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KABUL ? A second day of violent protests over the burning of Korans at a NATO base spread across Afghanistan?s capital Wednesday, as demonstrators directed their anger at Western embassies and military installations.

NEW DELHI ? The Indian government appears to be playing down evidence of Iranian involvement in last week?s bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat here, perhaps out of concern that any such evidence might put it under more international pressure to isolate Tehran, experts say.

TEHRAN ? Iran?s supreme leader vowed Wednesday to press ahead with the country?s nuclear energy program, while also reiterating his denials of any intention to produce nuclear weapons.

Addressing a group of nuclear scientists, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: ?The Islamic Republic of Iran, with a thoughtful, jurisprudent, theoretical approach, believes that owning a nuclear weapon is a big sin. It also believes that keeping such a weapon is vain, harmful and dangerous.?

U.N. nuclear officials conceded failure on Tuesday after an extraordinary two-day visit to Iran yielded no progress in clearing up allegations about the country?s pursuit of nuclear weapons technology.

Marie Colvin dies along with photographer Remi Ochlik after shell hits house in Homs, while three activists are also killed

The veteran Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin and the French photographer Remi Ochlik have been killed in the Syrian city of Homs after an artillery shell hit the house in which they were staying.

Two other foreign reporters, as well as seven activists from the ravaged Bab al-Amr neighbourhood, were also wounded on Wednesday. One of the injured is freelance photographer Paul Conroy, who was travelling with Colvin.

In the deadliest period for the media since the uprising in Syria began, at least three activists have also been killed. The three Syrians had all played prominent roles in chronicling the regime's assault on Homs over the past four months. One of those killed was the video blogger Rami al-Sayed, also known as Syria Pioneer, who had uploaded to the internet at least 200 videos of killing and destruction in his neighbourhood.

Colvin, a decorated foreign correspondent with more than 30 years of experience in conflict zones, and Ochlik, who last month won a World Press Photo award, died instantly when the shell struck the safe house that had been provided for them by local activists just after 9am. Colvin's body, along with Ochlik's, was recovered from the rubble just after 1pm.

Colvin's editor, John Witherow, released a statement that said: "Marie was an extraordinary figure in the life of the Sunday Times, driven by a passion to cover wars in the belief that what she did mattered. She believed profoundly that reporting could curtail the excesses of brutal regimes and make the international community take notice. Above all, as we saw in her powerful report last weekend, her thoughts were with the victims of violence.

"Throughout her long career she took risks to fulfil this goal, including being badly injured in Sri Lanka. Nothing seemed to deter her. But she was much more than a war reporter. She was a woman with a tremendous joie de vivre, full of humour and mischief and surrounded by a large circle of friends, all of whom feared the consequences of her bravery."

Colvin and Ochlik had been in the Bab al-Amr area of Homs for the past week reporting on the bloody siege of opposition-held parts of Syria's third city, which has claimed hundreds of lives and led to a humanitarian crisis.

The house in which the reporters were based was located next to a hospital and had been the main refuge for all reporters who had made it to Bab al-Amr in the face of a relentless barrage by regime forces over the past few weeks.

An activist for the campaigning group Avaaz who witnessed Wednesday's attack said: "I left the house after it got struck and headed to a house across the street. The shelling continues and the bodies of the journalists are still on the ground. We can't get them out because of the intensity of the shelling even though we're only a few metres away from them."

Another witness told the Guardian that rockets were continuing to rain down on the area as the wounded tried to escape the bombed house. A graphic video posted on the internet showed the two-storey house in ruins ? a scale of damage that could only be caused by a heavy artillery round. Two bodies were visible in the rubble.

Three of the wounded are understood to be in a serious condition and in urgent need of treatment.

They face a long and perilous drive to the Lebanese border where Red Cross officials are preparing to meet them.

The French foreign minister, Alain Juppé, confirmed the death of Ochlik, who was 28.

The foreign secretary, William Hague, said he was "saddened by the terrible news of the death of Ms Colvin".

The foreign editor of the Times, Richard Beeston, released a short statement on Twitter that read: "Terrible news about Marie Colvin. First worked with her Beirut 85. Most courageous, glamorous foreign corr I have ever met. Tragic loss."

Colvin used a web forum to make what is believed to be her last post on Tuesday.

"I think the reports of my survival may be exaggerated," she wrote. "In Baba Amr. Sickening, cannot understand how the world can stand by and I should be hardened by now. Watched a baby die today. Shrapnel, doctors could do nothing. His little tummy just heaved and heaved until he stopped. Feeling helpless. As well as cold! Will keep trying to get out the information."

On Tuesday night, Sayed also lodged a final missive. "Baba Amr is being exterminated. Do not tell me our hearts are with you because I know that. We need campaigns everywhere across the world and inside the country. People should protest in front of embassies and everywhere. Because in hours, there will be no more Baba Amr. And I expect this message to be my last."

Four former employees have been arrested at welfare-to-work company A4e, whose chair is adviser to David Cameron

A welfare-to-work company at the centre of a criminal investigation has previously had to repay public funds on five separate occasions after government investigations into fraud allegations found evidence of "irregularities", the Guardian can disclose.

On Monday it was revealed that four former employees of A4e had been arrested as part of an ongoing police inquiry at the company's offices in Slough.

But it has now emerged that the company, whose chair is an adviser to David Cameron, has been investigated nine times by the Department for Work and Pensions since 2005.

In one case, fraud was proven following a criminal trial; in four inquiries, there was evidence of irregularities but it was not pursued further through the courts after money was returned; in three cases there was found to be no case to answer; and one inquiry, in Slough, is still on-going.

The disclosures are an escalation in the crisis over A4e, which is paid by the government to help the long-term unemployed find jobs, and has renewed calls for a suspension of its contracts.

Margaret Hodge, the chair of parliament's public accounts committee, said the figures released by the government suggest there may be a structural problem within A4e.

"This suggests there may be systemic problems within the organisation. I believe the government should suspend all contractual obligations until the investigations are complete," she said.

Hodge called for the DWP to explain why the police were not brought in on all occasions when evidence of irregularities was found, when public money is involved.

"I find it astonishing that the DWP does not call in the police to investigate all of these incidents. This is no longer a one-off," she said.

The company is chaired by Emma Harrison, who was appointed by the prime minister in 2010 to help get troubled families into work.

Its five shareholders were paid £11m in dividends last year, of which Harrison received £8.6m.

The DWP investigations were launched at A4e offices across Britain. A DWP spokeswoman said that since 2005, the department has investigated nine fraud inquiries. "Of those, five were found to have a case to answer and have been dealt with and one is ongoing.

"In those five cases, the money was paid back in full. A4e would take any appropriate disciplinary action, not DWP," the spokeswoman said.

The cases are believed to include an investigation into a former A4e employee in Hull that was launched after discrepancies emerged in "confirmation of employment" forms submitted by the company. Forms meant for employers agreeing to take on workers had been fraudulently filled in. In some cases, employers' signatures were falsified. A former employee was prosecuted and pleaded guilty to eight counts of forgery.

Thames Valley police visited the firm's offices in Slough over claims of fraud on Friday, and the force has confirmed it arrested four people in connection with the investigation.

A police spokesman said that the case was referred to the force by the Department for Work and Pensions.

As part of the investigation, two women, aged 28 and 49, and two men, aged 35 and 41, were arrested on suspicion of fraud on 18 January from addresses across the Thames valley and are on police bail until mid-March.

The controversy will reignite a simmering debate over whether so much of the welfare-to-work industry should have been contracted out to private companies. Hodge has raised the question of why this government and its Labour predecessors took the decision to outsource this sector to private companies, when some evidence suggests that the state's Jobcentre Plus has greater success in helping people into work.

A4e's chief executive, Andrew Dutton, repeated assurances on Monday that the company has zero tolerance towards fraud.

He said: "I will not sit by and let these accusations discredit the hard work that our staff do to support thousands of people into work.

"A4e has zero tolerance towards fraud, and any instance of fraudulent or otherwise illegal activity is completely unacceptable.

"We take our responsibility very seriously, and we are committed to using taxpayer's money effectively and efficiently to deliver the best services to the public."

A company spokeswoman was contacted by the Guardian on Wednesday morning, but has not yet responded to the DWP's new figures.

Tony Blair's wife to take action against Glenn Mulcaire and NI over the alleged hacking of her phone by News of the World

Cherie Blair, the wife of the former prime minister, is suing News International and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire over the alleged hacking of her phone by the News of the World.

Blair's lawyer, Graham Atkins, said on Wednesday he had issued a claim against Mulcaire and News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that published the now defunct News of the World, "in relation to the unlawful interception of her voicemails".

Blair was at the heart of the British government for 10 years ? from May 1997 to June 2007 ? as the wife of the former prime minister, Tony Blair. It is not known when Cherie Blair is alleged to have been targeted.

The fresh legal action comes as Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper group attempts to settle a mounting number of civil claims over alleged voicemail interception by the News of the World, which closed in July 2011.

News International declined to comment.

Mulcaire's lawyer said she was not yet aware of the legal action.

A statement from Atkins, Cherie Blair's lawyer, said: "I can confirm that we have issued a claim on behalf of Cherie Blair in relation to the unlawful interception of her voicemails.

"I will not be commenting any further at this time."

News International settled 37 civil actions in January ? including high-profile actions brought by the actor Jude Law and the son of serial killer Harold Shipman ? in a bid to prevent them from going to trial, and paid out to another 21 victims of phone hacking earlier this month.

The publisher is also attempting to reach a settlement with the singer Charlotte Church, whose legal action will proceed to a full trial at the high court on Monday unless it is settled beforehand.

However, News International faces at least 50 fresh civil actions, with figures including footballer Peter Crouch, singer James Blunt and Ukip leader Nigel Farage having already filed claims and others being prepared.

The news of Blair's legal action comes at an embarrassing time for Rupert Murdoch, who arrived in London last week to lift the spirits of his newspaper group.

Alastair Campbell, the former No 10 communications director, told the Leveson inquiry in November that he believed it was "possible" that some stories about the Blairs were obtained by phone hacking.

Campbell admitted he had no evidence for the claim, but said in his witness statement: "I do not know if her [Carole Caplin's] phone was hacked, or if Cherie's was, but knowing what we do now about hacking and the extent of it, I think it is at least possible this is how the stories got out.

"They often involved details of where Cherie was going, the kind of thing routinely discussed on phones when planning visits, private as well as public."

Caplin, former lifestyle guru to Blair, said in November that she had been told by Scotland Yard that her name appears on a list of victims targeted by Mulcaire.

Separately, the former deputy prime minister in Blair's government, John Prescott, said in a tweet on Wednesday that he was due to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry on Monday.

The inquiry into press standards is due to begin hearing evidence on the relationship between the press and police from next week. However, some witnesses will appear to give testimony from the previous module on the press and public.

Tom Watson, the Labour MP who has been one of the most vocal critics of News International over phone hacking, said the legal action was a "very significant" development.

"Just when the hacking scandal was disappearing from view we now know that Rupert Murdoch's hackers targeted family members of a sitting prime minister," he told MediaGuardian.

"The lesson for all politicians, including David Cameron, is that Rupert Murdoch is only a fair-weather friend. I trust that Tony Blair will condemn Murdoch's failure to deal with long-term criminal wrongdoing at News International."

He added: "I hope that the replacement to the News of the World ? the newly titled Sun on Sunday ? will take the opportunity to apologise to all the people who suffered illegal invasions of privacy at the hands of the hackers and they come clean about other forms of illicit surveillance."

? To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

? To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.

Helicopters and ambulances ferry survivors to hospital after rush hour service ploughs into barrier at end of line in Buenos Aires

A train packed with hundreds of morning commuters slammed into the end of the line in a busy station in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds in Argentina's worst rail accident in decades.

Federal police commissioner Nestor Rodriguez said 48 adults and one child had died.

At least 550 more were injured, and emergency workers were slowly extracting dozens of people trapped inside the first carriage, said Alberto Crescenti, the city's emergency medical director. Rescuers cut open the roof and set up a pulley system to ease survivors out one by one.

The commuter train came into the Once station too fast and hit the barrier at the end of the platform at about 16mph, smashing the front of the engine and causing the carriages behind to concertina into it.

Omar Maturano, chief of the conductors' union, told local radio that the train might have been travelling as fast as 18mph.

Most damaged was the first carriage, which passengers share with bicycles. Survivors told the TeleNoticias TV channel that many people were injured in a jumble of metal and glass.

Passengers said windows exploded and people standing between the seats were thrown into each other and to the floor by the impact.

Many people who had suffered minor injuries were left waiting on the station's platforms as helicopters and more than a dozen ambulances took the most seriously injured to nearby hospitals.

It is Argentina's worst train accident since 1 February 1970, when two trains collided at full speed in the Buenos Aires suburbs, killing 200.

"This machine left the shop yesterday and the brakes worked well," said Ruben Sobrero, the train workers' union chief on the Sarmiento line, in a radio interview. "From what we know, it braked without problems at previous stations. At this point I don't want to speculate about the causes."

The driver is in hospital and the union had not yet been able to speak to him, Sobrero added.

Actor says former Countryfile presenter's successful ageism case was an 'attack on creative free expression'

The BBC should have been free to drop Miriam O'Reilly from Countryfile without attracting any accusations of age discrimination, according to comedian Rowan Atkinson, in a controversial intervention into the debate about the lack of older women on television.

The 57-year-old Blackadder, Mr Bean and Johnny English star said ? in a letter to Radio 4's The Media Show ? that O'Reilly's successful age discrimination case against the BBC amounted to an "attack on creative free expression" and that television was the wrong place to deal with anti-discrimination issues.

Atkinson wrote that he did not blame O'Reilly for taking legal action, but added that his argument "would be that the creative industries are completely inappropriate environments for anti-discrimination legislation and that the legal tools she used should never have been available to her".

In January 2011, O'Reilly won a landmark age discrimination case against the BBC after she was one of four women in their 40s or 50s who were dropped from a peaktime revamp of BBC1's Countryfile.

She never returned to the programme, but has since hosted a daytime spin-off of Crimewatch. O'Reilly quit the BBC in January, 12 months into a three-year BBC contract, to set up the Women's Equality Network with the lawyer who secured her tribunal victory, Camilla Palmer.

Atkinson said O'Reily's complaint was no more sensible than "Pierce Brosnan complaining that he was sacked from the role of James Bond for being too old" and that true creative freedom for both Bond films and Countryfile could only mean that producers should have complete artistic latitude.

"If either at the outset of a TV programme, or at any time during its screen life, you want to replace an old person with a young person, or a white person with a black person, or a disabled straight with an able-bodied gay, you should have as much creative freedom to do so as you have to change the colour of John Craven's anorak," Atkinson wrote.

O'Reilly, who was not invited to take part in the programme, told MediaGuardian: "I think very few people will agree with Mr Atkinson. At one time we didn't think black people should sit next to white people on a bus but fortunately we live in a fair and civilised society."

She added: "Television has an enormous influence on shaping society and how we see each other and we have got to have fair representation of everyone on TV. We can't leave it up to the whims of the so-called creatives.

"It was very unfortunate that I had to take legal action against the BBC for them to fairly represent women and older women. I would have liked them to have done so without me having to take action but it has already made a difference already. Mark Thompson has said it was a turning point in the representation of older women on screen."

Atkinson's intervention comes at a point when the BBC has finally admitted it has a problem with under representing older women on screen, after years of criticism.

Mark Thompson, the BBC director general, acknowledged earlier this month that the broadcaster does not have enough older female newsreaders and presenters.

Thompson said O'Reilly's age-discrimination tribunal win had been an important "wake-up call" for the BBC, adding that the corporation had a case to answer over the lack of older women in key news and current affairs presenting roles.

"First, that there is an underlying problem, that ? whatever the individual success stories ? there are manifestly too few older women broadcasting on the BBC, especially in iconic roles and on iconic topical programmes," he said.

"Second, that as the national broadcaster and one which is paid for by the public, the BBC is in a different class from everyone else, and that the public have every right to expect it to deliver to a higher standard of fairness and open-mindedness in its treatment both of its broadcasters and its audiences."

Thompson is due to meet with Nadine Dorries and other MPs on Monday, 27 February, to discuss the representation of women on and off screen.

The meeting was arranged by culture minister Ed Vaizey following a Commons debate on gender balance in broadcasting which was proposed by Dorries and supported by Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt.

? To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

? To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.

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