Christopher Dorner: Cop 'Disturbed' Claims Ex

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

San Bernardino County Sheriff's SWAT officers join the search

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

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

There have been no leads since then.

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

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

Monica Quan was killed on Sunday

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

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

Williams' attorney could not be reached for comment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

An undated photo of Dorner

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

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

"There is no conventional threat assessment for me."

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

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

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

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Dozens Hurt In Street Clashes Across Egypt

Protesters have marched in the streets chanting slogans against Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in cities across Egypt.

A few hundred people attacked the presidential palace in Cairo with petrol bombs and rocks.

Riot police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, many of whom had to be taken to hospital after suffering from suffocation.

In Alexandria, Egypt's second city, dozens of protesters threw stones at police.

Earlier on Friday, a few thousand people marched around the city. The clashes took place in front of one of the city's main police stations.

Anti-regime protesters set fire to the presidential palace in Cairo

At least 45 people were hurt during the day across the country, medical sources at the health ministry said.

Two officers and three soldiers of the Republic Guard were wounded in clashes, the state news agency MENA reported.

Protests erupted last month over what demonstrators saw as Mr Mursi's attempts to monopolise power as well as wider political and economic grievances.

The main opposition alliance signed an agreement with the ruling Muslim Brotherhood last week rejecting violence and had not officially called for marches on Friday.

But distrust of Mr Mursi and of the Muslim Brotherhood - as well as a sense of political and economic malaise - continue to bring people into the streets across Egypt, however the number of protests has declined in recent weeks.

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Indian Militant Afzal Guru Hanged In New Delhi

By Neville Lazarus, Sky Producer in New Delhi

Afzal Guru, a conspirator in the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, has been hanged in New Delhi.

The Home Minister of India said Guru was hanged at 8am local time at New Delhi's Tihar jail.

In December 2001, five armed terrorists drove into the Indian Parliament complex and opened fire.

Nine people were killed, most of them members of the security forces. All the terrorists were shot dead.

The Indian Government initially accused the Pakistan-based terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) of being involved in the attack. 

In December 2002, four JeM members were caught by Indian authorities and put on trial. All four, including Afzal Guru, were found guilty of playing varying roles in the incident.

The attack brought the two nuclear power countries close to war.

A placard of Afzal Guru is held during a protest in India in December 2011

The Indian government asked Pakistan to apprehend the organisations' leaders and curb the financial assets and the groups' access to their assets.

In response, Pakistani forces were put on high alert the same day.

On December 20, India mobilised and deployed its troops to Kashmir and Punjab in what was India's largest military mobilisation since the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.

World leaders condemned the attack on the Indian parliament and stepped in to calm the situation.

In 2004, Guru was given the death sentence by the Supreme Court.

The sentence was scheduled to be carried out on October 20, 2006, but was stayed after his wife filed a mercy petition with the President of India.

The petition was rejected and returned to the Home Ministry on February 3 this year.

Guru is from Kashmir and the government is taking all measures to quell protests in the valley. 

A curfew has been imposed in most towns in the valley in Kashmir. Cable operators have pulled the plug on news channels in some areas to prevent protests.

Many in India believe there is a political motivation for the hanging. The Congress-led government has long been seen dragging its feet on issues of terrorism and want to shun that image.

In November last year, Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist from Pakistan who was caught during the Mumbai attacks was executed in a Pune jail.

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China: Mass Exodus Begins For Lunar New Year

By Mark Stone, Asia correspondent

The world's largest human migration is underway this week as China's 1.3 billion people travel home for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

On the country's vast rail network, in its congested skies and along its smog-clogged roads, the country's population is making the annual journey which for most will take at least 12 hours.

Beijing Railway Station is said to be the busiest place on the planet this week, and yet it is just one snapshot of this mass-movement.

A young traveller at Beijing station

There are throngs of people everywhere. Queuing outside the station, at the ticket halls, on the concourse and on the platforms. The departures board shows scores of destinations many of which are more than a thousand miles away.

The whole place is chaos and yet somehow ordered too. Travellers carry what they can and drag the rest. There is a clatter of wheelie suitcases and a loud hum of people; some excited and some frustrated at the journey ahead.

"This past year has been really busy", Liu Xin says. "Now it's time to go home, I'm so excited I couldn't even sleep last night.

"I'm happy, but this will be a tiring journey; such a long journey and with a child, on a crowded train, it is exhausting" another traveller says.

On one train we met the Lou Family. Their home is China's frozen north-east and the journey will last 21 hours.

"It's about 1,500km," Feng Yan says. "I haven't been back home for almost eight years, so it's very important for me."

"This is the only time of the year that everybody can be together," her husband, Luo Xinmin, says.

Chaos: Passengers join the queue for train tickets

"We - the young generation - are all away working hard and if we don't go home for New Year, the love between family members will fade away," he says.

For the Chinese, nothing is more important than their New Year which, this year, falls tomorrow night. Just as Christmas traditionally prompts families to gather together, the Lunar New Year does the same.

But the vast distances in China and the fact that so many of China's workforce are migrant workers creates this mass-movement every year.

It is effectively the urbanisation of China in reverse for one week only. Millions of migrant workers of all types travel back to where they are from.

Tradition dictates that families will gather for a meal at midnight on Saturday. The festivities will then continue throughout next week before the migration process begins again and China slowly cranks back into action for another year.

However, there are signs that as China modernises and its population becomes wealthier and more mobile, tradition is falling away. An increasing number of Chinese are opting out of the journey home, instead choosing to use their new money to go on holiday.

Europe is an increasingly popular destination for wealthy Chinese travellers and there is an expectation of a significant boost to Chinese visitor numbers to European cities over the coming week.

High-end retailers in the UK could see an increase in sales too given the new-found Chinese love-affair with all things luxury.

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EU Budget Deal Plan Set At 960bn Euros

European leaders have agreed the broad lines of a deal on a seven-year budget that would fix total EU spending at 960bn (£820bn) euros.

"We feel pretty confident that we have the framework for a deal," one EU official told reporters.

"The deal is not completely finalised, but we feel sure it will be done today."

The breakthrough came after 15 hours of intense negotiations between countries in the bloc.

The agreement is expected to strike a balance between the demands of northern European countries such as Britain and the Netherlands that wanted a belt-tightening EU budget, and countries in the south and east that wanted sustained spending on farming subsidies and much-needed infrastructure.

Leaders will continue negotiating in the expectation that they can sign off on a final agreement later today, the official added.

Sky News Deputy Political Editor Joey Jones, reporting from Brussels, said: "This is the make or break meeting and leaders, including David Cameron, have been given a draft that lays out the budget."

Officials said around 12bn euros (£10.2bn) would be cut from the last proposal, made at a summit in November when agreement eluded leaders, bringing the headline ceiling for spending down to 960bn over the full 2014-2020 budget.

That represents a decrease of around 3% on the last multi-annual budget - the first time a long-term EU spending plan has seen a net reduction.

While vast in headline terms, in annual terms the budget appropriation amounts to around 140bn euros (£120bn), equivalent to just 1% of total EU economic output.

The draft agreed cuts fell mainly on a new fund for cross-border transport, energy and telecoms projects, which was cut by more than 11bn euros (£9.36bn), and on pay and perks for EU officials - a top target for Britain - which were cut by around 1bn euros (£900m), officials said.

As well as the deal needing to be signed off by all EU leaders today, it must be approved by the European Parliament, an obstacle that could prove difficult.

The European Parliament president has said he will not accept excessive cuts.

Ahead of the summit, France and Britain appeared at sharp odds over the headline numbers, with Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden lining up on Britain's side and Italy, Spain, Poland and others allied with France. Germany was left in the middle.

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Bangladesh: Ferry With 100 On Board Capsizes

A ferry carrying more than 100 people on board has capsized in Bangladesh after colliding with another boat.

Police said there were no immediate reports of casualties after the ferry went down on the River Meghna in Munshiganj district, 20 miles (32km) south of Dhaka.

Villagers rescued more than 40 people after the accident and several people were able to swim to shore, local media reported.

The ferry was on a local run from Narayanganj city to Matlab in the south.

More to follow...

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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 told the AFP news agency.

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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Tunisia Dissolves Govt After Politician Killed

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali has dissolved the government amid mass protests over the murder of opposition leader Chokri Belaid.

He said he would be forming a non-partisan administration to govern until fresh elections can be held after the failure of negotiations between parties on a cabinet reshuffle.

"I have decided to form a government of competent nationals without political affiliation, which will have a mandate limited to managing the affairs of the country until elections are held," Mr Jebali said in a televised address to the nation.

He said the ministers would not run for office in the next election.

The announcement came amid reports that a police officer had been killed in clashes between the security forces and protesters in the capital Tunis.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets following the murder of Mr Belaid.

The interior ministry said 46-year-old policeman Lotfi Alzaar died after sustaining a chest injury caused by rocks thrown as he attempted to disperse a group of protesters in central Tunis.

"These protesters were in the process of ransacking shops," it added.

Chokri Belaid was a human rights lawyer

Mr Belaid, who headed the opposition Democratic Patriots party and was a harsh critic of Tunisia's Islamist-led government, was shot dead outside his home.

The 48-year-old lawyer's family has accused the ruling Ennahda party of being behind the murder - allegations it denies.

It was the first assassination of a political leader in post-revolutionary Tunisia, and has bolstered fears that the country may face the same chaotic road as other Arab Spring nations transitioning to democracy.

Protesters outside the interior ministry chanted "the people want the fall of the regime".

The secular parties in government have been demanding that key ministries be assigned to independents, a move rejected by Ennahda hardliners, including party head Rached Ghannouchi.

Mr Jebali is considered a moderate within his party and is said to be supportive of the idea the justice and foreign affairs ministries could be allocated to non-political figures.

Planned fresh polls are unable to take place before the adoption of a new constitution - the drafting of which has also failed to make progress because of wrangling within the National Constituent Assembly.

It was tasked with the charge after the Tunisians overthrew long-ruling dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.

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Australia Sport: Drugs And Crime 'Rife'

The use of performance enhancing drugs is "widespread" among professional and amateur athletes in Australia, according to a government report.

The report was the result of a one-year probe by Australia's leading criminal intelligence organisation into the use of drugs, both performance enhancing and recreational, as well as the association of organised crime with the trade.

"The findings are shocking and they will disgust Australian sports fans," home affairs minister Jason Clare said at a news conference to announce the release of the report.

"(It) has found the use of substances, including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs, is widespread amongst professional athletes.

"We are talking about multiple athletes across a number of codes. We're talking about a number of teams.

"The findings indicate the drugs are being facilitated by sports scientists, coaches, support staff as well as doctors and pharmacists.

"In some cases sports scientists and others are orchestrating the doping of entire teams. In some case players are being administered substances which have not yet been approved for human use."

The report said that organised crime was involved in the distribution of the drugs, which exposes players to the possibility of being co-opted into match-fixing, Mr Clare added.

One such case had been identified and was being investigated, he said, although he did not identify which code was involved.

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'Several Dead' After Solomon Islands Quake

A major 8.0 magnitude undersea earthquake has damaged dozens of homes in the Solomon Islands, reportedly killing several people and triggering a small tsunami.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck near the Santa Cruz islands, which have been hit by strong tremors over the past week, at a depth of 3.5 miles (5.8km).

"We know that a tsunami has been created," said Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepsen. "It's a big earthquake anyway in terms of just the shaking."

Evacuations in the Suva district of Fiji

Two powerful aftershocks of 6.4 and 6.6 magnitude were also recorded.

Solomons officials reported two 1.5m (4 foot, 11-inch) waves hit the western side of Santa Cruz Island, damaging around 50 homes and properties, said George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister.

Many villagers had headed to higher ground as a precaution, Mr Herming said.

Traffic backed-up in Fiji as residents fled to high ground

Solomon Islands Police Commissioner John Lansley said local police patrols had reported that several people were presumed dead, though the reports were still being verified.

"Sadly, we believe some people have lost their lives," he said. "At the moment we potentially know of four, but there may of course be more."

Locals in the island's capital, Honiara, 360 miles (580km) from the epicentre, said the quake was not felt there, but three villages on the Santa Cruz islands were damaged, according to hospital director Augustine Bilve.

"We were told that after the shaking, waves came to the villages," he said. "So far, we are waiting in Lata and are evacuating patients in case there are any casualties."

In Honiara, the capital city of the islands, the warnings prompted residents to flee for higher ground, although most people remained calm.

"People are still standing on the hills outside of Honiara just looking out over the water, trying to observe if there is a wave coming in," Mr Herming said.

"People around the coast and in the capital are ringing in and trying to get information from us and the National Disaster Office and are slowly moving up to higher ground," said another official. "But panic? No, no, no, people are not panicking."

In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.1-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless.

The Solomon Islands are part of the "Ring of Fire", a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific Ocean that is subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

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