U.S. can proceed with plans to close Oakland pot shop, court says

SAN FRANCISCO — A U.S. magistrate judge on Thursday sided with federal prosecutors in dismissing a lawsuit by the city of Oakland that challenged as illegal federal attempts to shutter the nation's largest medical marijuana dispensary.

In filing the suit last October, Oakland became the first city to take on federal enforcement actions that have led to the closure of hundreds of dispensaries in recent years.

Attorney Cedric Chao, representing Oakland, had argued that the city has broad interests in ensuring Harborside Health Center remains open, as its closure would compel many of the dispensary's 108,000 patients to turn to the illegal market, triggering a public health and safety crisis.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James ruled in San Francisco that there was no appropriate legal avenue for Oakland's intervention.

Federal attorneys had moved to dismiss the suit against U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder and Melinda Haag, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, on the grounds that any party seeking to weigh in on an asset forfeiture must do so within a specified period of time, which had elapsed.

Chao had countered that since Oakland has no direct interest in the Harborside property, the city instead sought to litigate its concerns under the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs the way federal agencies propose and establish regulations.

But James concluded that Oakland had not met the required legal hurdles to sue under that act. 

Oakland City Atty. Barbara Parker said officials were going to consider all of their options, including an appeal, which would require City Council approval

"We're disappointed," she said Thursday, "but we have strong convictions about the harm Oakland will suffer and is already beginning to suffer as a result of the forfeiture actions."

Those actions, which target Harborside's landlords in Oakland and San Jose, are proceeding. Harborside has weighed in and will make the same argument that Oakland asserted in its suit — that federal prosecutors knew of cannabis sales at the dispensaries for years and missed the statute of limitations to seek forfeiture.

Steve DeAngelo, executive director of Harborside, said in a statement that he was disappointed in Thursday's ruling, but "the message of Oakland's lawsuit remains powerful and relevant: The city council and mayor have determined that if Harborside Health Center is closed, the entire city will be harmed."

Federal prosecutors declined to comment on James' ruling.

Meanwhile Thursday, more than a dozen members of Congress co-introduced legislation pertaining to medical marijuana.  U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) wrote the "States' Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act," which, in addition to allowing marijuana for medical use, would allow states to establish production and distribution laws without interference from the federal government, and would also remove current obstacles to research.

U.S. Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel), wrote the "Truth in Trials Act," a separate bill that would overturn the prohibition on medical marijuana evidence in federal court, allowing defendants who were complying with state and local laws to introduce such evidence in their own defense.

The bills come in advance of a national medical marijuana conference organized by Americans for Safe Access to be held next week in Washington, D.C.

lee.romney@latimes.com

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Woman Found Fatally Shot at Home of Pistorius

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Oscar Pistorius, the South African Olympic and Paralympic track star, has been arrested after a woman was shot dead at his home.

JOHANNESBURG — South African police and media reports said on Thursday that Oscar Pistorius, a Paralympic gold medal sprinter nicknamed Blade Runner, was being questioned after his girlfriend was fatally shot at his home in Pretoria, possibly mistaken for an intruder. Police said a man had been arrested, but did not identify him by name.

Mr. Pistorius, 26, who races using carbon fiber prosthetic blades, won two gold medals and a silver at last year’s Paralympic Games in London. He was the first double amputee to also run in the Olympics, where reached the 400-meter semifinal and competed in the 4x400-meter relay.

He is one of South Africa’s best-known athletes.

“We found a 9-mm pistol at the scene. A 26-year-old man was taken into custody,” a police spokeswoman, Katlego Mogale, told Reuters without giving further detail.

Capt. Sarah Mcira, another police spokeswoman, said: “There is a woman who was shot by Oscar Pretorius.”

Johannesburg’s Talk Radio 702 said the victim was thought to have been struck in the head and arm in circumstances that have not been fully explained. But the radio said she may have been mistaken for a burglar.

In the Paralympics last September, Mr. Pistorius won individual gold, when he successfully defended his Paralympic 400 meter title. He had lost his 100- and 200-meter titles, but was part of the gold medal-winning 4x100 meter relay team. He same second in the 200 meter race.

After that contest, Mr. Pistorius damaged his reputation among his followers by criticizing the winner, Alan Oliveira of Brazil, raising questions about the length of the winner’s blades. Mr. Pistorius later apologized and praised the gold medalist in the 100 meter race, Jonnie Peacock of Britain. Mr. Pistorius, who was born without fibulas, had both legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday and he battled for many years to compete against able-bodied athletes. In 2008, he qualified for the Beijing Games but was ruled ineligible by track’s world governing body because his blades were deemed to give him a competitive advantage.

South African journalists said Mr. Pistorius lived in an upscale, walled complex near the South Africa capital of Pretoria and said his girlfriend was a fashion model. South Africa has a high crime rate. and elaborate security precautions, as well as personal weapons, are not uncommon.

A reporter outside the complex on Thursday said it was protected by high walls and razor wire.

Lydia Polgreen reported from Johannesburg, and Alan Cowell from Paris.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 14, 2013

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly in one reference to the sprinter at whose home a woman was fatally shot. He is Oscar Pistorius, not Pretorias.

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Lady Gaga Cancels Born This Way Ball Tour Due to Severe Injury

02/13/2013 at 08:50 PM EST

It's a somber week for Lady Gaga – and her Little Monsters.

Following Tuesday's Facebook announcement that she was "devastated and sad" because she couldn't walk and had to postpone several Born This Way Ball concerts, the pop star, 26, has officially canceled the remaining dates of her world tour.

"After additional tests this morning to review the severity of the issue, it has been determined that Lady Gaga has a labral tear of the right hip," the singer's rep told PEOPLE Wednesday in a statement. "She will need surgery to repair the problem, followed by strict down time to recover. This unfortunately, will force her to cancel the tour, so she can heal."

Refunds for the cancelled performances will be available at point of purchase starting on Thursday.

"I hope you can forgive me, as it is nearly impossible for me to forgive myself," she wrote the previous day of postponing the dates. "I hate this. I hate this so much. I love you and I'm sorry."

Get well, Gaga!

•Reporting by CHUCK ARNOLD

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Morning-after pill use up to 1 in 9 younger women

NEW YORK (AP) — About 1 in 9 younger women have used the morning-after pill after sex, according to the first government report to focus on emergency contraception since its approval 15 years ago.

The results come from a survey of females ages 15 to 44. Eleven percent of those who'd had sex reported using a morning-after pill. That's up from 4 percent in 2002, only a few years after the pills went on the market and adults still needed a prescription.

The increased popularity is probably because it is easier to get now and because of media coverage of controversial efforts to lift the age limit for over-the-counter sales, experts said. A prescription is still required for those younger than 17 so it is still sold from behind pharmacy counters.

In the study, half the women who used the pills said they did it because they'd had unprotected sex. Most of the rest cited a broken condom or worries that the birth control method they used had failed.

White women and more educated women use it the most, the research showed. That's not surprising, said James Trussell, a Princeton University researcher who's studied the subject.

"I don't think you can go to college in the United States and not know about emergency contraception," said Trussell, who has promoted its use and started a hot line.

One Pennsylvania college even has a vending machine dispensing the pills.

The morning-after pill is basically a high-dose version of birth control pills. It prevents ovulation and needs to be taken within a few days after sex. The morning-after pill is different from the so-called abortion pill, which is designed to terminate a pregnancy.

At least five versions of the morning-after pills are sold in the United States. They cost around $35 to $60 a dose at a pharmacy, depending on the brand.

Since it is sold over-the-counter, insurers generally only pay for it with a doctor's prescription. The new Affordable Care Act promises to cover morning-after pills, meaning no co-pays, but again only with a prescription.

The results of the study were released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's based on in-person interviews of more than 12,000 women in 2006 through 2010. It was the agency's first in-depth report on that issue, said Kimberly Daniels, the study's lead author.

The study also found:

—Among different age groups, women in their early 20s were more likely to have taken a morning-after pill. About 1 in 4 did.

—About 1 in 5 never-married women had taken a morning-after pill, compared to just 1 in 20 married women.

—Of the women who used the pill, 59 percent said they had done it only once, 24 percent said twice, and 17 percent said three or more times.

A woman who uses emergency contraception multiple times "needs to be thinking about a more regular form" of birth control, noted Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research for the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group that does research on reproductive health.

Also on Thursday, the CDC released a report on overall contraception use. Among its many findings, 99 percent of women who've had sex used some sort of birth control. That includes 82 percent who used birth control pills and 93 percent whose partner had used a condom.

___

Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/

Emergency contraception info: http://ec.princeton.edu/index.html

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Couple recounts harrowing Dorner ordeal

Fugitive former police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner was apparently holed up inside a Big Bear area condo for as many as five days before the husband and wife who own the property surprised him and then were tied up and gagged, the couple said Wednesday night.

Dorner bound the husband's and wife's hands with plastic zip ties, stuffed small towels in their mouths so they couldn't scream and covered their heads with pillowcases that he tied with electrical cords, they said.

"I really thought it could be the end," Karen Reynolds, 56, told reporters gathered outside her condominium.

She and husband Jim Reynolds, 66, provided new details on some of Dorner's movements in the apparent final hours of his life. He is believed to have died Tuesday in a cabin fire after a mountainside gun battle with officers.

Law enforcement authorities previously said Dorner had held two cleaning women hostage. The Reynoldses spoke to reporters to end the confusion.

The couple said Dorner had been at the condo in the 1200 block of Club View Drive since as early as Friday, when they arrived to do maintenance in the yard. He told them he watched them — and even said they were "hardworking, good people." The couple slept at another property nearby.

When they entered the condo about noon Tuesday, the couple said, they were surprised to find the fired Los Angeles police officer inside the home, which is near the command post where authorities provided media briefings. They said they were held captive for about 15 minutes by Dorner, whom they recognized immediately.

The Reynoldses stumbled on the suspected killer when they went upstairs. Once they saw him, they said, he brandished a "big gun" and yelled, "Stay calm!"

Karen Reynolds said she tried to run down the stairs, but Dorner chased after her and caught her. He then took the couple to a bedroom, where he tied them up.

Dorner was a menacing presence but at other times tried to reassure the couple that he did not want to harm them, they said.

"He tried to calm us down, saying very frequently, he would not kill us," said Jim Reynolds, who has owned the condo with his wife for 12 years. "He huddled down beside me and said, 'You're going to be quiet right? Not make a fuss and let me get away?' "

Dorner identified himself as the man wanted by law enforcement authorities. "I know you know who I am, I know you've been seeing the news," Karen Reynolds recalled him saying.

Karen Reynolds said Dorner left the condo and stole their purple Nissan. About two minutes after they heard the car leave, Karen Reynolds propped herself up and shuffled to her cellphone. She grabbed it with her bound hands and called 911, using the speaker function.

"Dorner tied us up and he's in Big Bear," she recalled telling the dispatcher.

The couple, who have been married for 36 years, said they were "happy to be alive." They said they had mixed feelings about Dorner, whom they described as calm, alert and methodical. Karen Reynolds said she wasn't expecting to see any of the $1-million-plus reward money offered in the Dorner case. "We heard nobody was getting that because he needed to be captured and convicted," she said.

They said they found evidence that someone had been staying in the cabin, including a gallon of milk in the fridge, but that they didn't know if a previous tenant had left it behind. The last guests were there on Jan. 29.

All of the units are equipped with cable television and Internet. There was no sign of a forced entry.

It was Karen Reynolds' 12:20 p.m. 911 call that set in motion the chain of events that led to a shootout between Dorner and a state Fish and Wildlife warden, then to the standoff at another cabin where he is believed to have exchanged hundreds of rounds in the gun battle with officers before dying.

As the couple described their harrowing ordeal, they recalled that Dorner was insistent about what he wanted to do.

"I don't have a problem with you," he told them. "I just want to clear my name."

adolfo.flores@latimes.com

robert.lopez@latimes.com

Flores reported from Big Bear, Lopez from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Andrew Blankstein and Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.

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India Ink: India's Capital City Celebrates 'Design Week'

Art lovers have the India Art Fair and Francophiles have Bonjour India. And now interior design enthusiasts have a week to call their own in New Delhi.

India Design 2013, organized by Ogaan Publications, the company behind ELLE and ELLE Décor, celebrates design and decoration in India. An exhibition at the NSIC Grounds in the Okhla Industrial Estate will feature speakers like Anita Lal, the founder of Good Earth, a leading luxury home décor chain in India, and Lidewij Edelkoort, an internationally renowned Dutch trend forecaster. The exhibition will run through Sunday.

On this past Monday, over 60 venues all over the city opened up their space for a satellite event called “Style in the City,” including art galleries, restaurants and even salons.

For instance, Nature Morte and the Oberoi Gurgaon have collaborated with Divya Thakur of Design Temple, a graphic and product designer studio, to curate a special exhibition called “Sense and Sensuality.” Everything will be for sale and priced at under 25,000 rupees ($460).

The main action will be at the weekend exhibition, spread over 8,000 square meters. Here are some displays worth seeking out:

Pinakin Patel: Pinakin Patel, a self-taught architect and designer, is known for his modern take on Indian design, like his interpretation of jalli, an ornamental pattern made popular by the Mughals. His stainless steel jhoola (swing) won the coveted Elle Décor International Design Award in 2004, and he is the man behind Hara Villa, prefabricated one-bedroom luxury holiday homes that run completely on solar power.

Sunil Sethi Design Alliance: Sunil Sethi has been in the business of sourcing and representing Indian design for over 25 years, working with the Conran Shop, Armani Casa and Selfridges. In the concept area of the exhibition, he is working in a design alliance with the Italian designer Paola Navone to curate a mesmerizing display of home décor products that show off the best of Indian handmade craftsmanship. Quilts, furniture, tableware, glassware will be combined with over 100,000 flowers.

In the main hall, Mr. Sethi will show “Floored by Art,” featuring limited-edition floor art by some of India’s leading artists, like S.H. Raza, T. Vaikuntham and Bose Krishnamachari, as well by fashion designers like Manish Arora and Rajesh Pratap Singh.

Peter D’Ascoli: Having worked in New York with Diane von Furstenberg as studio director and then Covington Fabrics as creative director, Mr. D’Ascoli moved to New Delhi to open his studio, finding a gap in the Indian market for luxury and bespoke upholstery. Though he sources some of fabrics in Europe and his work displays a definite old world European touch, all his designs, embroideries and weaving techniques are done in India. The D’Ascoli Studio has supplied fabrics to Pierre Frey in Paris, Baker Interiors of America and the celebrity decorator Kathryn Ireland, and it is now working closely with Indian architects and interior designers.

The Klove Studio: The product design studio is best known for its lighting installations, which use hand-blown glass, wood and metal. Inspired heavily by Indian jewelry, the studio turns furniture into pieces of collectible art. For India Design 2013, the company has designed a four-by-three-meter wall installation inspired by a prayer space called Devalaya, one of its most ambitious projects.

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Westminster Names Affenpinscher Banana Joe Best in Show

People Pets

By Kiran Hefa & Alison Schwartz

02/12/2013 at 11:55 PM EST

Westminster has its top dog!

After two days of meticulous primping, prizes and the less-pretty realities of any spirited championship, the 137th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show came to its finale Tuesday night, declaring Affenpinscher Banana Joe the best in show.

The competition proved fur-rocious as the pint-sized, black-haired furball bested six other finalists (and 2,721 entries total) for the honor, including Old English Sheepdog Swagger, who was named the reserve best in show. It’s the first time the breed has ever taken home the top prize in Westminster history.

Earning top marks at Westminster is the latest accolade in Banana Joe's storied run. The paw-dorable pooch, who is 5 years old, has been named best in show 86 times in his career, and his Westminster win will go down as his last.

"It's all so indescribable. It's just a wonderful thing as a tribute for a small breed with such a big heart," handler Ernesto Lara said post-victory. "The plans for him now is for him to retire back home where he was born, and that's in the Netherlands."

Describing his little buddy, Lara praised the breed for its commendable qualities as a canine companion.

"An Affenpinscher is a very human-like dog," he said. "It's definitely a breed you don’t want to tame or train, in the proper sense."

"You want to befriend it," Lara continued. "Once you gain the friendship, they're loyal just like a human friend."

As for Banana Joe's big victory, "Nobody told him he's small," said Lara, "and I don't think he'll believe that."

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Study questions kidney cancer treatment in elderly

In a stunning example of when treatment might be worse than the disease, a large review of Medicare records finds that older people with small kidney tumors were much less likely to die over the next five years if doctors monitored them instead of operating right away.

Even though nearly all of these tumors turned out to be cancer, they rarely proved fatal. And surgery roughly doubled patients' risk of developing heart problems or dying of other causes, doctors found.

After five years, 24 percent of those who had surgery had died, compared to only 13 percent of those who chose monitoring. Just 3 percent of people in each group died of kidney cancer.

The study only involved people 66 and older, but half of all kidney cancers occur in this age group. Younger people with longer life expectancies should still be offered surgery, doctors stressed.

The study also was observational — not an experiment where some people were given surgery and others were monitored, so it cannot prove which approach is best. Yet it offers a real-world look at how more than 7,000 Medicare patients with kidney tumors fared. Surgery is the standard treatment now.

"I think it should change care" and that older patients should be told "that they don't necessarily need to have the kidney tumor removed," said Dr. William Huang of New York University Langone Medical Center. "If the treatment doesn't improve cancer outcomes, then we should consider leaving them alone."

He led the study and will give results at a medical meeting in Orlando, Fla., later this week. The research was discussed Tuesday in a telephone news conference sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and two other cancer groups.

In the United States, about 65,000 new cases of kidney cancer and 13,700 deaths from the disease are expected this year. Two-thirds of cases are diagnosed at the local stage, when five-year survival is more than 90 percent.

However, most kidney tumors these days are found not because they cause symptoms, but are spotted by accident when people are having an X-ray or other imaging test for something else, like back trouble or chest pain.

Cancer experts increasingly question the need to treat certain slow-growing cancers that are not causing symptoms — prostate cancer in particular. Researchers wanted to know how life-threatening small kidney tumors were, especially in older people most likely to suffer complications from surgery.

They used federal cancer registries and Medicare records from 2000 to 2007 to find 8,317 people 66 and older with kidney tumors less than 1.5 inches wide.

Cancer was confirmed in 7,148 of them. About three-quarters of them had surgery and the rest chose to be monitored with periodic imaging tests.

After five years, 1,536 had died, including 191 of kidney cancer. For every 100 patients who chose monitoring, 11 more were alive at the five-year mark compared to the surgery group. Only 6 percent of those who chose monitoring eventually had surgery.

Furthermore, 27 percent of the surgery group but only 13 percent of the monitoring group developed a cardiovascular problem such as a heart attack, heart disease or stroke. These problems were more likely if doctors removed the entire kidney instead of just a part of it.

The results may help doctors persuade more patients to give monitoring a chance, said a cancer specialist with no role in the research, Dr. Bruce Roth of Washington University in St. Louis.

Some patients with any abnormality "can't sleep at night until something's done about it," he said. Doctors need to say, "We're not sticking our head in the sand, we're going to follow this" and can operate if it gets worse.

One of Huang's patients — 81-year-old Rhona Landorf, who lives in New York City — needed little persuasion.

"I was very happy not to have to be operated on," she said. "He said it's very slow growing and that having an operation would be worse for me than the cancer."

Landorf said her father had been a doctor, and she trusts her doctors' advice. Does she think about her tumor? "Not at all," she said.

___

Online:

Kidney cancer info: http://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/kidney-cancer

and http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/kidney

Study: http://gucasym.org

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Dorner manhunt leads to deadly standoff

When authorities hemmed in the man they suspected of killing three people in a campaign of revenge that has gripped Southern California, he responded as they had feared: with smoke bombs and a barrage of gunfire.

The suspect, who police believe is fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner, shot to death one San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy and injured another Tuesday. He then barricaded himself in a wood cabin outside Big Bear in the snow-blanketed San Bernardino Mountains, police said.

Just before 5 p.m., authorities smashed the cabin's windows, pumped in tear gas and called for the suspect to surrender. They got no response. Then, using a demolition vehicle, they tore down the cabin's walls one by one. When they reached the last wall, they heard a gunshot.

Then the cabin burst into flames. By late Tuesday evening, the smoldering ruins remained too hot for police to enter, but authorities said they believed Dorner's body was inside.

The standoff appeared to end a weeklong hunt for the former L.A. police officer and Navy reserve lieutenant, who is also suspected of killing an Irvine couple and a Riverside police officer. But Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said he would not consider the manhunt over until a body was recovered and identified as Dorner.

"It is a bittersweet night," said Beck as he drove to the hospital where the injured deputy was undergoing surgery. "This could have ended much better, it could have ended worse. I feel for the family of the deputy who lost his life."

According to a manifesto Dorner allegedly posted on Facebook, he felt the LAPD unjustly fired him in 2009, when a disciplinary panel determined that he lied in accusing his training officer of kicking a mentally ill man during an arrest. Beck has promised to review the case.

Dorner, 33, vowed to wage "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" against law enforcement officers and their families, the manifesto said. "Self-preservation is no longer important to me. do not fear death as I died long ago."

Last week, authorities had tracked Dorner to a wooded area near Big Bear Lake. They found his torched gray Nissan Titan with several weapons inside. The only trace of Dorner was a short trail of footprints in newly fallen snow.

On Tuesday morning two maids entered a cabin in the 1200 block of Club View Drive and ran into a man who they said resembled the fugitive, a law enforcement official said. The cabin was not far from where Dorner's singed truck had been found and where police had been holding press conferences about the manhunt.

The man tied up the maids, and he took off in a purple Nissan parked near the cabin. About 12:20 p.m., one of the maids broke free and called police.

Nearly half an hour later, officers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife spotted the stolen vehicle and called for backup. The suspect turned down a side road in an attempt to elude the officers but crashed the vehicle, police said.

A short time later, authorities said the suspect carjacked a light-colored pickup truck. Allan Laframboise said the truck belonged to his friend Rick Heltebrake, who works at a nearby Boy Scout camp.

Heltebrake was driving on Glass Road with his Dalmatian, Suni, when a hulking African American man stepped into the road, Laframboise said. Heltebrake stopped. The man told him to get out of the truck.

"Can I take my dog?" Heltebrake asked, according to his friend.

"You can leave and you can take your dog," the man said. He then sped off in the Dodge extended-cab pickup — and quickly encountered two Department of Fish and Wildlife trucks.

As the suspect zoomed past the officers, he rolled down his window and fired about 15 to 20 rounds. One of the officers jumped out and shot a high-powered rifle at the fleeing pickup. The suspect abandoned the vehicle and took off on foot.

Police said he ended up at the Seven Oaks Mountain Cabins, a cluster of wood-frame buildings about halfway between Big Bear Lake and Yucaipa. The suspect exchanged gunfire with San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies as he fled into a cabin that locals described as a single-story, multi-room structure.

The suspect fired from the cabin, striking one deputy, law enforcement sources said. Then he ducked out the back of the cabin, deployed a smoke bomb and opened fire again, hitting a second deputy. Neither deputy was identified by authorities. The suspect retreated back into the cabin.

The gun battle was captured on TV by KCAL 9 reporter Carter Evans, who said he was about 200 feet from the cabin. As Evans described on air how deputies were approaching the structure, he was interrupted by 10 seconds of gunfire.

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North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test

Ahn Young-Joon/Associated Press

South Korean army soldiers patroled along a barbed-wire fence at the Imjingak Pavilion, near the demilitarized zone of Panmunjom, in Paju, South Korea, on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — North Korea confirmed on Tuesday that it had conducted its third, long-threatened nuclear test, according to the official KCNA news service, posing a new challenge for the Obama administration in its effort to keep the country from becoming a full-fledged nuclear power.

The KCNA said it used a “miniaturized and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously” and that the test “did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding ecological environment.”

The test led to a crescendo of international condemnation Tuesday, with President Obama calling it a “highly provocative act” that demands “swift and credible action by the international community” against North Korea. Russia, Britain, South Korea and the United Nations similarly swiftly condemned the blast. The United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting at 9 a.m. New York time to take up the matter.

Preliminary estimates by South Korea suggested the test was much more powerful than the previous two conducted by the North.

Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for South Korea’s Defense Ministry, said Tuesday’s blast generated an explosive yield of between six and seven kilotons, far greater than the yield of less than one kiloton detected in the North’s 2006 test and an estimated yield of two to six kilotons in its 2009 test. But it appeared less powerful than the first bomb the United States dropped on Japan, in Hiroshima in 1945, which had an explosive yield of 15 kilotons.

The test is the first under the country’s new leader, Kim Jong-un, and an open act of defiance to the Chinese, who urged the young leader not to risk open confrontation by setting off the weapon. In a statement issued several hours after the blast, China expressed its “staunch opposition” to the test but called for “all parties concerned to respond calmly.” And it was unclear how China would act at the United Nations Security Council as it convenes Tuesday.

The nuclear test came the same day President Obama is to use his State of the Union address to call for drastically reducing nuclear arms around the world, potentially bringing the number of deployed American weapons to roughly 1,000 from the current 1,700.

Even before Pyongyang conducted Tuesday’s test, the Obama administration had already threatened to take additional action to penalize the North through the United Nations. But the fact is that there are few sanctions left to apply against the most unpredictable country in Asia. The only penalty that would truly hurt the North would be a cutoff of oil and other aid from China. And until now, despite issuing warnings, the Chinese have feared instability and chaos in the North more than its growing nuclear and missile capability, and the Chinese leadership has refused to participate in sanctions.

Mr. Kim, believed to be about 29, appears to be betting that even a third test would not change the Chinese calculus.

The test set off a scramble among Washington’s Asian allies to assess what the North Koreans had done.

The United States sent aloft aircraft equipped with delicate sensors that may, depending on the winds, be able to determine whether it was a plutonium or uranium weapon. The Japanese defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, said Japan had ordered the dispatch of an Air Self-Defense Force jet to monitor for radioactivity in Japanese airspace.

Japan’s new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, told Parliament that the country was considering “its own actions, including sanctions, to resolve this and other issues.”

But the threat may be largely empty, because trade is limited and the United States and its allies have refrained from a naval blockade of North Korea or other steps that could revive open conflict, which has been avoided on the Korean Peninsula since an armistice was declared 60 years ago.

It may take days or weeks to determine independently if the test, was successful. American officials will also be looking for signs of whether the North, for the first time, conducted a test of a uranium weapon, based on a uranium enrichment capability it has been pursuing for a decade. The past two tests used plutonium, reprocessed from one of the country’s now-defunct nuclear reactors. While the country has only enough plutonium for a half-dozen or so bombs, it can produce enriched uranium well into the future.

David E. Sanger reported from Washington, and Choe Sang-hun reported from Seoul, South Korea. Jane Perlez contributed reporting from Beijing, Hiroko Tabuchi from Tokyo, and Chris Buckley and Gerry Mullany contributed from Hong Kong.

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