Good morning. Strong reaction from around the world to the news that broke overnight. North koreas claims it tested a Hydrogen Bomb. The south and u. N. Inspectors can only confirm there was some sort of explosion underground at a nuclear site. They say it showed up on sensors to the north of the 5. 1 earthquake. Adrian brown has the latest from beijing. A short time ago, the Foreign Ministry here in beijing gave a briefing to foreign news agencies. The rebuke was quite mild. They appealed to north korea to cease its provocative action and urged north korea to return to the 6party talks. Now, china, of course, is about the only friend that north korea has right now. They have in the past been ideological alleys but there have been deep strains in that relationship during the past few years, namely because of north Koreas Nuclear program. China in the past have supported sanctions against north korea and, of course, it could be in that position once again if that is what the un 50i9d nations decides to do. The u. N. Security council is planning an emergency meeting to discuss the actions and the test and any actions it may take. Testing bombs is a way to signal that it wants something from the International Community. A Hydrogen Bomb is a step forward. They have never been used against civilians. We dont know. We have theoretical predictions but dont know what this would do in the city. Thats why people are terrified. This is a major step up. You know, we have no other evidence other than what the North Koreans have said. They said it like a month ago they had this and there was a lot of skepticism am until we see proof, i can skeptical. North korea goes through a cycle of provecations, usually once a year. These things are usually intended to shake down the americans, the south korea ians for aid or assistance or attention or Something Like that. The North Koreans were sort of rebuffed in discussions between the south and the north in december. This may be a way of signalling that they want something from those discussions. They didnt get it. In the coming election, there is also a coming election in south korea in april. This may be a way of signalling that you need to Pay Attention to us and you should sort of participate in inter korean talks. Usually they go on hold during the political season in south korea. This may be a way of signalling dissatisfaction with that. If the test is confirmed t would raise alarm. A hydro engine bomb is the most powerful type. Potentially 2,000 times more destructive than those dropped on japan. A Hydrogen Bomb uses fusion. It can cause firestorms and, an intense white light that can induce blindness. We will speak with Al Jazeera Mike lions about the bomb test and the implications of it. Schools are closed in oregon. They say they plan a townhall meeting to discuss the concerns about the occupation of that Wildlife Center by armed protesters. They say they are in it for the long haul. They are staying put and wont say when they will leave and they say they are not going to leave until the federal government returns that land to area ranchers. We feel we cannot leave because this is too important of an issue. I and these men here that have been he to pass this on to our children. This is not what america is made of. Protesters say they were inspired by the case of these ranchers. They were sent back to prison for setting fire o federal land. Near that Wildlife Center, catherine, what exactly dot protesters want from the government . Reporter they want two things they want both of those two father and son, the hammonds, released from prison. Thats the first demand, i guess. Then more broadly, they would grazing rights returned to control of state and local and county government instead of being under the control of the federal bureau of land management. There has been a little bit of an escalation here overnight. Late yesterday, protesters who were occupying this wildlife refuge heard some rumors or suggestions or got some information which no one is here whether its credible or not that there might be arrest warrants issued for some of them and what they did in response was they moved up to the edge of this road here blocking it. They have been present, lit fires to keep warm and basically moved their presence to the forefront. They said they didnt want to wait inside if something was coming down. They were going to go out to meet it or if federal authorities wanted to speak to them, they would be upfront about it. Dale . The local sheriff who has said he wants them to go is planning a townhall meeting for later today. What is the major concern there . Reporter the community has just been sort of, a, certain by surprise by all of this. Its not a very big town. If somebody said its 130 miles from anywhere, why us . Why here . There is some confusion, a little bit, as to the cause and certainly the methods. This is a ranching community. There are some ranchers who are simple pathetic but do not like the methods used. They say seizing the buildings was really not cricket. Its disrupted schools, as you said earlier. Thats a hardship for parents who have to find child care for their children. Its also caused some disruption to local businesses and for Law Enforcement for the city, the mayor told us yesterday that his please overtime budget is through the roof and that was not something obviously that had been planned for. Same is true for county sheriffs deputy budgets. There is a huge Law Enforcement presence 24 7 to keep an eye on this stuff. And, of course, the media circus that has come to stoun around all of this. It has disrupted a Small Community in ways that it never expected. Dale . Catherine, is there any sign yet from Law Enforcement that they actually might do something that they may move in and force the protesters out . They have been fairly cagey, circum specific and appear to be at this point playing more of a waiting game. There is no obvious Law Enforcement presence here at this sort of point where the okay pioneers have come to. They are back in town. Some 30 miles away watching, waiting, monitoring. So no overt indications of anything like that. But as i say, the people occupying this property whether out of anxiety or information they received had some inkling that something was coming down yesterday and moved accordingly. Many believe the weather may force those protesters to leave. Al jazeera in princeton, oregon. Thank you very much. This morning, many republicans and those backing gun rights are pledging to do all they can to stop the president. The president announced several actions to reduce gun violence that included expanded background checks. Reporter during his presidency, he has been called aloof, detached, even cold but talking about the murdered children of newtown, connecticut, in a packed white house east room, president obama openly we want. Every time i think about those kids, it gets me mad. In the audience, victims of gun violence and their families. There to see the president announce new executive action Effective Immediately aimed at cracking down on socalled private sales of guns over the internet or at gun shows where no background check on a buyer is needed. Under the plan, those who sell guns for profit, no matter how many or where the transaction takes place will have to get a license thereby making their customers subject to background checks for felonies, mental i am competence and other violations that would probate them from buying a gun under current law. Mr. Obama rejected critics who say it violates the constitutional right to bear arms. In the not a plot to take away everybodys guns. You pass a background check, you purchase a firearm. The problem is, some gun sellers have been operating under a different set of rules. We are going to take our country. Republicans are unmoved. The parties pensioncial candidates immediately bashed the president. Of course its an over reach. Not only for what he did but for how he did it and promised to undo the executive action as one of their first acts if they make it to the white house. If he is serious about gun violence, he would be focused on violence, what it is happening in our culture. Republicans have a way to effectively block mr. Obama this time as they have in the past. The president is asking for hundreds more f f. B. I. And atf personnel to help investigate and enforce the new rules. Will require funding, and the g. O. P. Controlled congress is likely to try and stop it. In the wake of a 2012 shooting at sandy hook, many thought the political moment had come. At his state of the union, little more than a month after the tragedy, president obama invited the parents of hadia pendleton, a girl killed in a park while standing with friends. They deserve a vote [applause. ] but the effort to pass new gun laws collapsed and that vote never came. Tuesday in the east room, the same couple stood behind the president. They say without cooperation from congress, he is doing all he can. And his emotions were genuine. I has two daughters and he is a father first. And the thing is, it touches ho home. Today, you know, guns are here illegally and rapid and children are looking left and right to make sure its okay for them to play, sit on the porch, things of that nature. You know, its just unfair to them. I think his tears were sincere. Reporter mike vaquira two are respond to go a tweet. Americans first freedom tweeted out this picture showing state senator roxannee persaud and joann simon, both have sponsored a bill that would limit ammunition sales. Persaud called the bill reckless and dangerous. Men accused of supplying ammunition to the San Bernardino shooters will be arraigned. Procedures say he gave them the weapons they needed to kill those people. If convicted, he faces 50 years in prison. Meanwhile, the f. B. I. Is asking for the publics help in reconstructing what happened after those attacks. Investigators say they want to know what the two did in the 18 minutes after the attack that killed 14 people. They were later killed in that shootout with police. We have accounted for three hours and 42 minutes of their time. We are missing 18 minutes of their time. Why is is that 18 minutes so important . Its important because we want to ensure that we know whether or not they stopped at any locations, any residences, any businesses that we dont already know about. We want to ensure that if they made contact with anyone that we dont already know about between those hours or between that time that we are able to fully investigate those matters. The f. B. I. Says they need photos or videos that show them between 1 59 p. M. And 1 00 p. M. On december 2nd. They say there is no indication it was directed from overseas but they say it was an inspired attack. California is bracing for more rain tonight after being inundated after a series of powerful el nino storms. While the state may need the rain, it may be too much at one time. The seasons first major he will nino storm slamming the west. Drought stricken california suddenly awash from the bay to la. Flood waters forced this man to make an escape through a window. Fire departments were forced to make a series of rescue as Rushing Waters filled Southern California streets. Mud was the concern in azuza where he had hindlin keeps an evacuation list in the front seat of his car. The hillside was wiped bear. Three or four feet of mud have come down on his property. Like many, he fears the worst. I cant get out from underneath this. We are stick until the big disaster comes, wipes out my home and i get paid for it, or this stuff stops. Mud also a worry in nearby glendora. Homeowners there did what they could. We have been working on the driveway and trying to keep water from the coming under the property. A shortlived tornado touched down damaging buildings, trees and some cars and in arcadia, officials are still cleaning up from the water that broke this retaining water. In the north, heavy rains made driving trench russ along route 101 in marin county. Driving was nearly impossible in this part of san jose. Officials warn todays storms hitting the bay area could be even worse. Jong henry smith, al jazeera. As john said, as they deal with the flooding and rain, they getting ready, nicole for another storm. I am taking the satellite back 24 hours to yesterday. First moves in. The next in the offing. You can see more behind that and thats part of what we expected with the el nino pattern, which is a Climate Change pattern. Not one storm you can say thats an el nino storm. When you look at the pattern, thats what we are talking about. One has cleared through. The next one now starting to make landfall then a little bit of a break. As i said, we can see more in the offing a, and thats going to keep us in a very wet flow for thenet next week at least. Here is the rain we are seeing along the coastline. Some places, los angeles, about an inch and a half of rape. T snow along with it. Those are some of the hazards we see. But the greens we have. Those are places we have flood watches or warnings because we are already starting to get, as i said, some record rain yesterday but now with the next system, we will see more. So here is how this builds up with the next couple of systems by the time we get to saturday, and today could be the heaviest day of the next few. Some places, especially in Southern California, could get close to a half inch of rain or, im sorry, a half foot of rain and thats going to be significant, an isolated spot or two could get over that amount and definitely someplace is an inch of an hour isnt out of e the. One clears out a little bit of a break, maybe on friday, well see that. The next system starts to push in through the day on saturday. So how that shapes up for one of our cities, for example, as i said, friday is the best chance, what it looks like right now for a little break. We have good chances for rain for the next few. Higher elevations, of course, that is snow. While there is a risk of landslides, mudslides, this is great for agriculture, great for the snowpack come the rest of the season. A lot of benefits. We will have to see if its a net gain by the end of the week. Stay with us. When we come back, we are going to be talking about a state of emergency now in effect in flint, michigan. The government takes action. The feds wants to prove over led in the water. Plus. Take those rides, you can be for the rest of their life. Fighting for the right to vote. One woman journey to try to reclaim her civil rights. Secretary of state john kerry is trying to ease tensions between saudi arabia and iran. Following the execution after shia clerkic. Kerry talked to the foreign m ministers of both countries reminding them they are needed to end the fight against syr syria the coalition, it is said is losing ground. Officials believe isil has lost about 40 of the land it once held in iraq and in syria, they say that is about 20 . Isil not yet responding to those estimates. The coalition includes the u. S. , britain and france has been bombing isil positions for months. We are following major developments from north korea this morning. The north Korean State News Agency says the country successfully tested an h bomb. If confirmed, it will be the norths Fourth Nuclear test since 2006 and a significant step is it for its known Nuclear Capability did. Mike lions is in Al Jazeera National security contributor, also a senior fellow at the truman National Security project. Joining us this morning to talk about this. I am skeptical because i have covered this region and anything that comes out of the north Korean State News Agency, you have to question. So at what point might we hear confirmation that this was an h bomb test . We probably wont hear it from the north. They will continue to say it was an h bomb test. A lot of this is communicate to go their people with the explanation that an h bomb is more advanced than a regular nuclear bomb. So, its about making them feel better about themselves. But you will be able to determine in the south with regards 209 weather. It had the capability to be that h bomb type test. You are referring to south korea there. We know there was some sort of seismic activity, an earthquake of more than 5. 0 in magnitude. So this is one clue. Okay. So lets assume that there was some sort of h bomb test. Is that unprecedented . And was the u. S. Aware that the north had this capability . Its unprecedented. I am not sure we had that, we were aware they would have had this capability. To we hopeonnize it changes the game. It creates a problem for this administration. How does it deal with this and the rest of the world . The United Nations in that regard. It does change completely the game with regards to their Nuclear Capability and their ability to, again, delirthis kind of a weapon. South korea mostly threatened but again china, japan and other alleys we have in that part of the world as well. Six months ago, the u. S. Negotiated a deal with iran. A few weeks ago, iran shipped out tons of enriched uranium as part of that agreement. Has the u. S. Dropped the ball when it comes to north korea . Its taken its eye off of it very clearly. It has relied on alleys, i believe, to take it more seriously. But we are seeing china doesnt have the influence over north korea that it once had for them to conduct this type of a test, not let them know, not let anybody know in the region shows they dont have that same influence. What to do about this is the question. Where do we begin with that . We know the u. N. Security council is meeting. If it did happen, what would be the u. S. Response . Likely just sanctions. We could try to isolate there are so many safrningsdz. Exactly. We cant isolate them any more than they are. So, you know, again, you see the japanese Prime Minister saying thi