appearance

Cuba's retired leader Fidel Castro chatted with other voters and reporters for more than an hour as he made his first extended public appearance since 2010 to vote in parliamentary elections.

The 86-year-old has voted from home in three previous elections since being taken ill in 2006 and handing power to his brother Raul two years later.

State-run television said the white-bearded Castro spoke to the public at a Havana polling station about efforts to reform the economy, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and praised participation in the election.

Fidel Castro

"The people are truly revolutionary, they have really sacrificed. We don't have to prove it, history will. Fifty years of the blockade and they haven't given in," he said, referring to the US economic blockade of the communist nation.

Cubans went to the polls to elect 612 deputies to the National Assembly and more than 1,000 delegates to provincial assemblies already chosen by the Communist Party-selected list.

About 95% of Cuba's 8.7 million residents over 16 years of age were expected to cast ballots in the election despite their vote having little impact as the number of candidates matches the number of open positions.

The general election cycle began last year with the election of more than 15,000 ward delegates in the only vote in which residents choose between two or more candidates.

"It is a different electoral system. Personally I find it is more democratic than (others) I know," Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said after casting his ballot.

Since taking over from his brother, President Raul Castro has decentralised the state-dominated economy, allowing more space for private initiative in agriculture and retail services and has lifted many restrictions on personal freedoms, such as travel and buying and selling homes and cars.

He has also introduced limited top government posts to two five-year terms, but is still to legalise other political organisations.

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