The Mayor of Istanbul's Bayrampasa district is also saying that the explosion in a local metro station was caused by a bomb.
'Turkish Stream, Akkuyu Nuclear Plant Not Frozen'
The Turkish Stream project and the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant project have not been frozen as part of Russian trade sanctions on Turkey, Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev has said.
"As far as major investment projects are concerned, so far there has been no decision about freezing them or stopping their funding. Therefore we presume that they will operate just as they did before the government adopted this decision," Ulyukaev said.
Ulyukaev's comments followed earlier reports by Reuters and TASS that the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project could be frozen.
The Akkuyu nuclear power plant is under construction in Turkey.
AP has more details on the explosion in Istanbul, which a local mayor and police sources have said was caused by a bomb and which wounded five people.
The bomb was left on barriers on the overpass, said Atilla Aydiner, the mayor for Istanbul's Bayrampasa district. Earlier, Istanbul's governor said one person was slightly injured in the blast.
The explosion occurred at 1530 GMT (10:30 a.m. EST) at an overpass near the city's Bayrampasa subway station, on the European side of Istanbul. Several ambulances and police vehicles were sent to the area.
The Dogan news agency said it was a hand-made cluster bomb. Dogan also obtained closed-circuit TV footage showing an explosion looking like a firework display in the night sky. The agency's footage also showed a white van on the overpass, with large holes in its windshield, apparently damaged in the explosion. The Anadolu Agency identified an injured person as a 36-year-old man and said he wasn't in serious condition. It wasn't immediately clear if he was in the vehicle at the time of the explosion.
Latest from our news desk on the Istanbul subway bomb:
An explosion near an Istanbul subway station has caused some injuries, Turkish media are reporting.
The cause of the explosion on an overpass of the central Bayrampasa station is still unknown.
District Mayor Atilla Aydiner said the blast occurred during rush hour and that five people were injured near the station, where the subway cars run above ground.
Aydiner said the blast could have been caused by a pipe bomb.
But Istanbul city officials said the blast could have been caused by an electrical transformer.
Istanbul's entire subway system was closed after the blast but it has since reopened.
Istanbul is Turkey's largest city with a population of some 15 million people.
The country has been on high alert since October, when more than 100 people were killed by two explosions during a peace march in the capital, Ankara. (AP, AFP, TASS)
German cabinet OKs military mission against IS in Syria, AP reports:
The German Cabinet approved plans Tuesday to commit up to 1,200 soldiers to support the international coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria.
The mandate still requires parliamentary clearance but Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition has a huge majority and its approval looks assured. Senior lawmakers from her conservative bloc expected a vote on Friday.
Following the Paris attacks, Merkel agreed to honor a request from France to provide support for its operations against IS in Syria.
Germany plans to send up to six Tornado reconnaissance planes, tanker aircraft and a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean, but won't actively engage in combat.
Two Tornados and a tanker could be sent to Turkey's Incirlik air base next week if parliamentary approval comes this week, though for logistical reasons reconnaissance flights won't start before January, Defense Ministry spokesman Jens Flosdorff said.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the daily Bild he doesn't expect Germany to have 1,200 soldiers participating at any one time. He said that upper limit includes a significant "safety buffer."
"We are doing what is militarily needed, what we can do best and can accept politically," he said.
Left-leaning opposition parties in Parliament are deeply skeptical, questioning whether there is sufficient legal basis for the move.
"The legal question is not the only one," Simone Peter, a leader of the Greens, told ARD television. "We say clearly that this deployment also has no political aim, no political concept, and so it is irresponsible."
The German military's biggest current foreign deployment is in NATO's Resolute Support training mission in Afghanistan, where it has just under 1,000 troops. It had some 5,000 soldiers there at the height of the previous combat mission.
Germany also plans to increase its involvement in Mali, where it currently has just over 200 soldiers.
We are now closing the live blog for today. Joanna Paraszczuk will be back tomorrow with more updates on Islamic State and its ongoing impact on the wider world.
Russian Su-24 Pilot Buried In Lipetsk
The funeral for Oleg Peshkov, the Russian pilot killed after Turkey downed his Su-24 jet near the Syrian border last week, is underway in Lipetsk, TASS reports.
Following the funeral service in the Nativity of Christ cathedral, the public has been invited to attend a memorial service in the local cultural center.
Peshkov will be buried in the city's cemetery, and a memorial may also be erected in Lipetsk's Aviators Square. The local authorities are also mulling naming a street after him, according to TASS.