Meteor strike injures hundreds in central Russia

The BBC's Daniel Sandford says people described a ball of fire in the sky
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A meteor crashing in Russia's Ural mountains has injured at least 950 people, as the shockwave blew out windows and rocked buildings.

Most of those hurt, in the Chelyabinsk region where the meteor fell, suffered cuts and bruises but at least 46 remain in hospital.

A fireball streaked through the clear morning sky, followed by loud bangs.

President Vladimir Putin said he thanked God no big fragments had fallen in populated areas.

A large meteor fragment landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in Chelyabinsk region.

The meteor's dramatic passing was witnessed in Yekaterinburg, 200km (125 miles) to the north, and in Kazakhstan, to the south.

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“
Start Quote

A huge line of smoke, like you get from a plane but many times bigger”

Sergei Serskov
Chelyabinsk resident
In pictures: Russian meteor
Eyewitness accounts
Meteor highlights rise of Russia dashboard cam
"It was quite extraordinary," Chelyabinsk resident Polina Zolotarevskaya told BBC News. "We saw a very bright light and then there was a kind of a track, white and yellow in the sky."

"The explosion was so strong that some windows in our building and in the buildings that are across the road and in the city in general, the windows broke."

Officials say a large meteor partially burned up in the lower atmosphere, resulting in fragments falling earthwards.

Thousands of rescue workers have been dispatched to the area to provide help to the injured, the emergencies ministry said.

The Chelyabinsk region, about 1,500km (930 miles) east of Moscow, is home to many factories, a nuclear power plant and the Mayak atomic waste storage and treatment centre.

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Asteroids, meteors and meteorites


Asteroids are small bodies that orbit the Sun as the Earth does
Larger asteroids are called planetoids or minor planets, smaller ones often called meteoroids
Once any of these enters our planet's atmosphere, it becomes a meteor
Many meteors break into pieces or burn up entirely as they speed through the atmosphere
Once meteors or fragments actually impact the surface, they become meteorites
Q&A: Asteroid impacts
Can we know about every rock?
One Russian politician said the event was not a meteor shower but a US weapons test, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, was quoted as saying: "Meteors are falling. Those are not meteors, it is Americans testing their new weapon."

'Blinding'
Chelyabinsk's health department said 985 people had sought medical treatment, including 204 children, Interfax reported. Two people in the town of Kopeysk were in a serious condition, it added.

The governor of Chelyabinsk region, Mikhail Yurevich, was quoted elsewhere as saying 950 people had been hurt, two seriously.

Mr Putin promised "immediate" aid for people affected, saying kindergartens and schools had been damaged, and work disrupted at industrial enterprises.

Many children were at lessons when the meteor fell at around 09:20 (03:20 GMT).

Video posted online showed frightened, screaming youngsters at one Chelyabinsk school, where corridors were littered with broken glass.


Footage shows an icy lake near Chebarkul, where police say part of the meteor landed
Chelyabinsk resident Sergei Serskov told BBC News the city had felt like a "war zone" for 20 to 30 minutes.

"I was in the office when suddenly I saw a really bright flash in the window in front of me," he said.

"Then I smelt fumes. I looked out the window and saw a huge line of smoke, like you get from a plane but many times bigger."

"A few minutes later the window suddenly came open and there was a huge explosion, followed by lots of little explosions."

In Yekaterinburg, 36-year-old resident Viktor Prokofiev was driving to work when he witnessed the event.


The meteor glimpsed from a satellite
"It was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day," he was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"I felt like I was blinded by headlights."

Debris also reportedly fell on the west Siberian region of Tyumen.

Governor Yurevich reported that the meteor had landed in a lake 1km outside Chebarkul, which has a population of 46,000.

A Russian army spokesman said a crater 6m (20ft) wide had been found on the shore of the lake.

Asteroid coincidence

The Russian Academy of Sciences estimates that the meteor weighed about 10 tonnes and entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 km/h (33,000mph).

World's largest captive crocodile Lolong dies in Philippines

The largest saltwater crocodile in captivity has died in the Philippines.

Officials said the six-metre reptile, weighing more than 1,000kg, flipped over with a bloated stomach and was declared dead several hours later.

The crocodile, blamed for the death of at least one person, was caught in September 2011 and then became the star attraction of an eco-tourism park.

It was formally declared the world's largest in captivity by Guinness World Records last year.

The crocodile, which was given the name Lolong, was captured in the town of Bunawan after a three-week hunt involving dozens of people.

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Saltwater crocodiles

Also known as the estuarine crocodile, it is the world's largest living crocodile
It is capable of killing any animal or human that strays into its territory
Body length: usually 4.2m-4.8m (13.8ft-15.8ft), although specimens of over 7m (23ft) have been recorded
Weight: Male generally 408-520kg (900lb-1,140lb), but have been known to exceed 1,000kg (2,200lb)
Life expectancy: They can live for more than 100 years.
The giant reptile, which measured 6.4m (21ft) and weighed in at 1,075kg (2,370lb), had begun to draw local and foreign tourists to the town.

Bunawan Mayor Edwin Elorde said Lolong had been off colour for a month.

"He refused to eat since last month and we noticed a change in the colour of his faeces," he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper. "Our personnel also noticed an unusual ballooning of the reptile's belly."

Local vet Alex Collantes said that unseasonably cold weather could have affected the crocodile.

Mr Elorde told the Inquirer wildlife experts would conduct an investigation into the death and said he hoped Lolong's body could be preserved.

"In that way, people can still look and marvel at him," he said.

Australian media say the mantle of largest saltwater crocodile in captivity may now pass back to Cassius, a 5.48m reptile housed at a crocodile farm near Cairns in Queensland.

India's Kumbh Mela festival set for most auspicious day

More than 30 million people are expected to take a dip at the confluence of India's Ganges and Yamuna rivers on Sunday to mark the main bathing day at the Kumbh Mela festival.

This is the most auspicious of six bathing days at the event, billed as the biggest human gathering on Earth.

More than eight million took to the waters on the opening day, 14 January.

Hindus believe a festival dip at Sangam - where the rivers meet - will cleanse sins and help bring salvation.

In all, up to 100 million pilgrims are expected to bathe in the holy waters in January and February at the 55-day Kumbh Mela, which is held every 12 years.

This occasion is also a Maha Kumbh Mela, which comes round only once every 144 years.

'Unprecedented'
Devotees have been arriving at the sprawling festival grounds amid tight security in the northern city of Allahabad.

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Kumbh Mela in numbers


Number expected to bathe: 100 million
Number of days: 55
Area: 20 sq km (4,932 acres)
Drinking water: 80 million litres
Toilets: 35,000
Doctors: 243
Police: 30,000
Number united at lost-and-found centre since 14 January: 40,000
Number treated at 14 hospitals: 152,326
More than 14,000 policemen, along with paramilitary forces and commandos, have been deployed to ensure security on Sunday.

The festival's police chief, RKS Rathore, said the turnout for Sunday would be "unprecedented".

He said some 12 million people had arrived at the festival grounds on Saturday alone.

"All of them are staying back for Sunday's bathe. We seem to be set for a historic turnout. I have been patrolling on horseback for a better view of the crowds. I can only see a sea of humanity everywhere," Mr Rathore told reporters.

The bathing on Sunday - the most auspicious day according to Hindu tradition - will be held at 18 main locations along the river bank.

Rajkumar Singh, a government worker from the state of Punjab, said: "I have travelled for three days by bus, train and foot to reach the festival.

"I believe a bathe on the most auspicious day will get rid of all my sins and will help secure me and my family's future."

Officials at the Mela said that some 12 million people had already taken a holy dip at the festival since its opening on 14 January.

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What is a Maha Kumbh Mela?

The Kumbh Mela is a mass pilgrimage in which Hindus gather in locations along the holy rivers Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical river Saraswati.

There are three different kinds of kumbh: an ardh (or half) kumbh is held every six years at two set locations; a purna (full) kumbh is held every 12 years at four set locations.

The 2013 gathering is a Maha Kumbh and that only happens after 12 purna kumbhs, every 144 years, and always at Allahabad. Astrology determines most aspects of the festival, including its exact date and length.

The 14 hospitals at the Mela grounds have already treated more than 150,000 pilgrims since the opening. Two pilgrims have died.

Most of those treated suffered from respiratory problems, cold, joint pains and dust allergy, Dr Kalim Aqmal, at the main hospital, said.

A "lost-and-found" centre has reunited 40,000 people since the opening of the festival, officials said.

The Kumbh Mela has its origins in Hindu mythology.

Many believe that when gods and demons fought over a pitcher of nectar, a few drops fell in the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar - the four places where the Kumbh festival has been held for centuries.

CIA operating drone base in Saudi Arabia, US media reveal

The US Central Intelligence Agency has been operating a secret airbase for unmanned drones in Saudi Arabia for the past two years.

The facility was established to hunt for members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen.

A drone flown from there was used in September 2011 to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric who was alleged to be AQAP's external operations chief.

US media have known of its existence since then, but have not reported it.

Senior government officials had said they were concerned that disclosure would undermine operations against AQAP, as well as potentially damage counter-terrorism collaboration with Saudi Arabia.

'High-value targets'
The US military pulled out virtually all of its troops from Saudi Arabia in 2003, having stationed between 5,000 and 10,000 troops in the Gulf kingdom after the 1991 Gulf war. Only personnel from the United States Military Training Mission (USMTM) officially remain.

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Analysis


Bill Law
Gulf analyst, BBC News
The revelation that US drone strikes against militants in Yemen have been launched from a secret base inside Saudi Arabia will be an embarrassment for the government in Riyadh.

King Abdullah has embarked upon a gradual process of reform in the face of a conservative religious elite who strongly object to the presence of foreign non-Muslim troops in the country.

Saudi Arabia is home to Islam's two holiest sites and the deployment of US forces there in the 1990s was seen as an historic betrayal. The campaign for their withdrawal became a rallying cry for al-Qaeda and its late Saudi-born leader, Osama bin Laden.

The Washington Post reported that President Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, a former CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia, played a key role in negotiations with the government in Riyadh over building the drone base.

Senators are expected to ask Mr Brennan about drone strikes, the memo and the killing of Awlaki when he faces a confirmation hearing on his nomination to become the new CIA director on Thursday.

The location of the secret drone base was not revealed in the US reports.

However, construction was ordered after a December 2009 cruise missile strike in Yemen, according to the New York Times.

It was the first strike ordered by the Obama administration, and ended in disaster, with dozens of civilians, including women and children, killed.

US officials told the newspaper that the first time the CIA used the secret facility was to kill Awlaki.

Since then, the CIA has been "given the mission of hunting and killing 'high-value targets' in Yemen" - the leaders of AQAP who government lawyers had determined posed a direct threat to the US - the officials added.

The New York Times published its report on Tuesday night, ending an "informal arrangement" among several news organisations not to disclose the location of the base.


The Obama administration's drone doctrine has been shrouded in secrecy
News organisations had been complying with a request from Obama administration officials, who said it might undermine operations and collaboration with Saudi Arabia, the Washington Post reported.

Two other Americans, including Awlaki's 16-year-old son, have also been killed in US strikes in Yemen, which can reportedly be launched without the permission of the country's government.

Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen, an expert on Gulf politics at the London School of Economics, told the BBC that Saudi anxieties about the growing threat of AQAP would have been behind the government's decision to allow the US to fly drones from inside the kingdom.

"The Saudis see AQAP as a very real threat to their domestic security," he said. "They are worried about attacks on their energy infrastructure and on the royal family, so it fit their strategy to allow the drone attacks."

The existence of the base was likely a "sensitive issue" for both Washington and Riyadh, Mr Coates-Ulrichsen added.

Leaked memo
A source close to the Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.


Anwar al-Awlaki was among three Americans killed in drone strikes in Yemen in 2011
Saudi Arabia is home to some of Islam's holiest sites and the deployment of US forces there was seen as a historic betrayal by many Islamists, notably the late leader of al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden.

It was one of the main reasons given by the Saudi-born militant to justify violence against the US and its allies.

The revelation of the drone base came shortly after the leaking of a US justice department memo detailing the Obama administration's case for killing any American abroad who is accused of being a "senior, operational leader" of al-Qaeda or its allies.

Lethal force is lawful if they are deemed to pose an "imminent threat" and their capture is not feasible, the memo says.

The threat does not have to be based on intelligence about a specific attack, since such actions are being "continually" planned by al-Qaeda, it adds.

NBC News said it was given to members of the US Senate intelligence and judiciary committees as a summary of a classified memo on the targeted killings of US citizens prepared by the justice department.

The latter memo was written before the drone strike that killed Awlaki.

Under President Obama, the US has expanded its use of drones to kill hundreds of al-Qaeda suspects in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen. It says it is acting in self-defence in accordance with international law.

Critics argue the drone strikes amount to execution without trial and cause many civilian casualties.