THOUSANDS FLEE 'HISTORIC' CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES

Some 13,000 residents are leaving their homes as nearly two dozen wildfires rage across drought-parched California.

More than 9,000 firefighters are trying to dampen the 21 conflagrations.

The biggest inferno, the Rocky Fire, jumped over a highway that had served as a containment line on Monday afternoon.                

It has reduced to smouldering ashes more than 62,000 acres (25,000 hectares) north of Sacramento, the state capital.

The blaze tripled in size over the weekend to almost 97 square miles (250 square km), feeding on its own winds.

The Rocky Fire, which is only 12% contained, razed 20,000 acres in just five hours, stunning the authorities.

"The term that I'm using is 'historic'," one firefighter told CNN.

"The reason I say that is that there are firefighters who have 25, 30 years on the job who have never seen fire behaviour like we've seen the last couple of days."

Two dozen homes have been destroyed over the past few days.

The California blazes killed a firefighter last week and injured four others.

A total of some 142,000 acres have burned so far.

The wildfires prompted California Governor Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency last week.

Lightning strikes in the drought-stricken state were blamed for the fires.

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RUSSIA CLAIMS VAST SWATHES OF ARCTIC TERRITORY

Russia has submitted a bid for control of vast territories in the Arctic to the United Nations, its foreign ministry has confirmed.

Moscow said in a statement that it was claiming 1.2 million sq km (more than 463,000 sq miles) of the Arctic sea shelf, extending more than 350 nautical miles (around 650km) from the coast.

The US, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia have all been trying to gain control of parts of the Arctic, which is thought to have up to a quarter of the planet's untapped oil and gas supplies.

The competition to assert jurisdiction over parts of the region has intensified as shrinking polar ice caps have opened up new areas for exploration.

Russia first submitted its claim in 2002, but it was sent back by the UN due to lack of evidence.

It said its revised bid contains new arguments and that "ample scientific data collected in years of Arctic research are used to back the Russia claim."

Russia made a symbolic claim to part of the territory in 2007 by dropping a canister containing a Russian flag on to the ocean floor from a submarine in the North Pole. 

Among tensions over the Ukraine crisis and with neighbours in the Baltic, Vladimir Putin has also moved to increase his military presence in the Arctic.

A Soviet-era military base on the New Siberian Islands has been restored and other outposts in the region have been beefed up. 

Earlier in 2015, Russian forces took part in sweeping training exercises across the Arctic.

Some 38,000 servicemen, more than 50 surface ships and submarines and 110 aircraft were involved in the drills.

Russia has justified its actions by claiming the new facilities are vital for protecting shipping routes that link Europe with the Pacific.

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BRITISH LINK TO SMUGGLING AT MIGRANT CAMP

Sky News has witnessed British registered vehicles hovering around a refugee camp outside Dunkirk.

Local volunteers from the town of Teteghem say the camp, which is home to around 100 migrants, is controlled by people smugglers.

The vehicles, a large white van and two cars, were seen parked up next to containers where people are living.

While Sky News was carrying out filming, the two cars - an Audi and a Vauxhall - sped out of the camp.

Our team was subsequently told to leave the site by a man with a British accent. He threatened the use of violence if we returned.

Eve-Marie Dubiez, a volunteer from the group Amis de Teteghem, said she suspected smugglers were regulating the number of migrants at the camp.

"English cars, all English cars come here, get people to Calais and leave them somewhere 5km, 10km away from the port of Calais and they do what they can," she said.

"After three or four tries the smugglers ask them to pay again, it's a lot of money, it is €1,500 (£1,050) for one crossing."

Behrad, 32, from Iran, has lived in the camp for three months. He has risked his life numerous times trying to reach Britain.

He says it is easier to get onto lorries outside of Calais.

More appear to be doing that, with people travelling as far as Belgium to jump on board a truck headed for the town.

"It depends on your money. A lot of people who come here, they haven't so much money, so they take the cheapest way, which is to try the back of lorries. That's a lot of danger and people lose their lives."

When asked what the other options available to him were he said he preferred not to say "because maybe it makes me some problems."

All of the people living in the camp at Teteghem said they were desperate for a "better life" in Britain.

They also said that the fact they could speak English drew them there for job opportunities.

All admitted that Calais was still central to their attempt to reach British shores.

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SANDRA BLAND'S FAMILY FILE WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT

The family of a black Texas woman found dead in her jail cell after her arrest for a minor traffic offence have filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

Sandra Bland's relatives say officer Brian Encinia showed a "deliberate indifference to and conscious disregard for the constitutional rights and safety" of the 28-year-old.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, also names the Texas Department of Public Safety, Waller County Sheriff's Office and two warders in the Hempstead prison where Ms Bland was held.

She used a rubbish bag to hang herself from the ceiling of her cell, three days after she was stopped on 10 July for not signalling before a lane change, say officials.

Bland family lawyer Cannon Lambert told a news conference in Houston: "The reason that we filed a lawsuit today was because, candidly, we've been unable to get many of the answers that we've been asking for, for weeks."Mr Lambert said the lawsuit seeks to hold authorities accountable.

"Mr Encinia is still employed, and it just doesn't make sense that taxpayers will be paying for the type of service that he offered on July 10," he added.

Mr Encinia is on administrative leave after a preliminary investigation accused him of breaking traffic stop and courtesy protocols when he pulled over Ms Bland.

Authorities have released the findings of a post-mortem examination, surveillance video showing Ms Bland being booked into the jail, her jail admission records and other material.

But Ms Bland's family - who question the official account of her death - say more information is needed, such as full toxicology results and her time of death.

Sandra Bland's mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, told reporters her daughter shouldn't even have been arrested.

"The bottom line is that she never should shave been inside the jail, period," she said.

The mother reportedly left the news conference after a reporter asked why the family did not bail her out of jail, calling the question "insulting". 

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AIRSTRIKES AGAINST IS HAVE KILLED 459 CIVILIANS

US-led airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have killed at least 459 civilians in the last year, according to a report.

The report by Airwars said it believed 57 strikes killed civilians and caused 48 suspected "friendly fire" deaths.

Those same airstrikes are said to have killed more than 15,000 IS militants.

The report said: "Almost all claims of non-combatant deaths from alleged coalition strikes emerge within 24 hours - with graphic images of reported victims often widely disseminated.

"In this context, the present coalition policy of downplaying or denying all claims of non-combatant fatalities makes little sense, and risks handing (the) Islamic State and other forces a powerful propaganda tool."

The US began airstrikes against IS in Iraq on 8 August last year, and in Syria on 23 September.

A coalition of countries has since joined the operations which have seen more than 5,800 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

The US has only acknowledged killing two civilians in its airstrikes - two children who died during a strike against al Qaeda-linked militants in Syria in 2014.

That airstrike is the subject of one of at least four ongoing investigations by the US military into allegations of civilian casualties.

US Army Colonel Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for the coalition, said: "There is no other military in the world that works as hard as we do to be precise.

"When an allegation of civilian casualties caused by coalition forces is determined to be credible, we investigate it fully and strive to learn from it so as to avoid recurrence."

Four investigations into alleged civilian casualties have been completed by US Central Command. Three were judged to be unfounded, while the fourth found two innocent civilians were killed and two other people wounded.

Six investigations are still ongoing.

Airways - a project aimed at tracking international airstrikes against extremists - said it identified the 57 strikes through reporting from "two or more generally credible sources, often with biographical, photographic or video evidence".

It comes after Britain announced it would be extending airstrikes by RAF Tornados for another year.

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SCHOOL OFFICER SUED FOR HANDCUFFING CHILDREN

A school security officer and a county sheriff's office have been sued for putting two Kentucky elementary school children in handcuffs.

The eight-year-old boy and nine-year-old girl, both of whom have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), had the handcuffs put around their biceps, with their arms locked behind them.

Distressing video footage shows the little boy crying and struggling as he sits on a chair.

In the video, which was captured by a school administrator, school resource officer Kevin Sumner tells the boy: "You don't get to swing at me like that. You can do what we've asked you to, or you can suffer the consequences."

The federal lawsuit claims the boy - who is 3ft 6ins tall and weighs 52lbs - was removed from class because he was not following the teacher's directions.

The boy then tried to leave the principal's office, but was physically restrained by school administrators until Mr Sumner arrived to escort him to the bathroom.

On the way back from the bathroom, he tried to hit Mr Sumner with his elbow, according to a report from the Kenton County Sheriff's office, and was then handcuffed.

The girl, who weighed 56lbs, was sent to an isolation room at her school last August for being disruptive.

School officials asked Mr Sumner to help after the girl tried to leave the room and was restrained by the principal and vice principal.

A report from the sheriff's office said Mr Sumner put the girl in handcuffs because she was "attempting to injure school staff".

The lawsuit claims the girl suffered "a severe mental health crisis" and Mr Sumner called for a "medical crisis team". She was taken to a hospital by ambulance for a psychiatric assessment and treatment.

Kentucky state regulations ban schools from physically restraining students that are known to have conditions like ADHD.

The lawsuit states that officials at both schools were aware of the students' ADHD, which is characterised by "impulsivity, difficulty paying attention, complying with directives, controlling emotions and remaining seated".

Susan Mizner, disability counsel for the American Civil Liberties Unionwhich released the video, said: "Shackling children is not okay.

"It is traumatising, and in this case it is also illegal."

Robert Sanders, a lawyer for Mr Sumner, said he put the children in handcuffs because "they were placing themselves and other people in danger of harm and that's what the book says to do".

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LINE-UP UNVEILED FOR FIRST REPUBLICAN DEBATE

Fox News has named the top 10 Republican candidates who will take to the stage for the first primetime debate of the 2016 presidential race.

As expected, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are in the top tier of candidates for the showdown this Thursday at 9pm in Cleveland, Ohio.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul are also on the list.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Ohio Governor John Kasich were the final two to squeak through to the main stage.

The top 10 were chosen according to their ranking in five national opinion polls on Tuesday.

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Governor Rick Santorum and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal were among those left out in the cold.

Senator Lindsey Graham, former business executive Carly Fiorina and former New York Governor George Pataki also failed to make the cut.

They have instead been relegated to a forum four hours before the main event, which pundits are dismissively calling the "kids' stage".

Mr Trump, who is leading the race for the Republican nomination out of a crowded field of 17 candidates, is expected to take centre stage.

The brash billionaire has been soaring in the polls since declaring his candidacy in June, despite courting controversy with a stream of invective aimed at everyone from his fellow Republican rivals to Mexican immigrants.

The real estate baron seems to have connected with conservative Republican voters disenchanted with his mainstream rivals.

Mr Trump and two other Republicans were absent from the stage in New Hampshire on Monday night when the rest of the candidates took part in a forum.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton's path to her party's nomination seems to have suddenly lost its lustre of inevitability.

Fifteen months out from the election, the race has been shaken up by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist.

The former Secretary of State's perceived vulnerability has stoked speculation in recent days that Vice President Joe Biden may enter the Democratic contest.

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