| |  | | | | | SHUTTING DOWN Feed My Inbox will be shutting down on January 10, 2013. To find an alternative service for email updates, visit this page. | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • Twelve girls and eight boys killed, all age six or seven
• Medical examiner says victims died of gunshot wounds
• Police: positive identification of gunman not yet completed Thirty-one hours after their lives were ended when a 20-year-old man forced his way into their school and opened fire on some of the youngest pupils and their teachers, the names of those who died in the Connecticut school rampage were released on Saturday. The nature of the tragedy is told perhaps most poignantly not through the list of 26 names of the victims published by police, but through their dates of birth. Sixteen of were born in 2006 – they were six years old; four more were seven. The youngest victim, Noah Pozner, celebrated his sixth birthday less than a month ago, on 20 November. Now that the names have been made public, the first glimpse can be gainedof the agony of families whose lives were overturned when Adam Lanza, for reasons that are yet to be disclosed, set out for Sandy Hook elementary school after killing his mother on Friday morning. The victims included six-year-old Ana Marquez-Greene, whose older brother Isaiah was also in the school when the shooting happened but survived. Ana was the daughter of a jazz saxophonist, Jimmy Greene, who moved his family to Newtown from Winnipeg, Canada, only in July. When his friends expressed their horror on Facebook, he replied: "As much as she's needed here and missed by her mother, brother and me … Ana beat us all to paradise … I love you, sweetie girl." Another victim, Grace McDonnell, seven, lived with her parents just one street away from the house in Newtown where the gunman lived with his mother, Nancy Lanza. A neighbour, Dorothy Werden, told local reporters: "I just choke up when I think about it. Grace was like a little doll, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was utterly adorable." Robbie Parker, the father of a six-year-old victim, Emilie, showed remarkable compassion in a statement made in front of live television cameras. Parker, 30, extended his support to the family of the gunman. "I cannot imagine how hard this experience is for you. Our love and support goes out to you as well." Parker, who works at Danbury Hospital – where two children were taken from the scene of the shooting, and declared dead – described his daughter as "beautiful, blond, always smiling". He added : "She was the type of person that could just light up a room. She always had something kind to say about anybody ... She is an incredible person and I'm so blessed to be her dad." The six-year-old victims were all in first grade classes targeted by Lanza. They included Jesse Lewis, who had been due to make gingerbread houses with the class on Friday afternoon. The boy's father, Neil Heslin, told the New York Post that his son had loved maths and riding horses. "He was just a happy boy. Everybody knew Jesse. He was going to go places in life. He did well in school. He was terrific with animals … He's been on horses since he was a year-and-a-half old." Heslin described the actions of the shooter as cowardly. "It was a cowardly thing he did to the victims, and a cowardly thing he did to himself." The list of the dead also revealed the names of all the six adults who were killed. They included the principal, Dawn Hochsprung, 47, and the school psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56. The other school staff who died were Rachel Davino, 29, Anne Marie Murphy, 52, Lauren Rousseau, 30 and Victoria Soto, 27. Soto taught many of the first-grade pupils who died. In Kingston, New Hampshire, a police officer read a statement on behalf of James Champion, the brother of Nancy Lanza, killed by her son before he left their home for Sandy hook school. "Our hearts and prayers are with those who share in this loss." Then, on behalf of Nancy's "devastated" mother, Dorothy Champion, the officer saaid: "We reach out to the community of Newtown to express our heartfelt sorrow for the incomprehensible loss of innocents that has affected so many." The names of the dead were released after the Connecticut chief medical examiner, Dr Wayne Carver, and his team had identified all 26 bodies in the school. Carver said he had shown pictures of the children's faces to the parents, to avoid having to bring families into direct contact with the bodies of their children. Carver said he had seen a "devastating set of injuries. I believe everybody was hit more than once." Of the seven victims he examined personally, each had three to 11 gunshot, wounds and two had been shot at close range. He also indicated that early examinations suggested that all of the shootings had been carried out with a Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle, one of three weapons recovered close to the gunman who killed himself. Should the exclusive use of the Bushmaster be confirmed by investigation, it could prove significant in any ensuing debate over tightening up gun laws in the wake of the catastrophe. President Obama said on Saturday that he wants to see "meaningful action" to prevent further such tragedies, and one option already being debated widely is to bring back the federal ban on semi-automatic assault rifles that was introduced by Bill Clinton but allowed to lapse in 2004 by George Bush. The Bushmaster would fall under that category, whereas the other two weapons in Lanza's possession, Glock and Sig Sauer handguns, would not. While the list of the victims has now been released, police say that a positive identification of the shooter has still not been completed. There are also two adults who were injured in the rampage but are expected to make full recoveries, a police source said. A stream of visibly distressed families have been calling to pay their respects for the dead at the voluntary fire station located just next to Sandy Hook elementary school. A makeshift memorial, comprising balloons, a wreath, bunches of flowers and a large heart made from 20 teddy bears, one for every child victim, grew steadily through the day. The callers included Kumkum, a local family doctor who asked not to give her last name, who said she was preparing herself for what she expected to be powerful aftershocks from the tragedy. "There's going to be grief, and whatever grief brings with it – fright, anger, and the question: why us, why this quiet little town where nothing happens? Why, why, why?" Angel Soares, an elementary teacher from Providence, had driven down the coast to Newtown because she said she kept thinking to herself: "What would have happened if it had been my kids? When you go to teach in a school every day the kids in your class become your kids, and your first instinct is to protect them." Maria Privera came to hang a large white angel on the memorial at the fire station, because her grandaughter, Calliope, five, had asked her to take her there. "She is saying to me she doesn't want to go back to school," Privera said, referring to the nearby school in nearby Norwalk that her grandaughter attends.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Police in Newtown release the names of 20 children and six adults killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | At refugee camps, reports are flooding in of horrific human rights abuses in a country once famous for its music and joyous lifestyle. Mark Townsend reports on the jihadist nightmare in the Sahel They were told to assemble in Gao's market place at dusk. A man accused of using tobacco was escorted before the crowd by several members of the al-Qaida splinter group Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa. "Then they chopped off his hand. They wanted to show us what they could do," said Ahmed, 39, a meat trader from the town in northern Mali. That was not the end of it. The severed hand was tossed into a vat of boiling water. Then, according to Ahmed, the man was pinned down and over the next hour the bent, misshapen hand was sewn crudely back onto his stump. Ahmed, too terrified to disclose his full name, fled Gao the next day, 8 November: "I had to go. I could not live my life." Fresh witness accounts such as this, from people arriving smothered in the red Sahel dust that clogs every pore at the refugee camps straddling the border with Burkina Faso, suggest that the situation in northern Mali is deteriorating fast. Given the dangerous situation in the region, it was impossible to verify the accounts, but they were numerous and disturbing. Islamist militants who seized control of an area larger than the UK six months ago have imposed their ultra-conservative brand of sharia law. The tales recounted suggest a population subjugated by a regime well versed in appalling brutality. Allegations of war crimes include summary executions, mass rape, racism and the targeting of elders by child soldiers recruited by the extremists. Some allege that child soldiers are being forced to rape women. Analysts warn that the crisis in Mali threatens to destabilise the entire Sahel region, the belt of Africa immediately south of the Sahara where 19 million people live on the edge of malnutrition. The arrival of Islamic terrorists against this backdrop saw the United Nations last Monday describe Mali as "one of the potentially most explosive corners of the world". Within 24 hours, the country's prime minister was forced by the military to resign , further complicating any attempts to reclaim northern Mali. Last week refugees told how the Islamists – an amalgam of militant extremists Ansar Dine, al-Qaida from north Africa, and the Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa – are hunting down Tuaregs, whose desert lands they have seized. Refugee Zicki Fli, 39, who arrived in Burkina Faso's Goudebo camp several days ago, said: "We were hunted. They came to track us down and if they found Tamasheq [the ancient language spoken by Tuaregs] they beat us badly." Fli stayed in Mali until, 10 days ago in the town of Gossi, he witnessed something that changed his mind: "A man I knew would meet his fiancée every night, but somebody saw them and called the Islamists. They were beaten with batons 100 times. They kept on beating until both were dead." Fli left Gossi the following morning, walking seven days to the refugee camp to which his heavily pregnant wife Fadii had fled weeks earlier to give birth. Fli says Fadii is depressed: they own nothing and don't know when, or if, they will return to Mali. Toufenat Wallet Fikka, 37, spoke two weeks ago to a friend in Timbuktu who described a woman having a hand amputated and being whipped after being accused of stealing money equivalent to just over £1: "They had no evidence. Many people are very scared or running away. Two women, she said, were beaten to the floor because their heads were not totally covered." One refugee returned to Mali wearing an Oxfam T-shirt and carrying condoms, the charity's main weapon in curbing population growth in a region with one of the world's highest infant mortality rates. When searched by the Islamic police, he was thrashed with a "wire whip" 80 times and told to return for further sentencing the next day. He, too, fled to Burkina Faso. Those leaving say there is nothing left to enjoy. Mahmoud Ag Hatalio worked as a DJ. He says La Voie de N'Tillit, a popular local station, now broadcasts only prayers. Hatalio says he got lucky: a friend wrongly accused of stealing a bicycle lost a hand to the giant steel scissors specially made by a local blacksmith and later also a foot, to deliberately impair his mobility. One aim appears to be the complete dismantling of Mali's once-famous secular, pluralist democracy, defined by world-renowned blues and folk music and fabled joie de vivre. Ahmed Abdullai, from Haribomo, 30km from the Burkina Faso border, claimed that families, including Tuaregs, are being forced to hand over children to the militia. "There is a lot of these Islamic groups," said the 37-year-old former teacher. "Families are being forced to give up their children. They are told to kill, rape. Children do whatever they are told." Kristalina Georgieva, the EU commissioner for humanitarian aid who recently visited the region to launch an increase in aid, said reports that respected elders were being killed by extremists were particularly troubling: "The effect is unravelling the very fabric of society. It's very hard to rebuild." The concern, for Georgieva, is that northern Mali's transformation into a massive jihadist enclave could replicate the recent history of Somalia. Others warn that Islamic militants are set on establishing a caliphate (a Muslim political-religious state) across the entire 3,000-mile wide Sahel. Intelligence suggests local militia are being assimilated into the extremist structure, and that Nigeria's notorious Islamist group Boko Haram has been seen in Mali. Georgieva said: "The situation is now mushrooming, metastasising: there are around 100 little groups claiming to be involved. No one expected Boko Haram to explode in Nigeria, but once it did it was very hard to control. We could have a Somalia situation all over again if we do nothing." The Malian army is fractured and under-resourced, and Europe, the US and local states are squabbling about intervention. The former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, appointed UN envoy to the Sahel, still doesn't have an office in the region. "The speed with which we are moving towards mobilisation needs much more urgency," said Georgieva. What exactly they are up against remains something of a mystery. The threat of abduction of foreigners is high, and the refugee camps in Burkina Faso have been moved away from the border to avoid raids. However, the rumours persist that al-Qaida is operating in Burkina Faso – and throughout the region. Charities are nervous. Seven French nationals are missing in northern Mali. In Bamako, the country's capital, the tension is palpable. Air France no longer allows its aircrew to stay overnight because of the risk of them being kidnapped. How well-equipped and numerous the Islamic extremists are is open to conjecture. Aboubacan Traoré, 27, who fled from Timbuktu last month, described the moment that heavily armed Islamic forces first stormed the city. "They were shooting everywhere. They had lots of guns, rocket-propelled grenades. There were many, many of them – hundreds." No one doubts that the crisis is destabilising the entire region. Almost 350,000 Malians have fled from their homes, almost half to neighbouring countries, including 8,000 in Goudebo camp. In simple terms, people are being forced from their homes on to land that can barely support its present incumbents. Oxfam is hurriedly sinking boreholes to serve communities that suddenly have to cope with tens of thousands of fresh arrivals. But it is the inevitability of war that most agencies fear: any attempt to clear al-Qaida's latest assembly point will create a huge influx of refugees and animals on to a land that cannot sustain them. In the meantime the situation is likely to worsen. Food prices in Mali and Burkina Faso remain stubbornly high despite a decent harvest, rendering the poorest unable to feed their families. Experts say the region's rapid population growth is compounding the impact of the world's rapidly growing global middle class on prices. Climate change too cannot be ignored. The Sahel has endured three droughts in the past seven years. Georgieva said the capacity for the poor to withstand such shocks has all but disappeared: the arrival of Islamic militants in the region is a factor too far. Despite a 13% increase in Burkina Faso's harvest, forecasters are already adamant that 2013 will bring no respite for the region's food crisis. Although a concerted and rapid response by aid agencies to conditions in the Sahel narrowly averted a humanitarian "catastrophe" this year – the European Commission estimates 400,000 children in the region have been saved from death by malnutrition – the same urgent response is required again. Many fear complacency may set in, and that reports of yet another near humanitarian crisis in west Africa is unlikely to attract many headlines while foreign finances could be diverted to assist any military campaign. "It is why the Sahel has to be our top priority next year," said Georgieva. Beyond the threat of a large-scale desert war, conflict on a micro scale is already evident in camps like Goudebo, which has a provisional capacity of 20,000 refugees. Camp visitors will wonder why only black Africans, 'Bella', can be seen queueing at the water collection points or building refugee tents. The ancient Tuareg caste system, where the Bella were once slaves, still survives and means that the dark-skinned members of the tribe occupy the lowest positions in Tuareg society. By contrast, the Tuareg are often called "white" and claim that they are routinely victimised by the predominantly black, southern-ruled, post-independence Malian governments who themselves are uncomfortable with the Tuaregs' reputation for enslaving black Africans. The UN says it is "deeply aware" of the tension in its camps but rejects claims the Bella are slaves. "They are more like servants – it is a master and servant relationship," said one. But skin colour dominates many conversations with the Malian refugees. Mohamed Ag Almougamar alleges that members of the Malian army killed a large number of Tuaregs at Nampalari, a network of 22 desert villages in the north of the country holding 11,000 people. The incident, again impossible to verify, was said to have occurred over the summer and, according to Almougamar, was racist in motive. "We have clear skin, we are killed like sheep," he said. As the west deliberates its next move with France favouring immediate military intervention and the US opting for a diplomatic resolution, it seems certain that the hundreds of thousands of Malian refugees, including the traditionally nomadic Tuaregs, are destined to remain in camps for months yet. Mossa Ag Wantaganatt, 46, who arrived in Burkina Faso at the start of the month, said: "Our lives are on hold. We are living in a cage."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Troops out in force amid opponents' claims that document favours Muslim Brotherhood Egyptians lined up in their thousands on Saturday to vote on a controversial new constitution that has pitted the government and its Islamist supporters against liberal and secular opponents in a bitter struggle over the way ahead for the Arab world's biggest country after the 2011 revolution. President Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader who succeeded the deposed Hosni Mubarak last June, cast his ballot on the new basic law in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis shortly after the polls opened and was shown on state TV emerging with his finger dipped in ink, a measure to prevent fraud. Elsewhere in the capital there were long queues outside polling stations, where many supporters of the constitution said they were voting "yes" for the sake of badly needed stability after the unprecedented turmoil of the last two years. Opponents cited concerns about a document "tailor-made" for the brotherhood. "I am saying yes because what matters to me is security and stability and I support Mohamed Morsi and the brotherhood," said Mohamed Abdel-Al, an Egyptair technician, after voting in his district of Rod el-Farag. "I am against," volunteered another man, who said he had backed Ahmed Shafiq, the "old regime" candidate narrowly defeated by Morsi in last June's presidential poll. "Why should I vote for something written by the people who have destroyed this country?" In nearby Shubra, lines formed outside the Tawfiqiya school and there was flurry of excitement when a sleek limousine disgorged the governor of Cairo and a posse of watchful bodyguards who brushed past the waiting Egyptian and foreign TV crews. Troops and police were out in force to provide security in the 10 provinces, home to 25 million voters, where polling was taking place. The country's 17 other provinces are due to vote next Saturday. Voting was staggered because the referendum was arranged at short notice. Independent Egyptian media reported that initial assessments based on turnout and straw polling pointed to a win for the "no" camp. Judge Mohamed Abdel Hady, of the Judges Club, said that by mid-afternoon 340 electoral complaints had been received, the independent Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper reported. Many were about the absence of supervising judges and efforts to direct people how to vote. The opposition National Salvation Front (NSF) expressed "deep concern… over the number of irregularities and violations," warning of a "clear desire for vote-rigging by the Muslim Brotherhood". Shayfeenkum, an independent monitoring group, also reported multiple breaches. But there was no repeat of Friday's violence in Alexandria and no official response to anecdotal complaints circulating on Twitter and Facebook. The vote on Egypt's fifth constitution in a century follows three weeks of protests and sporadic violence after Morsi, who had pledged to rule for "all Egyptians," adopted sweeping powers bypassing the judiciary and rushing through completion of the draft text in the constituent assembly. Opponents, including many Muslims, insist that their objections are to his undemocratic and non-consensual behaviour and an ambiguous constitution flawed by what it says or implies about the role of Islam and clerical scholars, the position of the still-powerful army, presidential appointments, rights and other fundamental issues. Independent Egyptian and foreign observers argue that a divided opposition has seized too gleefully on Morsi's miscalculations and vacillation and now risks raising the stakes with an escalation of the crisis. Mohamed ElBaradei, co-ordinator of the NSF, warned on Twitter: "Adoption of a divisive draft constitution that violates universal values and freedoms is a sure way to institutionalise instability and turmoil." Khaled Abdulla, a member of the Mosireen collective, called the draft "deeply indefensible". If passed, the constitution will pave the way for new parliamentary elections early next year. The last national assembly, dominated by the brotherhood and conservative Salafis, was dissolved. Alarmingly, there is a clear sectarian element to the political tension, with Coptic Christians quick to express their dislike and mistrust of Morsi and the brotherhood. "This is a middle-class area, but go down the road and you will find people who can't read and are being given free cooking oil and rice to vote yes," complained Magid Lotfy, a chemical factory owner in Shubra. "The constitution is not in the interests of the country and not good for my children and grandchildren," said Rida Mustafa, 63, emerging from a polling station in Abdeen near the sinister-looking headquarters of the interior ministry. "Food prices have gone up since the revolution. The brotherhood project has failed. Morsi is worse than Mubarak." But Ali, a Muslim Morsi supporter who was planning to vote yes, said he did not understand why Christian representatives had walked out of the constituent assembly "because it gave them and the Jews a lot of rights". When Morsi attended Friday prayers near his home in al-Tagammu al-Khamis the imam told worshippers that a vote on the constitution did not mean a choice "between heaven or hell", as some preachers have warned. Amid continuing uncertainty about the future, analysts say a 60% vote is needed to be credible. "I am worried either way," said commentator Said Shehata. "Egypt is experiencing very serious divisions. Whatever happens, this is one of the worst moments we've seen since the revolution. But it will be worse if the constitution does pass."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Secretary of state, 65, likely to miss congressional hearings into Benghazi attack next week after fall brought on by stomach virus The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is recovering at home after suffering concussion in a fall brought on by illness, her spokesman said on Saturday. Clinton, 65, had already been forced to cancel a planned trip to the Middle East and north Africa this week. It is thought that she will now miss congressional hearings due next Thursday into the September attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans including the ambassador, Chris Stevens. A spokesman for Clinton, Philippe Reines, said the secretary of state came down with a stomach virus last weekend. "While suffering from a stomach virus, Secretary Clinton became dehydrated and fainted, sustaining a concussion," he said. "She has been recovering at home and will continue to be monitored regularly by her doctors," Reines said in a statement. On the recommendation of doctors, Clinton will work from home in the coming week, but will remain in contact with department staff. "She is looking forward to being back in the office soon," Reines said. Clinton has been noted as a particularly hard-working secretary of state. Earlier this year, the she alluded to the effects of heavy travelling. Asked in January at a state department staff event of her intentions after the presidential election, she replied: "I think after 20 years, and it will be 20 years, of being on the high wire of American politics and all of the challengers that come with that, it would be probably a good idea to just find out how tired I am." But she did not completely rule out a return to politics, adding: "Everyone always says that when they leave these jobs." Clinton has been tipped as a potential presidential candidate in 2016. Some Republicans have already expressed concern that a Clinton-led ticket would be hard to counter. Last week, former House speaker Newt Gingrich told Meet the Press on NBC: "If the competitor in '16 is going to be Hillary Clinton, supported by Bill Clinton and presumably a still relatively popular President Barack Obama, trying to win that will be truly the Super Bowl ... and the Republican party is incapable of competing at that level." Clinton has said she intends to step down as secretary of state. US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice had been thought to be a favoured candidate. But she pulled out last week under pressure from Republicans, who had vowed to block her from the position due to concerns over her handling of the Benghazi attack. That appears to have left the door open for Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations, who lost to George W Bush in the 2004 presidential election. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday that President Barack Obama has already settled on a Kerry pick for the post of secretary of state after Clinton steps down.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • Police say gunman forced his way in to Sandy Hook school
• Officers have 'good evidence' of Adam Lanza's motive
• School principal and psychologist among six adults killed Families have identified all 20 children and six adults killed in the Connecticut school massacre, as new details emerged on Saturday about one of the worst mass shootings in US history. Police said the gunman, named locally as Adam Lanza, forced his way into Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown on Friday morning. Officers said they had "good evidence" relating to a motive, but declined to give further details. The bodies of the victims have been removed from the school and taken to the office of the local medical examiner. Their names were due to be released later on Saturday. A day after the tragic events in Newtown, residents have begun the long and painful process of grieving. Cloth placards have been slung from the windows of buildings in the centre of Sandy Hook, an idyllic New England hamlet still full of Christmas decorations, with messages such as: "God Bless Sandy Hook" and "Hug a Teacher Today". At a news conference in the town, police gave more details of the attack. Contrary to earlier reports that suggested Lanza had been buzzed into the school voluntarily, Connecticut police said that he had entered forcibly, though they would not say precisely how. Lieutenant Paul Vance, a spokesman for Connecticut's state police, said investigators had found valuable evidence that could help them piece together the full picture of what had happened, and crucially why. But Vance would not go into details of what the evidence was, nor what it revealed about Lanza's motives. More information has also emerged about the six adults killed in the rampage at the school. They included the principal of the school, Dawn Hochsprung, 47, the school psychologist, Mary Sherlach, 56, and a teacher, Victoria Soto, 27. Another teacher and two teaching assistants also died. The gunman also killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at the home they shared in Newtown. Members of the school staff have been describing the events of Friday morning. Maryann Jacob, a clerk in the school library, told how she ushered the 18 nine-year-olds in her care to a back storage room, which was able to lock. She told CNN: "We had crayons and paper in that room and we used that to keep the children calm," the teacher said. "They were asking what was going on and we said we don't know, it may be a drill, we are just going to stay quiet. But we knew it was real as I'd called the office and they'd told me a shooting was going on." The killings ended when Lanza apparently took his own life. Three weapons were recovered inside the school: a Sig Sauer and Glock handgun and a military-style .223 Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle, which carries 30-round magazines. Three other single-action rifles of various calibres are being investigated in relation to the rampage. The three guns used in the killings were all reported to be legally owned by the gunman's mother. Her body was found at their home in Yogalanda Street. Adam Lanza apparently killed her there before setting off for Sandy Hook school. One of the mysteries of the events on which investigators will focus is why Nancy Lanza would have procured so many high-powered weapons. The Sig Sauer and the Glock are top-of-the-range guns used widely by police forces across the US. As part of the investigation, police have questioned the gunman's brother, Ryan Lanza, 24, of Hoboken, New Jersey, who works at the accounting firm Ernst & Young, and their father Peter Lanza, a vice-president at GE Capital. Peter and Nancy Lanza were divorced in 2009. Ryan Lanza was initially identified as the suspected killer on Friday. The confusion appears to have arisen because Adam Lanza was carrying an ID that belonged to his brother; that incorrect information was relayed to some media outlets in anonymous briefings. President Obama used his weekly radio address to the nation to discuss the tragedy. He repeated his pledge, first made hours after the attack on Friday, "to take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this. Regardless of the politics." Obama said he and the country would pray for the families of those who died as well as for the parents of children who had survived. "As blessed as they are to have their children home, they know that their child's innocence has been torn away far too early," he said. Precisely what Obama intends by "meaningful action" remains unclear. But Jay Carney, the White House press spokesman, has said that the president supports the idea of reinstating the federal ban on semi-automatic assault weapons that was allowed to expire by the Bush administration in 2004. The motives behind Adam Lanza's actions were still unexplained on Saturday. More details emerged about his background: former high school acquaintances interviewed by the New York Times described him as very bright, but withdrawn. Lanza had attended Newtown high school, and the Associated Press said news clippings from recent years show him on the honor roll. Joshua Milas, a classmate who was in the technology club with Lanza, told AP he was generally a happy person but that he hadn't seen him in a few years. "We would hang out, and he was a good kid. He was smart," said Milas, who graduated in 2009. "He was probably one of the smartest kids I know."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Several Republican legislatures fail to submit 'Obamacare' plans before deadline – defaulting power to federal government
• Who will be operating your health insurance exchange? As a crucial deadline arrives under the Affordable Care Act – the health insurance reforms nicknamed Obamacare – the intense opposition mounted by Republicans has had a perverse effect: the creation of a mammoth national health programme run by the federal government. Friday 14 December was the deadline for states to submit plans to run their own insurance exchanges – a gateway for their state's residents not receiving health coverage through their employers to choose or purchase health insurance. But many states with Republican legislatures have so far refused – handing over that power by default to Washington DC under the new law. As many as 32 states – including the second and third largest in the union, Texas and Florida – will have all or part of their insurance exchanges run by the federal government, with at least 24 of them entirely run out of Washington by the health and human services department. It wasn't supposed to be that way. Republican objections made while the legislation was being drafted saw states given the power to administer their own schemes, rather than entrust its operation to a remote federal bureaucracy. But furious opposition in many Republican-dominated states has flipped that intention on its head. Instead it is the Democratic "blue" states that have enthusiastically adopted health exchanges and the huge federal subsidies that come with them. Ironically, given the outcome, it was liberal Democrats who had argued for the larger pool and lower costs of a single, national insurance exchange – but whose arguments were fiercely attacked by Republicans claiming that states would be disenfranchised. As of deadline day, states fall into three categories. There are those, such as California, New York and the District of Columbia, that have agreed to run their state exchanges, and will receive federal funding. Then there are those, such as West Virginia and Illinois, that are in a halfway house of partnership with the federal government, whether by accident or design, and will run parts of their exchange. And then there are those states that have rejected setting up exchanges – such as Texas and South Dakota – and so will instead submit to federal control, although they have a later deadline of 15 February 2015 if they want to adopt the partnership with the government option. In truth there is a fourth category: Florida, always the outlier. The Sunshine State has simply dragged its feet – first hoping the legal challenge it spearheaded and then the 2012 presidential election would kill off the Affordable Care Act. Since the election it has had no time to refine a blueprint. It is most likely to default into the federally-run exchange, even if it opts to join at a later date, but no one in Florida, from the governor down, appears willing to make a definitive statement. Florida's state legislature doesn't even plan to debate setting up an exchange until its next session in March 2013. Six Republican-denominated states appear to have taken the plunge and submitted blueprints to run their own exchanges in whole or part: Iowa, Mississippi, Idaho, New Mexico and Nevada, along with Utah, which already has a state-run health exchange of its own making. In announcing his backing for a state-run exchange, Butch Otter, the Republican governor of Idaho, took the opposite tack to many of his comrades. "It would be irresponsible of me to simply abandon the field to federal bureaucrats. In the face of uncertainty we must assert our independence and our commitment to self-determination," Otter said. Yet he must still overcome a hostile legislature in the staunchly Republican state. Of the 25 states that have opted in to full federal control, only one – New Hampshire – is an unambiguously a Democratic-dominated state. But it was public unhappiness with the new healthcare reforms that forced Democratic governor John Lynch to drop plans for a state-run exchange. With the bulk of states, and the US population, coming under the federally-run exchanges, the onus is now on Washington to set up its scheme by October 2013 for the start of individual enrolments, with coverage through the exchanges starting in January 2014 – a massive task that could determine the ultimate success or failure of Obamacare.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Man shot and fatally wounded a woman before turning gun on himself outside Excalibur hotel-casino at 8.30pm on Friday night A man shot and fatally wounded a woman, then killed himself on Friday night at the Excalibur hotel-casino on the Las Vegas strip, sending frightened patrons fleeing. Las Vegas police lieutenant Ray Steiber said the shootings happened at about 8.30pm near the Excalibur's front entrance. Steiber said the man shot the woman, who was a vendor at the hotel's concierge desk, and then turned the gun on himself. The man was found dead at the scene. The woman was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Neither the gunman nor the victim was identified. However, Steiber said the woman worked as a vendor at the concierge desk, where tourists can get show tickets and restaurant reservations. He said the relationship between the shooter and the victim wasn't immediately clear. The shooting happened as the hotel's registration desk was busy on a Friday night with the National Finals Rodeo and other events in town. Steiber said patrons scattered at the first sound of gunfire, and no one else was wounded. MGM Resorts International owns the Excalibur and several other hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. Company spokesman Gordon Absher said the hotel and casino remained open to guests and patrons. However, the area where the shooting took place remained cordoned off by police while the investigation continued. The Excalibur has approximately 4,000 rooms and is located at the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. The hotel is named for the mythical sword of King Arthur, and its facade is a stylized image of a castle.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President Bashar al-Assad's troops try to dislodge strongholds as Nato sends soldiers to neighbouring Turkey Syrian warplanes bombed rebel-controlled suburbs east of Damascus on Saturday as the Syrian army fired rockets and shells at towns around the capital. The government continued to try to dislodge rebels around Damascus who have increased their presence in the city in recent months, according to Reuters. Jets bombarded the Beit Sahm district near the international airport and the army fired rockets at several rebel strongholds around Damascus as Nato began sending 1,200 troops to Turkey to staff and protect anti-missile batteries. US Admiral James Stavridis, Nato's European commander, justified the dispatch of Patriot missile batteries to Turkey by saying that the Syrian government had fired Scud missiles at rebels which had landed close to the Turkish border. "Syria is clearly a chaotic and dangerous situation, but we have an absolute obligation to defend the borders of the alliance from any threat emanating from that troubled state," he wrote on a US military blog. Almost two years of fighting have caused food shortages throughout Syria with reports of long queues for bread in cities such as Aleppo and Damascus. Walid al-Moallem, the Syrian foreign minister, blamed the suffering of his country's people on US and European sanctions as he met the head of the United Nations humanitarian organisation, Valerie Amos, in Damascus on Saturday to discuss the needs of Syrians after 21 months of conflict. "The sanctions imposed by the United States and countries of the European Union on Syria are responsible for the suffering of the Syrian people," Moallem said. Stavridis accused government forces on Friday of firing the Scud missiles. The Syrian government denies firing the long-range, Soviet-built rockets. However, Stavridis wrote that a handful of Scud missiles were launched inside Syria in recent days towards opposition targets and "several landed fairly close to the Turkish border, which is very worrisome". Turkey, a Nato member once friendly toward the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, but now among the main allies of the rebels, has complained for months of occasional artillery and gunfire across the border, some of which has caused deaths. It sought the installation of missile defences along its frontier some weeks ago. Batteries of US-made Patriot missiles, designed to shoot down the likes of the Scuds used in the 1991 Gulf war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, are about to be deployed by the US, German and Dutch armies, each of which is sending up to 400 troops to operate and protect the rocket systems. Damascus has accused western powers of backing what it portrays as a Sunni Islamist "terrorist" campaign against it and says Washington and Europe have aired concerns that Assad's forces might resort to chemical weapons solely as a pretext for preparing a possible military intervention. In contrast to Nato's air campaign in support of Libya's successful revolt last year against Muammar Gaddafi, western powers have held back from intervention in Syria. They have cited the greater size and ethnic and religious complexity of a major Arab state at the heart of the Middle East – but have also lacked UN approval due to Russia's support for Assad. As well as the growing rebel challenge, Syria faces an alliance of Arab and western powers who stepped up diplomatic support for the rebels at a meeting in Morocco on Wednesday and warned Assad he could not win Syria's civil war. The president's opponents have consistently underestimated his tenacity throughout the uprising, but their warnings appeared to be echoed by even his staunch ally Moscow when the Kremlin's Middle East envoy Mikhail Bogdanov conceded he might be ousted. Russia said on Friday that Bogdanov's comments did not reflect a change in policy. France, one of the first countries to grant formal recognition to Syria's political opposition, said Moscow's continued support for Assad was perplexing. "They risk really being on the wrong side of history. We don't see their objective reasoning that justifies them keeping this position because even the credible arguments they had don't stand up any more," a French diplomatic source said, arguing that by remaining in power Assad was prolonging chaos and fuelling the radicalisation of Sunni Islamist rebels. European Union leaders who met in Brussels on Friday said all options were on the table to support the Syrian opposition, raising the possibility that non-lethal military equipment or even arms could eventually be supplied. In their strongest statement of support for the Syrian opposition since the uprising began, EU leaders instructed their foreign ministers to assess all possibilities to increase the pressure on Assad. With rebels edging into the capital, a senior Nato official said Assad was likely to fall and the western military alliance should make plans to protect against the threat of his chemical arsenal falling into the wrong hands. Desperate food shortages are growing in parts of Syria and residents of the northern city of Aleppo say fist fights and dashes across the frontlines have become part of the daily struggle to secure a loaf of bread. Moualem told Amos that sanctions should be lifted. The foreign minister also called on the UN to expand its relief efforts in Syria to include reconstruction "of what has been destroyed by the armed terrorist groups", the state news agency SANA said, using a label employed by authorities to describe the rebels. Amos said in Rome on Friday that the UN was committed to maintaining aid operations in Syria. The World Food Programme says as many as a million Syrians may go hungry this winter, as worsening security conditions make it harder to reach conflict zones. At the EU summit, the British prime minister, David Cameron, pushed for an early review of the arms embargo against Syria to possibly open the way to supply equipment to rebels in the coming months. Germany and others were more reluctant and blocked any quick move. But there was widespread agreement that whatever action can be taken under current legislation should be pursued, and the arms embargo would still be reviewed at a later stage. "I want a very clear message to go to President Assad that nothing is off the table," Cameron said. "I want us to work with the opposition … so that we can see the speediest possible transition in Syria. "There is no single simple answer, but inaction and indifference are not options." Forty thousand people have now been killed in the most protracted and destructive of the Arab popular revolts. The Assad government severely limits press and humanitarian access to the country. Among factors holding western powers back from arming the rebels is the presence in their ranks of anti-western Islamist radicals. After the US decided this week to blacklist one such group, Jabhat al-Nusra, as "terrorist", thousands of Syrians demonstrated on Friday against ostracising it.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As the US comes to terms with another school massacre, police in Newtown release new information about the circumstances
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As the US comes to terms with another school massacre, police in Newtown are expected to hold a news cconference. Follow developments here
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Pittsburgh woman raped at gunpoint and charged with fabricating her story has won a settlement after a marathon legal battle, changing federal law along the way Sara Reedy remembers clearly the start of her ordeal, and how surprisingly painful it was to have a gun jammed to her temple. Then her attacker demanded oral sex, saying he would shoot her if she refused. She was shaking, gagging. "I had images of my family finding me dead," she told the Observer. "I closed my eyes and just tried to get it over with." Reedy was 19 when the man entered the petrol station near Pittsburgh where she was working to pay her way through college and pulled a gun. He emptied the till of its $606.73 takings, assaulted her and fled into the night. But the detective who interviewed Reedy in hospital didn't believe her, and accused her of stealing the money herself and inventing the story as a cover-up. Although another local woman was attacked not long after in similar fashion, the police didn't join the dots. Following further inquiries, Reedy was arrested for theft and false reporting and, pregnant with her first child (by her now ex-husband), thrown in jail. She was subsequently released on bail, but lost her job. More than a year after attacking Reedy, the man struck again, but this time he was caught and confessed to the earlier crime. When the charges against her were dropped, Reedy sued the police and has now won a marathon legal battle and a $1.5m (£1m) settlement against the detective who turned her from victim into accused. The payment was agreed earlier this year, but can be revealed only now because of a non-disclosure clause that was part of the settlement. Now 27, Reedy talked exclusively to the Observer to announce the settlement and speak out about how she hopes her vindication will change the way the police investigate rape. "I'm relieved that people will be able to see now that I was telling the truth," she said. "Although mine is an extreme case, I'm not the first – and I won't be the last." Reedy's story is dramatic, but it comes against a backdrop of problems across the US, with accounts of police ignoring or neglecting rape reports, while bullying victims and scrutinising their behaviour rather than the suspect's. "There is a national crisis," said Carol Tracy, of the Women's Law Project, an advocacy group in Philadelphia. "We're witnessing the chronic and systemic failure of law enforcement to properly investigate crimes of sexual violence." Reedy said the police officer who took her to hospital from the petrol station in Cranberry Township, about 20 miles from Pittsburgh, in July 2004 was nice. But once there she was interviewed by Detective Frank Evanson. "I told him what happened. His next question was how often did I use dope. I thought he meant heroin – there is a problem with it in the area – but I told him I didn't use it. I told him I smoked marijuana occasionally, though not for a week. Then he asked me where the money was." Talking to me in the living room of her home in the small town of Butler, near Cranberry, Reedy shook her head incredulously. In the hospital, she had become angry with Evanson, and then a nurse and a doctor also questioned her account. Joanne Archambault, a retired police sergeant who now trains officers in handling what she calls "one of the most difficult crimes to investigate", said this can be a common reaction. "When women don't act like the classic 'perfect, innocent victim' they can be seen as less credible. But trauma can have unexpected effects on how victims come across." Reedy aroused further suspicion when she declined the offer of a victim's advocate. "The assault made me feel worthless, then I was degraded at the hospital for hours," she said. "I had to give intimate details again and again. I was afraid of being belittled even further." Reedy was swabbed for forensic evidence, but the material was never tested. This was despite the fact that it contained a fingernail that could have yielded DNA from her attacker. After that night, Evanson continued to accuse Reedy, despite the other similar attack in the area, which he also investigated. Eventually she was arrested and the court refused bail. She remembers her sister screaming as Reedy was taken away in a police car: "I was terrified. I realised if I got the max I'd be in prison for seven years and not see my baby. I was so tense I couldn't eat." Upon being bailed, she was turned away from a local victim help centre, and old school friends spread rumours about her. Even her parents expressed doubts about their daughter's veracity after talking to Evanson. But a month before Reedy's trial, Wilbur Brown, 44, was arrested after raping a woman in a convenience store several miles away. He admitted attacking Reedy too, and in 2006 she was in court to see him plead guilty to assaulting 10 women. He is now serving life in prison. Reedy was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. "Major trust issues" left her unable to return to college or take a job. Her case against the Pennsylvania police department was initially dismissed in district court in 2009. With help from Archambault, the Women's Law Project and similar groups, and lawyer David Weicht of Pittsburgh firm Leech Tishman, she appealed. In a precedent-setting decision against the police, the appeal judges ruled in 2010 that Evanson wasn't reasonable and lacked probable cause when he arrested Sara, and that the case could go to trial. The police finally settled before trial on behalf of Evanson, who is still in his job. Reedy's victory has gone down in legal history. During her battle she testified in Congress, and this helped persuade the federal government this year to change the definition of rape to include forced oral sex and the rape of men. "I had a sense of pride at that," said Reedy. Recently engaged to a local man whom she described as honest and hardworking, and considering starting work for her parents' trucking firm, she said she was relieved at her vindication: "If my story can bring about change, I owe it to people to tell it."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Soldiers deployed to polling stations on first of two days of voting after clashes between president's opponents and supporters Egyptians were voting on Saturday on a proposed constitution that has divided the country, with the president, Mohamed Morsi, and his Muslim Brotherhood supporters in favour, while liberals, secular Muslims and Christians oppose it. "The times of silence are over," said a bank employee, Essam el-Guindy, as he waited to cast his ballot in Cairo's wealthy Zamalek district. "I am not OK with the constitution. Morsi should not have let the country split like this." Guindy was one of about 20 standing in a line for men waiting to vote. A separate women's line had twice as many people. Elsewhere in Cairo, hundreds of voters began queuing outside polling stations nearly two hours before the voting started at 8am. "I read parts of the constitution and saw no reason to vote against it," said Rania Wafik as she held her newborn baby while waiting in line. "We need to move on and I just see no reason to vote against the constitution." Around 120,000 soldiers were deployed to protect polling stations after rioting and violence throughout the week. A radical Islamist group also said it will send its own members to defend the stations alongside the army and police. Clashes between Morsi's supporters and opponents over the past three weeks have left at least 10 people dead and about 1,000 wounded. "No to the constitution of blood," said the red banner headline of the independent daily al-Masry al-Youm. Critics are concerned about the charter's legitimacy after most judges said they would not supervise the vote. Rights groups have also warned of opportunities for widespread fraud, and the opposition says a decision to hold the vote on two separate days to make up for the shortage of judges leaves the door open for initial results to sway voter opinion. Egypt has 51 million eligible voters, of whom about 26 million are supposed to cast their ballots on Saturday and the rest next week. Saturday's vote is held in 10 provinces, including Cairo and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, the country's second largest and the scene of violent clashes on Friday between opponents and supporters of Morsi. Another newspaper, the pro-opposition al-Watan, published photographs of Morsi's supporters in Alexandria armed with knives, swords and sticks on the front page of its Saturday edition. "A referendum on their constitution," read the headline. Imams have defended the constitution in mosques but Morsi's opponents say minority concerns have been ignored and the charter contains clauses that could allow the ruling Islamists to restrict civil liberties, ignore women's rights and undermine trade unions. "At one point in our history, Cleopatra, a woman, ruled Egypt. Now you have a constitution that makes women not even second-class but third-class citizens," said a businesswoman, Olivia Ghita. "This constitution is tailored for one specific group [the Muslim Brotherhood]. It's a shame. I am very upset."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Connecticut police say unidentified gunman killed 26 people and himself in one of America's worst ever mass shootings America was confronted with one of its worst ever mass shootings on Friday when 20 children and six adults were shot dead by a gunman who opened fire at an elementary school in Connecticut. The massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, about 65 miles north-east of New York, is understood to have been carried out by a lone gunman, who was later found dead at the scene. State police lieutenant Paul Vance said 18 children died at the scene and two more died in hospital. Six adults were found dead at the school, Vance said. The bodies of the victims remain inside the school. Sandy Hook, which had recently updated its security procedures, teaches children from kindergarten to fourth grade, ages five to 10. The scale of the tragedy and the age of the victims shocked a country that has seen many mass shootings and prompted immediate calls for tougher gun controls. Barack Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, refused to engage with the issue, telling reporters at a White House briefing that "today was not the day". But later, in an emotional press conference at the White House, Barack Obama suggested that he may take action. Fighting back tears, he said: "We've endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news I react not as a president, but as anybody else would – as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do." Citing a number of major shootings this year alone, Obama continued: "Whether it's an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago – these neighbourhoods are our neighbourhoods, and these children are our children. And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics." Police said they had made a "tentative identification" of the gunman but would not confirm the name. The Associated Press and other news organisations quoted law enforcement sources naming Adam Lanza, 20. His mother, Nancy, reported to be a teacher at the school, was presumed dead, law enforcement officials told AP. Lanza's elder brother Ryan, 24, was questioned by police but is not believed to have any connection to the shooting. He had earlier been wrongly identified as the gunman, apparently because officials transposed the names when briefing journalists. The school's principal, Dawn Hochsprung, 47, was one of the the victims, her relatives said. She was decribed by colleagues as a warm and energetic leader of the school. The school psychologist, Mary Sherlach, was another of the confirmed victims. As darkness fell on Friday evening police were still refusing to confirm many of the details, including the identities of the victims. At Saint Rose of Lima church in Newtown locals gathered to mourn the dead. Hundreds crowded outside the packed church listening to the service through open windows. A group of young people linked arms and formed a circle while singing Silent Night, while others held candles and looked on. Some just wept. "It's awful. It's just one of the saddest things," said Suzanne Kelly. She was with her husband, Brian, and daughter Mattie, 16, who had attended Sandy Hook elementary. The family said they were still waiting to hear if former teachers were among the victims. "It was really heartbreaking," Mattie said of hearing the news. "I just didn't expect it to happen anywhere. It was the least expected place for it to happen." Agron Selmani, 23, stood praying quietly outside the church. "It's just a terrible tragedy. Twenty babies, along with six adults. I just wanted to come here and pray. "I'm not a regular at this church at all. I'm not even Catholic, I'm a Muslim, but it doesn't matter right now." Police said the first 911 call came just after 9.30am. As all schools were put on lockdown as a precaution, state and local officers responded to the scene and immediately entered the building to begin a thorough search of all classrooms. "Our main objective was to evacuate … any and all students and faculty," Vance said. Teachers had locked their classrooms and were sheltering under desks and in closets while the shooting went on. Some witnesses said they heard at least 100 shots. The gunman was armed with two handguns, a Glock and a Sig Sauer. A third weapon, a .223 calibre rifle, was later found in the back of his car. Pictures of the immediate aftermath of the shooting showed surviving children, many of them visibly upset, being led by police away from the building in a crocodile line with hands on each other's shoulders. Some told their parents they had been told by the police officers evacuating the school to hold hands and close their eyes when passing certain rooms. The shootings took place in two rooms in one section of the school, police said. Janet Vollmer, a teacher at the school who had 19 children in her class told CNN's Anderson Cooper how she locked the door and tried to keep the students calm. "We heard pops, you know, gunshots but we're not going to tell that to 5-year-olds so we said we're going to go to a safe place and we read stories," she said. "We kept them calm, we stayed in the room til there was banging at the door and that was the police. We said we're not really sure but we're going to be safe because we're sitting here and we're all together." As news of the shooting began to circulate, parents were seen running toward the building to find out if their children were amongst those shot. Young children at Sandy Hook gave accounts of the shooting to their parents. "They just told us how heroic their teachers were," said Howie Ziperstein, whose sons aged seven and nine were among the survivors. "One of my children was in the gym and was told to go in the corner and hide. When they saw a police officer coming who told them go run as fast as you can to the fire house." Ziperstein's wife met the boys at the fire house and brought them home. "My younger son said he heard gunshots," he said. "He said they locked doors and put desks in front of certain doors and just waited." Ziperstein said the seven-year-old was finally able to leave the classroom when a police officer came to the door. "There was a person with a gun laying on the ground; they had to walk around him," Ziperstein said. "They were told to keep their eyes closed, but what kid if you tell them to do that actually keeps their eyes closed." Ziperstein was eventually reunited with his children at the family home. "It was just relief. They came running in the house and we hugged each other. It was almost like a miracle." Richard Wilford's seven-year-old son, Richie, told of hearing a noise that sounded like cans falling at the time of the attack. "I could try to explain it but I'm sure I would fail," said Wilford. "There's no words that I could come up with that would even come close to describing the sheer terror of hearing that your son is in a place, or your child's in a place, where there's been violence. "You don't know the details of that violence, you don't know the condition of your child and you can't do anything to immediately help them or protect them. It is a powerless and terrifying experience." Robert Licata said his six-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher. "That's when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door," he told the AP. "He was very brave. He waited for his friends." Licata said the shooter didn't say a word. Stephen Delgiadice said his eight-year-old daughter heard two big bangs and teachers told her to get in a corner. His daughter was fine. "It's alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America," he said. The shooting comes towards the end of a year that has seen a number of mass shootings including an assault at a movie theatre in Colorado that killed 12 people and an attack at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin that took the lives of six worshipers. On Monday two people were killed by a gunman at a shopping mall in Portland, Oregon.
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