Midday Roundup: Analysts skeptical of North Korea's H-bomb claim

Exaggerated abilities? North Korea announced today it has successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb, though experts doubt the validity of the claim. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 5.1-magnitude seismic event in North Korea, which is smaller than would be expected if an H-bomb detonated underground. Numerous experts say even a miniaturized H-bomb would have produced more energy. But North Korean media are standing firm, insisting, “The (country’s) access to H-bomb of justice, standing against the U.S., the chieftain of aggression … is the legitimate right of a sovereign state for self-defense and a very just step no one can slander.”

Get the lead out. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency in the city of Flint because of lead contamination in its drinking water supply. In 2014, a state-appointed emergency manager oversaw the change in the city’s water supply from Lake Huron to the polluted Flint River as a cost-cutting measure. Residents started complaining about the taste, smell, and look of the new water, and tests showed a spike in lead levels in children. Lead exposure can cause permanent brain damage to kids. The Justice Department announced yesterday it will investigate the lead contamination along with the Environmental Protection Agency. The state paid more than $10 million to help switch Flint’s drinking water source back to Lake Huron in October.

New spokesperson. Republicans have tapped South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to give the party’s response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address next week. Haley is South Carolina’s first female and first minority governor. She rose to national prominence last year for her response to the mass shooting by white supremacist Dylann Roof at an African-American church in Charleston, S.C. After the shooting, she called for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol grounds. She has spoken against White House policies and refused to expand the state’s Medicaid program under Obamacare.

Dragging on. About 20 armed, anti-federal government protesters still occupy a wildlife refuge in remote Oregon. The group, led by rancher-activists Ammon and Ryan Bundy, has been holed up in a building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for four days. The ranchers say they want to hand over the federal land to locals who would manage it in the best interests of ranchers and loggers. The group first assembled in nearby Burns, Ore., to show support for a father and son ordered to prison for setting a fire that burned federal land. But that family has distanced itself from the protesters, and locals in Burns have shown mixed support for their cause. The county sheriff has asked the group to go home, and other residents have said their presence poses a security problem for the small, isolated town. The FBI says it is working on a peaceful resolution to the standoff.

Died. Robert Stigwood, the driving force behind the 1970s disco era, died Monday in London. He was 81. The native Australian propelled the Bee Gees, Olivia Newton-John, and John Travolta to the top of the charts with the blockbuster films Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Born in Adelaide, he moved to Britain in the 1950s and managed rock supergroup Cream and its guitarist, Eric Clapton. Known to his friends as “Stiggy,” Stigwood brought the Broadway hit Hair to the London stage and film, also producing cinema versions of the Andrew Lloyd Webber–Tim Rice musical Jesus Christ Superstar and The Who’s rock opera Tommy.

Reporter Jim Long and The Associated Press contributed to this report.