India: Trapped Passengers Killed In Train Fire

A fire has engulfed two coaches on an express train in southern India, leaving at least 23 people dead.

Many of those who died became trapped and suffocated inside the carriages after the doors failed to open, officials said.

As the fire and thick black smoke filled the two cars, panicked passengers broke the windows and jumped from the train.

A spokesman for the railways, CS Gupta, said 67 passengers were in the two cars when the fire broke out on Saturday around a mile from the town of Puttaparthi, in Andhra Pradesh state.

Doors on the two carriages failed to open, trapping people inside

He said the train was stopped and the two coaches were separated from the rest of the train to prevent the fire spreading.

Firefighters put out the blaze and retrieved at least 23 bodies, including two children.

More than a dozen people were brought to hospitals with injuries sustained when they jumped from the coaches.

Rescue teams had to force the doors open to reach those trapped inside. Many bodies were found near the jammed doors, officials said.

Two of the train's carriages caught fire after a suspected electrical fault

The train was travelling from Bangalore to Nanded in the western state of Maharashtra.

India's federal Railways minister Mallikarjun Kharge said that preliminary reports from the site indicated that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit. An investigation has begun.

More than 18.5 million passengers travel every day on India's vast railway network of about 10,000 passenger trains.

Accidents are common. Most collisions and fires are mostly blamed on poor maintenance and human error.

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Sandy Hook Shooting Documents Released

A police report into the Sandy Hook school massacre has revealed harrowing new details about the murders and the gunman's family life.

The paperwork, much of which is blacked out, includes several videos and hundreds of photographs from inside Sandy Hook Elementary and Adam Lanza's home.

It reveals how police officers were faced with terrible scenes inside the school and describes how many of the children were killed in a bathroom where they were hiding.

Lanza shot and killed his mother at their home before driving to the Newtown school, where he killed 20 children and six teachers.

A rifle magazine clip is seen on the floor in the hallway

The 20-year-old then committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a handgun as police arrived at the scene.

Included in the files were photographs showing bullet holes in walls, windows and classroom furniture.

Images of spent magazine clips and empty shell casings on the floor depict the gunman's path of destruction.

The report also included many photographs of the contents of the gunman's family house - including one of a young child holding what appears to be a gun, with ammunition in his lap.

In a letter accompanying the report, Reuben Bradford, commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, praised the efforts of all those connected to the horrific shooting.

He wrote: "In the midst of the darkness of that day, we also saw remarkable heroism and glimpses of grace. We saw Sandy Hook Elementary School faculty and staff doing everything in their power to protect their charges.

A gun seen just inside one of the classrooms

"The investigation of this incident is unparalleled in the 110-year history of the Connecticut State Police."

The documents revealed that a former teacher of Lanza's was quoted as telling investigators that Lanza exhibited anti-social behaviour, rarely interacted with other students and obsessed in writings "about battles, destruction and war".

"In all my years of experience, I have known (redacted) grade boys to talk about things like this, but Adam's level of violence was disturbing," the teacher told investigators.

The teacher added: "Adam's creative writing was so graphic that it could not be shared."

The documents also filled in more details about how the shooting unfolded, teachers protected their students and the school janitor confronted the shooter.

Teachers heard janitor Rick Thorn try to get Lanza to leave the school.

One teacher, who was hiding in a closet in the maths lab, heard Mr Thorn yell: "Put the gun down!"

An aide said she heard gunfire and Mr Thorn told her to close her door.

The documents' release marks the end of the investigation into the massacre on December 14, 2012, 

Prosecutors issued a summary of the investigation last month that portrayed Lanza as obsessed with mass murders.

Lanza kept a clipping about the 2008 Northern Illinois University shooting

But the report concluded that Lanza's motives for the massacre might never be known.

Lanza "was undoubtedly afflicted with mental health problems; yet despite a fascination with mass shootings and firearms, he displayed no aggressive or threatening tendencies," it said.

Lanza was diagnosed in 2006 with "profound autism spectrum disorder, with rigidity, isolation and a lack of comprehension of ordinary social interaction and communications".

He also displaying symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Kathleen Koenig, a nurse at the Yale Child Studies Center, told investigators that Lanza frequently washed his hands and changed his socks 20 times a day, to the point where his mother did three loads of laundry a day.

The nurse, who met with Lanza in 2006 and 2007, said Lanza's mother declined to give him prescribed antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication after she reported that he had trouble raising his arm, something she attributed to the drug.

Koenig unsuccessfully tried to convince Nancy Lanza that the medicine was not responsible, and the mother failed to schedule a follow-up visit after her son missed an appointment, police said.

In the documents, a friend told police that Nancy Lanza reported that her son had hit his head several days before the shootings.

And an ex-boyfriend told police that she cancelled a trip to London on the week of the shooting because of "a couple last-minute problems on the home front".

She told a friend two weeks before the shootings that her son was growing "increasingly despondent" and had refused to leave his room for three months.

They only communicated by email, with the mother saying he told her he wouldn't feel bad if something happened to her.

His isolation was so complete that he refused to leave his room during Superstorm Sandy, the report said.

Just before the shooting, Nancy Lanza was in New Hampshire. She told a lunch acquaintance there that the trip was an experiment in leaving her son home alone in Connecticut for a few days.

Photographs from inside the Lanza home show numerous rounds of ammunition, gun magazines, shot-up paper targets, large knives and swords.

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Antarctic Ship Rescue Blocked By Wall Of Ice

A Chinese icebreaker forced to abandon its attempt to rescue a stranded vessel off Antarctica is waiting for reinforcements.

The Snow Dragon came within seven miles of the Academic Shokalskiy - a ship carrying 74 people, including scientists and some tourists - but had to turn back after the ice became too thick.

The Russian ship has been trapped off Antarctica's Commonwealth Bay since Christmas Eve.

It is being used by the Australian Antarctic Expedition to try to follow in the footsteps of explorer Douglas Mawson.

Expedition leader Professor Chris Turney told Sky News he is still hopeful they will be rescued soon.

The MV Academic Shokalskiy is trapped in Commonwealth Bay

"It (The Snow Dragon) was making great progress ... averaging two to four knots and over the night it just couldn't keep that speed up," said Professor Turney.

"It was basically just beating itself against a wall of ice. I can still see it, it is hanging in station, just off the starboard bow about seven nautical miles away.

"But it's basically waiting now for one of the other icebreaker vessels, the Australian vessel Aurora Australis, to come and help support.

Changing weather saw the ship become surrounded by ice

"Together the two - we're hoping - will be able to break in."

The Aurora Australis - which has the highest icebreaking rating of the three vessels originally asked to respond - is expected to reach the ship on Sunday.

However, it is not certain whether it will be able to get any closer than the Chinese effort.

The Snow Dragon's rescue attempt was halted for the crew's "own safety", an Australian Maritime Safety Authority official said.

Professor Turney told Sky News that the Academic Shokalskiy had first got into difficulty after satellite data showed their route onward would be safe but that a rapid change in the weather had left them surrounded by ice.

The ship is 1,500 nautical miles from Hobart in Australia. Map: AMSA

He said: "By the end of the day, the wind had picked up and the sea ice was moving around a lot and, in spite of the captain's best efforts, we realised we just couldn't get through.

"On Christmas Eve, he made the call, and issued the alert for help."

Professor Turney said the scientists on board the Shokalskiy have been taking readings and measurements so they can be compared with those taken by Mawson and his team in 1913.

Although Mawson, who was knighted later for leading his expedition, never reached the South Pole, he carried out important research and explored previously unknown lands.

The ship - which includes Britons, Australians and New Zealanders - had planned to return to New Zealand by early January.

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Boko Haram Leader Vows To Continue Violence

An Islamic extremist leader in Nigeria has said violent insurgency will continue in the country because Allah has said Muslims must decapitate and mutilate.

In a video released on Saturday, Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for a December 20 attack on a tank battalion barracks.

In it, he claimed his men - members of the al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram -  would have eaten their enemies, but Allah forbids cannibalism.

Witnesses said insurgents put soldiers to flight and set the complex ablaze, before they were driven off by fighter aircraft.

Shekau warned Christians not to go to churches during December, although Christmas passed in Nigeria without any of the feared terrorist attacks.

Five churches were bombed on Christmas Day in 2011, killing dozens of people.

Shekau also ridiculed bounties placed on his head. There is a $7m (£4.25m) bounty from the US and a $312,500 (£190,000) figure from Nigeria.

Earlier this year the Nigerian military had said intelligence suggested Shekau may have been killed. But a video which emerged in September, purporting to be of him, made reference to recent events.

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Beirut Car Bomb Kills Political Adviser

An explosion in the Lebanese capital of Beirut has killed at least five people and wounded 50, according to the state news agency.

The suspected car bomb exploded in the city's business district, reportedly damaging 10 buildings, and setting cars ablaze.

A large plume of smoke billowed out of the area shortly after the blast.

Former Lebanese minister Mohammad Chatah, a prominent pro-Western politician, was reportedly among those killed in the explosion.

Civil Defence personnel extinguish car fires at the scene

Mr Chatah was an adviser to former Lebanese anti-Syria prime ministers Saad Hariri and Fuad Siniora.

The economist and former finance minister was killed along with his driver as they headed to Mr Hariri's mansion in the city centre, according to the National News Agency.

He was due to attend a meeting of the March 14 anti-Syria coalition which backs the Syrian opposition struggle to topple the Damascus regime.

Smoke rises from the site of the explosion

Sky's Middle East News Editor Tom Rayner said it was not clear why Mr Chatah was targeted, as he did not currently have a high profile role in Syrian coalition talks. 

"It suggests that this is symbolic - it's an attack on what he represents," he said, speaking from Jerusalem. 

Rayner said Mr Chatah's motorcade likely had a smaller security detail and was therefore seen as an "easy target".

Fire fighting and army personnel inspect the site of the explosion

Ambulances are currently at the scene and troops have been deployed.

No responsibility has yet been claimed for the bombing.

Lebanon has seen a wave of bombings over the last few months amid tensions over the Syrian civil war.

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Acid Attacks: India Victims Demand Action

By Neville Lazarus, Sky News producer, Delhi

Sapna, 20, considers herself lucky to have escaped with just a few burns on her face and upper body. She's one of the latest victims of an acid attack in India.

A spurned relative threw industrial acid when she rejected his advances.

There are no exact figures because these attacks are not recorded separately - but campaigners fear they are increasing.

In a landmark judgement the Supreme Court has ordered the government to regulate the sale of acid, compensate the victims and impose stiffer sentences.

For example, the government now has to pay for the medical treatment of the victims.

But Sapna is yet to receive any money for her treatment.

Preeti Rathi, framed, died from an acid attack in Bombay

She said: "The government does not care for us victims. They may arrest the man and keep him in jail for a few years but our lives have been ruined.

"The men should be punished so badly that no one will ever think of attempting to ruin a girl's life."

The Rathi family grieve for their 24-year-old daughter who died after an acid attack six months ago.

She had got a coveted job with the Indian navy. Her father says she was looking forward to her new life in Mumbai.

But when she arrived at the train station in Mumbai, a masked man threw acid on her.

Preeti was blinded and the liquid she swallowed burned her insides. She died in hospital a month later.

Her father says: "I want the culprit to go through the suffering that my daughter went through.

Laxmi was attacked six years ago and still has problems with her sight

"Hanging will give him instant death but he will not experience the hell he inflicted on her. I want an eye for an eye."

The culprit is yet to be traced - the grainy CCTV images cannot identify him.

Preeti's parents have been petitioning authorities for an investigation by the central government.

They even door-stepped the home minister of India in charge of the police.

The minister, Sunil Kumar Shinde, told them he's directed the relevant state department of Maharashtra to look into the case.

Preeti's mother is unconvinced with his reply and told Sky News such ministers just make statements but can't give justice.

"My daughter fought for her life for a month - we want a proper investigation and that they can't give us," she said. 

Campaigners are pressing for harsher sentences for attacks on women

India's deputy home minister RP Singh told Sky News the government has made laws and taken action against acid attacks.

"We have made it a different category in our bill which we amended and the government has made it more difficult for its sale," he said.

But many, like Laxmi, believe the government is still doing very little.

She survived an acid attack six years ago when a man threw the liquid when she spurned his advances.

It burned her face and upper body - her eyes were seriously damaged. She is now an active campaigner for the rights of victims.

It was her petition to the Supreme Court that initiated the changes in law.

But she's dismayed the government is doing nothing to help rehabilitate victims - one of her key demands.

She says she will challenge the government for not doing enough.

"We are not to blame for what happened to us. We are just not survivors. Only we know what we go through when walking down the streets," she said.

"Relatives and friends stop meeting us, our careers are destroyed. Society, the laws and the government don't care if we are living or dead."

India is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman.

The horrific gang rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in Delhi in December 2012 has stirred the nation's soul.

Unprecedented protests took place in the national capital and across the country.

The brutality of the crime pressurised the government and the judiciary to frame new laws and make changes in the older ones to protect women. 

Fast-track courts were established to deal with such cases and stricter punishment enforced.

But until the regulation in the sale of acid is strictly enforced, and these crimes are severely and swiftly punished, such attacks will continue.

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Andrew Wyatt: Body Found In New Zealand

Rescue crews in New Zealand searching for a British hiker who went missing two weeks ago have found a body under a cliff.

They said the body had not been formally identified as that of Andrew Wyatt but it was discovered at the foot of a 100-metre (330ft) precipice that was on the 41-year-old's intended route.

Mr Wyatt, from Cornwall, was last seen on December 15 in the Nelson Lakes National Park embarking on what was supposed to be a one-day hike to pick up supplies.

Poor weather stopped searchers from reaching the remote area until Friday, when an air force helicopter dropped in four specialised alpine rescue crews who made the grim find.

Nelson Lakes national park

Nelson Search and Rescue (NSAR) said the section between where Mr Wyatt was last seen and where he was heading was "one of the more remote and difficult parts" of the trail.

NSAR coordinator Sherp Tucker said: "It's rugged, it's remote and the weather can change so much.

"It's a frequent place for the rescue helicopter to go to beacon activations for people who are hurt."

Mr Wyatt arrived in New Zealand in November and was walking the 3,000-kilometre (1,900-mile) Te Araroa Trail, which runs along the entire length of the country, when he went missing. 

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Antarctica: Icebreaker Nearing Trapped Ship

A ship which became trapped in ice while on a scientific mission to Antarctica is about to be reached by a rescue vessel, scientists hope.

Those on board the Academic Shokalskiy have spotted the Chinese icebreaker The Snow Dragon on the horizon.

Some 74 people are on the ship, being used by the Australian Antarctic Expedition to try to follow in the footsteps of explorer Douglas Mawson.

They have been stuck in the same spot since Christmas Eve and are hoping the Chinese vessel will be able to cut through the ice and allow them passage to open waters.

British Professor Chris Turney, who is leading the expedition, said the team had managed to achieve some important research before getting into difficulty.

A number of tourists are also on the ship, which left New Zealand in late November and is now in Antarctica's Commonwealth Bay.

Professor Turney said the ship got into difficulty after satellite data showed their route onward would be safe.

He told Sky News: "Unfortunately, although the satellite data showed the sea ice was open and the weather was quite good, conditions were changing when we got back to the ship.

The MV Academic Shokalskiy is trapped in Commonwealth Bay

"By the end of the day, the wind had picked up and the sea ice was moving around a lot and, in spite of the captain's best efforts, we realised we just couldn't get through.

"On Christmas Eve, he made the call, and issued the alert for help.

"At the moment, very excitingly, we've just seen the Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon on the horizon.

"It's around nine nautical miles from the vessel. It's not quite here yet but at least we can see it, which is a huge improvement on our prospects."

Professor Turney said the scientists on board the Shokalskiy have been taking readings and measurements so they can be compared with those taken by Mawson and his team in 1913.

Although Mawson, who was knighted later for leading his expedition, never reached the South Pole, he carried out important research and explored previously unknown lands.

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Thailand: Policeman Killed In Election Protest

A Thai police officer has been killed in clashes as anti-government protesters in Bangkok attempt to halt preparations for upcoming elections.

Police said the officer died after being airlifted to a hospital with gunshot wounds.

"He was shot in his chest and brought to hospital by helicopter," said Jongjet Aoajenpong, director of the Police General Hospital.

"A team of doctors tried to resuscitate him for more than half an hour."

Police carry away a wounded comrade

Protesters clashed with police outside a sports stadium where election candidates were drawing lots for their positions on the ballot ahead of general elections scheduled for February 2.

Security authorities fired rubber bullets and tear gas toward protesters during the clashes, while protesters threw rocks and glass bottles at riot police guarding the stadium and the nearby Ministry of Labour building.

Nearly 100 people, including 25 police officers, were injured in the clashes.

Despite the violence, the protesters failed to halt the proceedings inside the stadium, where representatives from 27 parties gathered.

An anti-government protester covers his face in a teargas attack

It was the first violent incident in nearly two weeks of daily protests on the streets of Bangkok.

Thailand's election commission has now urged the government to postpone the elections.

"We cannot organise free and fair elections under the constitution in the current circumstances," said commission member Prawit Rattanapien, who along with other vote officials had to be evacuated from the stadium by helicopter.

Shortly afterwards, the government said the polls would go ahead as scheduled on February 2. 

A riot policeman fires teargas towards the protesters

The protesters have been demanding that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra step down since mid-October.

The unrest began after her government tried to introduce an amnesty law that would have allowed Ms Yingluck's brother and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in a military coup in 2006, to return to the country as a free man.

The protesters believe the prime minister is being controlled by her exiled brother.

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Global Rough Diamond Trade Thrives In Antwerp

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

In four unprepossessing streets in the centre of Antwerp, a secretive, centuries-old business is conducted behind bulletproof glass where a handshake and the Yiddish word "mazel" seals the deal.

The international diamond trade has been centred in the city since the 15th century. It is estimated that 85% of the global trade in rough diamonds passes through Antwerp, worth €43bn (£36bn) every year, equivalent to the GDP of Slovenia.

You would imagine that the crippling single currency crisis which continues to hold Europe in its grip would have had an icing effect on expensive ice, but business is booming, even as a quarter of Antwerp's young people struggle to find work.

£36m worth of stones bought or sold in Antwerp each year

We went to find out why, gaining access to one of the most secure buildings in the country guided by the entrepreneur Vashi Dominguez, who runs a successful UK-based diamond business from mine to retail.

It was fairly clear from the outset that news cameras aren't welcome in the diamond quarter. A police officer was dispatched to check our credentials after a CCTV camera filmed us on the pavement, while private security guards watched us warily from doorways.

After surrendering our passports, and with a prior appointment, we were allowed inside one 10-storey concrete building, in which trades valued at €1bn (£837,000) take place every month.

In a simple room with a series of substantial tables - and an even larger safe built into the wall - Vashi showed us three cut diamonds with a combined value of £2m as well as a scattering of smaller rough stones.

The four Cs still determine the price of a finished stone: cut, colour, clarity and carat (the weight, with a carat equivalent to one fifth of a gram), but the value of unusual, or "fancy" diamonds has been increasing dramatically at auction since the financial crisis began.

Vashi Dominguez: 'Prices are rising because demand is increasing'

Vashi explains that as government bonds and currencies have become less attractive to investors since the start of the crisis in 2008, they have turned to valuable commodities like gold and gems.

"Prices are rising because demand is increasing. That's due to the slowdown and more interest from buyers in the east like China and India as well as other developing countries such as Brazil," he explains.

"There's another factor too: there has been a lack of major discoveries of new mines and some mines that have been discovered can't be built into viable businesses because the extraction process is so costly."

A massive new mine is being prepared in Canada, and De Beers continues to chip new diamonds out of Jwaneng mine in Botswana, but prospectors are working hard globally to establish new deposits.

The location of the current mines and trade patterns shifting eastwards could threaten Antwerp's pre-eminence as a diamond hub. More business could switch to Dubai, which is closer to southern Africa.

That's reflected in a change in the religion and ethnicity of the traders: the diamond quarter has been conspicuously Jewish, but more Indians are moving into the business, and into the area.

At the moment, Antwerp is still keeping its nose ahead of those rival cities looking to snatch its diamond tiara. It's an irony that the booming gem trade is based in a continent where economies have lost their lustre.

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