Nigeria: Petrol Tanker Explodes Killing 36

At least 36 people have died after a petrol tanker exploded when it collided with a bus on a highway in Nigeria.

The accident took place on the Benin-Ore highway at Igbogui village in southern Edo state.

Jonas Agwu, a spokesman for the Federal Road Safety Commission, confirmed the death toll, adding it included 30 passengers from the bus.

Four people from the tanker died as well as two children who were at a nearby mechanic workshop.

Mr Agwu said the fire which erupted from the accident quickly "spread to a nearby mechanic workshop where eight other vehicles got burnt. A nearby local market also got burnt".

The highway links Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos with eastern and southern states of the country.

Nigeria has one of the worst road accident records in Africa, with poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving killing thousands every year.

Eighteen people were killed and nine others seriously injured Wednesday when their bus veered off its lane and collided with another bus along a highway linking the capital Abuja to the central city of Lokoja, officials said.

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India Building Collapse: At Least 62 Dead

By Alex Rossi, Sky News India Correspondent

Rescuers have pulled out alive two toddlers from the wreckage of a Mumbai tower block after it collapsed leaving as many as 62 dead and 70 injured.

Most of the dead and missing are migrant construction workers who were living on the site in Thane, on the outskirts of the city, with their families.

At least 17 of the dead are children.

As rescue teams combed the rubble for survivors two young children were plucked out alive to cries of "God is great".

A toddler is pulled out alive from the wreckage

Rescue workers with sledgehammers, gasoline-powered saws and hydraulic jacks struggled to break through the tower of rubble in their search for possible survivors. Six bulldozers were brought to the scene.

More than 20 people remained missing and three floors of the building still needed to be searched, said R S Rajesh, an official with the National Disaster Response Force who was at the scene.

"All the three floors are sandwiched ... so it is very difficult for us," he said, adding that rescuers were continuing to pull survivors from the wreckage.

An investigation has now been launched into what has been described as one of the worst incidents of its kind in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble

The collapse is being blamed on shoddy construction and unstable foundations.

The building was only supposed to be four storeys high but three extra levels had been illegally constructed on top and an eighth was being added when it collapsed, said police.

Police said they have arrested the builder and his associates. They face a number of charges including manslaughter.

A local resident who gave his name as Ramlal said he could only watch as the disaster unfolded because it happened so quickly.

A crowd watches the rescuers at work

"The building collapsed like a pack of cards within three to four seconds," he said.

"Only labourers used to stay there. No rich person or well-to-do family stayed here. Only poor people stayed here."

The neighborhood where the building collapsed was part of a belt of more than 2,000 illegal structures that had sprung up in the area in recent years, said Malvi, the town spokesman.

"Notices have been served several times for such illegal construction, sometimes notices are sent 10 times for the same building," he said.

G.R. Khairnar, a former top Mumbai official, said government officials who allowed the illegal construction should be tried along with the builders.

"There are a lot of people involved (in illegal construction) - builders, government machinery, police, municipal corporation - everybody is involved in this process," he told CNN-IBN television.

As the economy has grown, so has the appetite for property and the quick profit that comes from unauthorised construction.

In one of the worst collapses, nearly 70 people were killed when an apartment building in a congested New Delhi neighbourhood crumpled in November 2010.

That building was two floors higher than legally allowed and its foundations appeared to have been weakened by water damage.

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North Korea Army: 'War Could Break Out Today'

By Mark Stone, in Seoul, South Korea

The North Korean military says it has ratified a "merciless" attack against the United States, potentially involving a "cutting-edge" nuclear strike.

"The moment of explosion is approaching fast," the army said in a statement on state news agency KCNA.

War could break out "today or tomorrow", the statement said, quoting a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

"The merciless operation of (our) revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified.

"The US had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation."

The North's rhetoric has been met by a display of US military strength

The North's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea was later quoted by KCNA as threatening to withdraw its 53,000 workers from the joint industrial zone it shares with the South.

Pyongyang informed Seoul on Wednesday that it was stopping the daily movement of South Koreans to the Kaesong complex, the last real surviving point of contact between the two countries.

And the committee said: "If the South Korean puppets and conservative news media keep badmouthing (us), we will order all our workers to pull out from Kaesong."

North Korea's latest pronouncements came as Washington scrambled to reinforce its Pacific defences, preparing to move an advanced missile defence system to the island of Guam.

Mr Hagel said North Korea posed a "real and clear danger"

The land-based weapon, which is primed to shoot down short and medium-range missiles, will be sent to the US territory to defend its bases there.

The Pentagon has already sent bombers, stealth aircraft and ships.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the North had moved a mid-range Musudan missile to its east coast.

The missile is believed to have a range of 1,875 miles (3,000km) or more, which would put all of South Korea and Japan in range and possibly also the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea is not believed to have tested these missiles, according to most independent experts.

Tensions have been soaring on the Korean peninsula since the North launched a long-range rocket in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February.

A military checkpoint linked to the Kaesong joint industrial complex

North Korea has threatened missile and nuclear strikes against the US and South Korea in response to UN sanctions and joint military drills.

European diplomatic sources speaking to Sky News from the North Korean capital have said there is nothing there to suggest war is imminent: no sign of conscripts being signed up or unusual troop movements.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday that North Korea's "bellicose, dangerous rhetoric" posed a "real and clear danger" to America and its allies South Korea and Japan.

"They have nuclear capacity now, they have missile delivery capacity now," he said.

"We take those threats seriously, we have to take those threats seriously.

"We are doing everything we can, working with the Chinese and others to defuse that situation on the peninsula.

"I hope the North will ratchet its very dangerous rhetoric down."

North Korean newswire Uriminzokkiri found itself hacked by Anonymous

The UK Government said it was not warning of an immediate risk to British citizens travelling to or living in South Korea.

In a statement to Sky News, the UK Embassy in Seoul said: "We have noted North Korea's most recent statement, we are monitoring the situation and are in close contact with allies.

"We have been clear to North Korea that its long-term interests will not be served by threatening the international community and increasing regional tensions.

"We have updated our Travel Advice, advising British nationals in Korea and those travelling here to follow the advice of local authorities and subscribe to our travel advice, Twitter feed and Facebook page. We currently assess there is no immediate risk to British nationals in or travelling to Korea."

The tensions surrounding Kaesong - established in 2004 and a crucial source of hard currency for North Korea - carry enormous significance.

Images were placed on Uriminzokkiri's Flickr, twitter and Youtube sites.

Neither of the Koreas has allowed previous crises to significantly affect the complex, which is the only surviving example of inter-Korean cooperation and seen as a bellwether for stability on the Korean peninsula.

China, the North's sole major ally, appealed for "calm" from all sides, repeating Beijing's oft-declared position.

Meanwhile, North Korea's media has become the latest victim of hacking group Anonymous, who have targeted the North's newswire service Uriminzokkiri.

The hackers broke through the defences of the newswire's Youtube, Twitter and Flickr sites to paste a series of spoof pictures featuring the North Korean flag and Kim Jong-Un, deformed into a pig.

Uriminzokkiri's twitter picture was replaced with a pair of Tango dancers wearing masks from the graphic novel V for Vendetta, used by Anonymous as their logo, next to a slogan "Tango Down".

Anonymous also issued a statement condemning the country's plans to develop nuclear weapons.

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India: 27 Dead As 'Illegal' Building Collapses

At least 27 people have died after a building that was being constructed illegally in Mumbai, India, collapsed.

A senior police official said a further 54 people were injured in the collapse in the suburb of Thane.

It is believed nine children were among the dead.

The cause of the collapse is not known

Rescuers are continuing to search for more casualties.

The building did not have clearances from local authorities to be built.

Despite this the first four floors had homes and offices that were occupied at the time of the collapse.

Workers were also adding four more floors and had finished three before the building fell.

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Argentina Floods: Dozens Die As Rain Continues

At least 52 people have drowned in their homes and cars, or were electrocuted as floods swamped Buenos Aires.

Thousands have been evacuated from their homes

At least 46 died on Wednesday in and around the city of La Plata. Six deaths were reported a day earlier in Argentina's capital.

Many people climbed onto their roofs in the pouring rain after storm sewers flooded forcing water into houses.

"It started to rain really hard in the evening, and began to flood," Augustina Garcia Orsi, a 25-year-old student, said.

"I panicked. In two seconds, I was up to my knees in water. It came up through the drains - I couldn't do anything."

Many claim officials have not done enough

The rains also flooded the country's largest oil refinery, causing a fire that took hours to put out.

The La Plata refinery suspended operations as a result, and Argentina's YPF oil company said an emergency team was evaluating how to get it restarted.

"Such intense rain in so little time has left many people trapped in their cars, in the streets, in some cases electrocuted," Governor Daniel Scioli said.

"We are giving priority to rescuing people who have been stuck in trees or on the roofs of their homes."

The region of Buenos Aires has been worst affected

President Cristina Fernandez visited Tolosa, a La Plata neighborhood where she grew up and where her mother was among those evacuated.

She announced security measures to combat vandalism, help for identifying the dead, and three days of national mourning for the victims.

At least 2,500 people were evacuated from their homes to about 20 centres in the La Plata area, which is about 37 miles (60km) southeast of Argentina's capital.

The rains are expected to ease later

The flooding threatened to ruin food supplies across La Plata's metropolitan area, which has nearly one million people.

National Planning Minister Julio de Vido estimated that 280,000 people remain without power across the city and surrounding province of Buenos Aires, where most Argentines live.

"Our job is focused on restoring service, but we're going to wait until the equipment dries to guarantee the safety of the electricity workers, because we don't want any deaths," he said.

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North Korea Army: 'War Could Break Out Today'

The North Korean military says it has ratified a "merciless" attack against the United States, potentially involving a "cutting-edge" nuclear strike.

"The moment of explosion is approaching fast," the army said in a statement on state news agency KCNA.

War could break out "today or tomorrow," the statement said, quoting a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

"The merciless operation of (our) revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified.

"The US had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation."

The North's rhetoric has been met by a display of US military strength

The North's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea was later quoted by KCNA as threatening to withdraw its 53,000 workers from the joint industrial zone it shares with the South.

Pyongyang informed Seoul on Wednesday that it was stopping the daily movement of South Koreans to the Kaesong complex,  the last real surviving point of contact between the two countries.

And the committee said: "If the South Korean puppets and conservative news media keep badmouthing (us), we will order all our workers to pull out from Kaesong."

North Korea's latest pronouncements came as Washington scrambled to reinforce its Pacific defences, preparing to move an advanced missile defence system to the island of Guam.

Mr Hagel said North Korea posed a "real and clear danger"

The land-based weapon, which is primed to shoot down short and medium-range missiles, will be sent to the US territory to defend its bases there.

The Pentagon has already sent bombers, stealth aircraft and ships.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the North had moved a mid-range Musudan missile to its east coast.

The missile is believed to have a range of 1,875 miles (3,000km) or more, which would put all of South Korea and Japan in range and possibly also the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea is not believed to have tested these missiles, according to most independent experts

Tensions have been soaring on the Korean peninsula since the North launched a long-range rocket in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February.

A military checkpoint linked to the Kaesong joint industrial complex

North Korea has threatened missile and nuclear strikes against the US and South Korea in response to UN sanctions and joint military drills.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said earlier on Wednesday that North Korea's "bellicose dangerous rhetoric" posed a "real and clear danger" to America and its allies South Korea and Japan.

"They have nuclear capacity now, they have missile delivery capacity now," he said.

"We take those threats seriously, we have to take those threats seriously.

"We are doing everything we can, working with the Chinese and others to defuse that situation on the peninsula.

"I hope the North will ratchet its very dangerous rhetoric down."

The tensions surrounding Kaesong - established in 2004 and a crucial source of hard currency for North Korea - carry enormous significance.

Neither of the Koreas has allowed previous crises to significantly affect the complex, which is the only surviving example of inter-Korean cooperation and seen as a bellwether for stability on the Korean peninsula.

China, the North's sole major ally, appealed for "calm" from all sides, repeating Beijing's oft-declared position.

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Google Privacy: EU Countries Take Action

A group of European regulators has brought legal action against Google to try and force the tech giant to overhaul its privacy practices.

Data protection authorities from France, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Italy agreed on the joint action after Google failed to reverse changes it made to its policy last year.

If successful, the regulators could impose fines or restrictions on Google's operations across the entire 27-country European Union.

Last year Google merged 60 separate privacy policies from around the world into one universal procedure.

The European organisations say the new policy does not allow users to figure out which information is kept, how it is combined by Google services or how long the company retains it.

The European regulators, led by the French, have demanded specifics for anyone using Google on what is being collected and a simpler presentation.

Any fines would have a limited financial impact on Google but successful legal action could hurt its image and block its ability to collect such data until it addresses the regulators' concerns.

Proposed Europe-wide data protection legislation will take until at least 2015 to be fully implemented.

Successful legal action could hurt Google's image

Google dominates the European market for internet searches. According to one survey, 95% of searches in Europe are carried out through Google, compared with about 65% in the US.

Tensions are ramping up between privacy organisations and technology companies due to their growing ability to spin online usage data into vast profits.

This is especially the case in Europe where privacy laws tend to be strong and nearly every country has a regulatory body.

However, internet users have consistently shown a willingness to give up privacy in exchange for convenience and new online services that Google and other tech companies offer.

Google says it merged its myriad privacy policies in March 2012 for the sake of simplicity, and that the changes comply with European laws.

But Johannes Caspar, a German data protection commissioner, says the company's policies are vague - it uses the word 'may' dozens of times on a single page when describing its rights to data.

"Many users don't even know what is happening with their data and might worry that their private information is used to produce personality profiles of them," Mr Caspar said.

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North Korea: US In Nuclear State Warning

The United States has said it will "not accept" North Korea as a nuclear state - as Pyongyang raised tensions by refusing the South entry to a joint industrial complex.

The North says it will restart all nuclear facilities including its mothballed Yongbyon reactor, which is able to produce bomb-grade plutonium

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un insisted it was only seeking a deterrent and did not repeat recent threats to attack South Korea and the US.

But the North delayed the daily opening of its Kaesong industrial zone with South Korea on Wednesday morning, in a move that could represent a sharp escalation of tensions between the two countries.

The North had previously threatened to close the joint complex as part of a stand-off with Washington and Seoul.

"We are waiting for access from the North Korean authorities," a Unification Ministry official said.

More than an hour after the time the daily entry clearance is normally granted, the ministry said 861 South Korean workers were in the industrial complex while 179 workers awaited access.

Vehicles wait to cross the border to the Kaesong complex

The complex is a rare lucrative source of income for the impoverished North since it was established as a form of joint-Korean cooperation in 2002.

Sky News' Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said the site was the only place where relations between the two countries existed.

"As with everything, it's hard to know whether this is more game-playing or whether they plan to keep it closed for a while," he said.

"But a number of analysts who have studied the Korean problem for some time said last week that while the park remained open, the situation was not overly worrying. Now it appears to be shut."

Both Washington and Seoul stressed their countries' military readiness and said denuclearisation was the only way forward for North Korea.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "What Kim Jong-un has been choosing to do is provocative, it is dangerous, reckless and the United States will not accept (North Korea) as a nuclear state."

He said the Barack Obama administration's deployment of advanced aircraft and warships to South Korea was a signal "that the United States will defend our allies and that we will not be subject to irrational or reckless provocation".

South Korean soldiers in drills near the zone separating the two Koreas

Kerry, who will visit South Korea next week, reminded the North Koreans that "they have an option, and that option is to enter into negotiations for denuclearisation ... and to begin to focus on the needs of their people".

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for dialogue and negotiation to resolve the crisis.

"Nuclear threats are not a game," he said.

"Aggressive rhetoric and military posturing only result in counter-actions, and fuel fear and instability."

A speech by the North's young leader, Kim Jong-un, given on Sunday but published in full by KCNA on Tuesday, appeared to dampen any prospect of a direct confrontation with the US by emphasising that nuclear weapons would ensure the country's safety as a deterrent.

"Our nuclear strength is a reliable war deterrent and a guarantee to protect our sovereignty," Kim said.

"It is on the basis of a strong nuclear strength that peace and prosperity can exist and so can the happiness of people's lives."

The crisis flared after Pyongyang was hit with US sanctions for conducting a third nuclear test in February, before America and South Korea staged military drills that North Korea viewed as "hostile".

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North Korea War Training Shown Off In Video

North Korea has released footage of troops in live-fire training exercises - with targets including a cartoon-like drawing of a US soldier.

The video from state TV emerged days after the country warned it was in a "state of war" with the South.

It is not clear when the footage was filmed, but it comes after Pyongyang voiced anger over joint US-South Korean military drills south of the border.

On Sunday, the North's leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to bolster its nuclear capability and described atomic weapons as "a national treasure".

The North's efforts to flex its military muscle are not being ignored

Mr Kim has been in an escalating war of words with the US in recent weeks, which has included him threatening to launch missile attacks on American targets in the region.

Meanwhile, the North has named former premier Pak Pong-Ju - a key confidant of the leadership dynasty who was sacked in 2007 for failed economic reforms - as cabinet chief.

His re-emergence marks a further move by the young leader to reaffirm his grip on power.

The move does however leave Mr Kim, the third of his line to rule the impoverished state, dangerously dependent on his aunt and uncle, who are key allies of Mr Pak.

South Korea's president Park Geun-Hye has promised a strong military response to any North Korean provocation, while the US has deployed stealth bombers to the South as part of its ongoing military exercise.

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Cinema Gunman: Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty

Colorado state prosecutors have announced they are to seek the death penalty against Aurora gunman James Holmes.

The much-anticipated disclosure comes four days after prosecutors publicly rejected an offer by Holmes' attorneys that the former neuroscience graduate student would plead guilty to avoid execution.

Prosecutors had said the defence proposal was not a valid plea bargain offer, although they could still agree to a plea before the case goes to trial, which has been delayed until next February.

Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler said: "It's my determination and my intention that in this case for James Eagan Holmes justice is death."

Holmes' attorneys are expected to argue he is not guilty because he was legally insane at the time of the July 20 shooting that killed 12 people and wounded 70 others.

The shooting took place during a screening of a Batman film

They balked at entering that plea last month, saying they could not make such a move until prosecutors made a formal decision on the death penalty.

Survivors and families of the victims are uncertain about what happens next.

If the case goes to trial, "all of us victims would be dragged along potentially for years", said Pierce O'Farrill, who was shot three times.

He said: "It could be 10 or 15 years before he's executed. I would be in my 40s and I'm planning to have a family, and the thought of having to look back and reliving everything at that point in my life, it would be difficult."

Investigators carefully searched Holmes' Denver apartment

Investigators say Holmes methodically stockpiled weapons and ammunition for his assault on a packed midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, and rigged his apartment to explode and distract any police who responded.

The massacre was repeatedly cited by gun control advocates who pushed a hotly-contested package through the Colorado state Legislature last month.

The bills include a ban on the sort of high-capacity magazines that Holmes allegedly used to spray the theatre with dozens of bullets in a matter of seconds.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Denver on Wednesday to highlight the legislation as part of his push for tougher gun control following December's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

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