Japan's incoming PM pledges to mend ties with China

TOKYO: Japan's incoming premier on Saturday pledged to seek a thaw in ties with China after a report said he will send a special envoy on a fence-mending mission to Beijing.

Ties between Japan and China have become increasingly strained over a disputed island chain -- the Tokyo-controlled Senkakus, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus -- with neither side willing to budge after months of bitter wrangling.

"I want to make efforts to return to the starting point of developing the mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests," Shinzo Abe told reporters.

"The Japan-China relationship is one of extremely important bilateral ties," he said.

The comments came after the business daily Nikkei reported Abe will send Masahiko Komura, the vice president of his Liberal Democratic Party, to deliver a letter to Chinese authorities next month.

They also came a day after China sent ships into territorial waters around the disputed islands, in the first incursion since Japan elected a new government.

"I will shoulder grave responsibility (for Japan's future)," Abe, who will officially be appointed as prime minister on Wednesday, told supporters in his constituency in western Japan earlier Saturday.

"My mission is to bring a breakthrough in the serious situations we face in economy, diplomacy, and education."

Abe said on Friday he will dispatch former finance minister Fukushiro Nukaga to deliver a letter to South Korea's president-elect Park Geun-Hye, who also triumphed in national elections just days ago.

Tokyo is embroiled in a separate row with Seoul over a different set of islets, with tensions flaring up earlier this year after outgoing South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak paid a sudden visit to the disputed territory.

"Abe intends to improve frayed ties with South Korea and with China by sending special envoys," the Nikkei said, without citing sources.

Abe's sweeping parliamentary victory on Sunday was greeted with caution in Beijing and Seoul, with China saying it was "highly concerned" over Japan's future direction under the new government.

In one of his first broadcast interviews after the parliamentary win, Abe said there was no room for compromise on the sovereignty of the disputed islands, calling them "Japan's inherent territory", and putting the onus for improved relations on Beijing.

Despite warm words about the importance of economic ties with Beijing -- China is Japan's biggest trading partner -- Abe stressed the need to build relations with other countries, such as India and Australia.

Analysts have said at least some of this could be posturing, with some believing Abe's LDP will have easier communication with China due to the contacts it developed during its more than half a century rule before it was ousted in 2009.

Abe said Saturday there was "no change in our plans to study" stationing officials on the disputed islands -- a controversial policy option that would further provoke Beijing.

- AFP/al

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Man kills three, dies in police shootout

Blair County Sheriff's Deputies stand at a roadblock in Frankstown Township, Pennsylvania, on Friday after the shootings.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: "Someone was watching over" 3 state troopers wounded in "attack," police official says


• NEW: This incident and 3 others' killings were in a short period, a state trooper says


• Authorities discovered 3 bodies after killing the man they say is responsible for their deaths


• Weapons were seized, including more than one at one crime scene, a police official says

(CNN) -- A man killed two men and one woman Friday in central Pennsylvania, then died in a gunfight with state troopers, authorities said.

The first report of shots fired "at multiple locations" in Frankstown Township came in a 911 call placed around 9 a.m., Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said. As state troopers converged on the area, someone in a truck -- going the opposite direction on a two-lane road -- fired at two marked patrol cars.

The truck's driver continued driving and then "rammed ... head-on" into a different patrol car, Bivens said. He then got out of his vehicle and began firing at officers.

State troopers returned fire, eventually killing the truck's driver.

Three state police members were hurt in the response. One was struck in the wrist by bullet fragments and in his chest -- which was protected by body armor -- by a bullet. Another trooper got glass fragments in his eyes and bullet fragments in his forehead. The third suffered minor injuries in the car accident with the shooter's truck.

"It was a very violent attack," Bivens said, adding all three had been treated and released from a local hospital as of Friday evening. "As more details come out about the investigation, I think you'll see just how lucky they really were ... Someone was watching over them."

By 10 a.m., the "active shooter situation" in Frankstown Township, about 7 miles southeast of Altoona and 100 miles east of Pittsburgh was under control, the Blair County Emergency Management Agency reported on its Facebook page.

But the gruesome story wasn't over. After this episode played out, authorities discovered three slain people at three different locations.

One woman was killed at Juniata Valley Gospel Church, one man was found dead in a residence, and another man was killed after getting into a car accident with the truck's driver, added Bivens. All three had been shot.

"It is believed that the male subject committed three homicides before encountering the troopers," Trooper Jeffrey Petucci said.

Their killing and the exchange of gunfire that led to the shooter's death occurred in "a relatively short duration of time," added Petucci, and physically all within a 1.5-mile radius.

Authorities have not identified the shooter or the victims. "I don't believe you're going to find any biological relationship between the (shooter) and the victims," Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio said, adding the three victims "were not immediate family" of one another.

No explanation has been given for the bloodshed. "Some weapons" tied to the episode have been seized, though Bivens did not detail the type of firearms, how they had been obtained or how they were used Friday.

"It is safe to say there was more than one weapon seized from the crime scene," he said.

By noon, the Blair County Emergency Agency said on Facebook, "There is no longer a threat to residents and visitors to this area from this individual." A roadway -- Juniata Valley Road, between Geeseytown and Canoe Creek State Park -- was closed for the rest of the day Friday "as the Pennsylvania State Police process the crime scene along this route for evidence."

In the wake of the shootings, a prayer service for the community was scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at Geeseytown Lutheran Church in Frankstown Township.

CNN's Jake Carpenter contributed to this report.

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NRA: Guns in schools would protect students

Updated: 6:44 p.m. ET

In a press conference reflecting on last week's massacre in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre today called on Congress to put armed law enforcement agents in every American school, insisting that guns in schools -- not tougher gun laws -- would most effectively protect children from school shootings.

Play Video

A "good guy with a gun" in every school?

LaPierre, who did not take any questions and whose remarks were interrupted twice by pro-gun control protesters, disdained the notion that stricter gun laws could have prevented "monsters" like Adam Lanza from committing mass shootings, and wondered why students, unlike banks, don't have the protection of armed officials. He also called for a "national database of the mentally ill."

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," he said.

Twenty first-grade students were gunned down at their Connecticut elementary school last Friday, when 20-year-old Lanza reportedly opened fire in the school. Six adult faculty members were killed in his rampage, and Lanza also took his own life. Shortly before entering Sandy Hook Elementary School, Lanza is believed to have killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, in her bed. In the aftermath of the shootings, there has been much speculation as to the state of Adam Lanza's mental health, but no concrete evidence has been established that he was mentally ill.

Play Video

60 Minutes archives: Understanding the NRA

In the aftermath of the shooting, the NRA stayed largely silent, making only a brief comment earlier this week when announcing today's press conference. In his remarks today, however, LaPierre vehemently defended the pro-gun agency against critics and offered up a solution of his own.

"We must speak for the safety of our nation's children," said LaPierre. "We care about our money, so we protect our banks with armed guards. American airports, office buildings, power plants, courthouses, even sports stadiums, are all protected by armed security. We care about our president, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents. Members of Congress works in offices surrounded by Capitol police officers, yet when it comes to our most beloved innocent and vulnerable members of the American family -- our children -- we as a society leave them every day utterly defenseless. And the monsters and the predators of the world know it and exploit it."

"That must change now," argued LaPierre, moments before being interrupted by a protester carrying a large pink sign proclaiming that the "NRA is killing our kids." "The truth is that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters -- people so deranged, so evil, so possessed by voices and driven by demons that no sane person can possibly ever comprehend them. They walk among us every day. And does anybody really believe that the next Adam Lanza isn't planning his attack on a school he's already identified at this very moment?"

Play Video

60 Minutes archives: The anti-gun lobby

Alternately criticizing politicians, the media, and the entertainment industry, LaPierre argued that "the press and political class here in Washington [are] so consumed by fear and hatred of the NRA and America's gun owners" that they overlook what he claims is the real solution to the nation's recent surge in mass shootings -- and what, he said, could have saved lives last week.

"What if, when Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday, he had been confronted by qualified, armed security?" he asked. "Will you at least admit it's possible that 26 innocent lives might have been spared? Is that so abhorrent to you that you would rather continue to risk the alternative?"

LaPierre called on Congress to put a police officer in every school in America, which according to a Slate analysis would cost the nation at least $5.4 billion. LaPierre recognized that local budgets are "strained," but urged lawmakers "to act immediately, to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school." He offered up the NRA's unique "knowledge, dedication, and resources" to assist in efforts to train those forces, but made no mention of a fiscal contribution. 

Columbine High School employed an armed guard, Neil Gardner, at the time of the 1999 school shootings. According to CNN, Gardner was eating lunch in his car when violence broke out in the school, and 13 people were killed.

Play Video

Protesters disrupt NRA press conference

Gun control advocates immediately decried LaPierre's comments, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the press conference a "shameful evasion of the crisis facing our country."

"Instead of offering solutions to a problem they have helped create, they offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe," he said. "Leadership is about taking responsibility, especially in times of crisis. Today the NRA's lobbyists blamed everyone but themselves for the crisis of gun violence."

On Twitter, Senator-elect Chris Murphy, D-Ct., called LaPierre's comments "the most revolting, tone-deaf statement I've ever seen."

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Obama Still an 'Optimist' on Cliff Deal

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

WASHINGTON D.C. – Ten days remain before the mandatory spending cuts and tax increases known as the “fiscal cliff” take effect, but President Obama said he is still a “hopeless optimist” that a federal budget deal can be reached before the year-end deadline that economists agree might plunge the country back into recession.

“Even though Democrats and Republicans are arguing about whether those rates should go up for the wealthiest individuals, all of us – every single one of us -agrees that tax rates shouldn’t go up for the other 98 percent of Americans, which includes 97 percent of small businesses,” he said.

He added that there was “no reason” not to move forward on that aspect, and that it was “within our capacity” to resolve.

The question of whether to raise taxes on incomes over $250,000 remains at an impasse, but is only one element of nuanced legislative wrangling that has left the parties at odds.

For ABC News’ breakdown of the rhetoric versus the reality, click here.

At the White House news conference this evening, the president confirmed he had spoken today to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, although no details of the conversations were disclosed.

The talks came the same day Speaker Boehner admitted “God only knows” the solution to the gridlock, and a day after mounting pressure from within his own Republican Party forced him to pull his alternative proposal from a prospective House vote. That proposal, ”Plan B,” called for extending current tax rates for Americans making up to $1 million a year, a far wealthier threshold than Democrats have advocated.

Boehner acknowledged that even the conservative-leaning “Plan B” did not have the support necessary to pass in the Republican-dominated House, leaving a resolution to the fiscal cliff in doubt.

“In the next few days, I’ve asked leaders of Congress to work towards a package that prevents a tax hike on middle-class Americans, protects unemployment insurance for 2 million Americans, and lays the groundwork for further work on both growth and deficit reduction,” Obama said. ”That’s an achievable goal.  That can get done in 10 days.”

Complicating matters: The halls of Congress are silent tonight. The House of Representatives began its holiday recess Thursday and Senate followed this evening.

Meanwhile, the president has his own vacation to contend with. Tonight, he was embarking for Hawaii and what is typically several weeks of Christmas vacation.

However, during the press conference the president said he would see his congressional colleagues “next week” to continue negotiations, leaving uncertain how long Obama plans to remain in the Aloha State.

The president said he hoped the time off would give leaders “some perspective.”

“Everybody can cool off; everybody can drink some eggnog, have some Christmas cookies, sing some Christmas carols, enjoy the company of loved ones,” he said. “And then I’d ask every member of Congress, while they’re back home, to think about that.  Think about the obligations we have to the people who sent us here.

“This is not simply a contest between parties in terms of who looks good and who doesn’t,” he added later. “There are real-world consequences to what we do here.”

Obama concluded by reiterating that neither side could walk away with “100 percent” of its demands, and that it negotiations couldn’t remain “a contest between parties in terms of who looks good and who doesn’t.”

Boehner’s office reacted quickly to the remarks, continuing recent Republican statements that presidential leadership was at fault for the ongoing gridlock.

“Though the president has failed to offer any solution that passes the test of balance, we remain hopeful he is finally ready to get serious about averting the fiscal cliff,” Boehner said. “The House has already acted to stop all of the looming tax hikes and replace the automatic defense cuts. It is time for the Democratic-run Senate to act, and that is what the speaker told the president tonight.”

The speaker’s office said Boehner “will return to Washington following the holiday, ready to find a solution that can pass both houses of Congress.”

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Today on New Scientist: 21 December 2012

Cadaver stem cells offer new hope of life after death

Stem cells can be extracted from bone marrow five days after death to be used in life-saving treatments

Apple's patents under fire at US patent office

The tech firm is skating on thin ice with some of the patents that won it a $1 billion settlement against Samsung

Himalayan dam-building threatens endemic species

The world's highest mountains look set to become home to a huge number of dams - good news for clean energy but bad news for biodiversity

Astrophile: Black hole exposed as a dwarf in disguise

A white dwarf star caught mimicking a black hole's X-ray flashes may be the first in a new class of binary star systems

Blind juggling robot keeps a ball in the air for hours

The robot, which has no visual sensors, can juggle a ball flawlessly by analysing its trajectory

Studio sessions show how Bengalese finch stays in tune

This songbird doesn't need technological aids to stay in tune - and it's smart enough to not worry when it hears notes that are too far off to be true

Giant tooth hints at truly monumental dinosaur

A lone tooth found in Argentina may have belonged to a dinosaur even larger than those we know of, but what to call it?

Avian flu virus learns to fly without wings

A strain of bird flu that hit the Netherlands in 2003 travelled by air, a hitherto suspected by unproven route of transmission

Feedback: Are wind turbines really fans?

A tale of "disease-spreading" wind farms, the trouble with quantifying "don't know", the death of parody in the UK, and more

The link between devaluing animals and discrimination

Our feelings about other animals have important consequences for how we treat humans, say prejudice researchers Gordon Hodson and Kimberly Costello

Best videos of 2012: First motion MRI of unborn twins

Watch twins fight for space in the womb, as we reach number 6 in our countdown of the top videos of the year

2012 Flash Fiction winner: Sleep by Richard Clarke

Congratulations to Richard Clarke, who won the 2012 New Scientist Flash Fiction competition with a clever work of satire

Urban Byzantine monks gave in to temptation

They were supposed to live on an ascetic diet of mainly bread and water, but the monks in 6th-century Jerusalem were tucking into animal products

The pregnant promise of fetal medicine

As prenatal diagnosis and treatment advance, we are entering difficult ethical territory

2013 Smart Guide: Searching for human origins in Asia

Africa is where humanity began, where we took our first steps, but those interested in the latest cool stuff on our origins should now look to Asia instead

The end of the world is an opportunity, not a threat

Don't waste time bemoaning the demise of the old order; get on with building the new one

Victorian counting device gets speedy quantum makeover

A photon-based version of a 19th-century mechanical device could bring quantum computers a step closer

Did learning to fly give bats super-immunity?

When bats first took to the air, something changed in their DNA which may have triggered their incredible immunity to viruses

Van-sized space rock is a cosmic oddball

Fragments from a meteor that exploded over California in April are unusually low in amino acids, putting a twist on one theory of how life on Earth began

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Kingfisher shares rise on new licence application

NEW DELHI: Shares in India's grounded Kingfisher Airlines climbed nearly three per cent on Friday on news that the stricken carrier has applied to renew its operating licence.

The move came days after Kingfisher, whose liquor baron owner Vijay Mallya has been desperately seeking investment from foreign carriers, said it aims to resume operations in a "phased manner".

Kingfisher's shares rose to 15.88 rupees in morning trade after regulatory authorities confirmed it had applied Thursday for the licence renewal.

An official said, however, that the application had not included the revival plan that has been demanded by regulators.

"This application needs to be made as their licence is expiring but there can be no (licence) renewal without a revival plan," the official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation told AFP, asking not to be named.

Kingfisher, once India's second-largest airline by market share, could not be immediately reached for comment but it said on Monday it has come up with a full recapitalisation plan.

The firm has not flown since its planes were grounded in October by an employees' strike over unpaid wages, leading the regulator to suspend its operating licence until it comes up with a "viable" revival formula.

The airline, whose current licence expires on December 31, said last week it was in talks with investors including Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.

But aviation analysts have expressed doubt whether Etihad would be interested in Bangalore-based Kingfisher given its debt load, which is estimated at $2.5 billion by the consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

Kingfisher's shares have climbed from an all-time low of 7.05 rupees in August on investor hopes a stake sale will avert a shutdown but they are still trading at a fraction of their record 2007 peak of 334 rupees.

- AFP/il

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Boehner's Plan B goes down without getting a vote

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: "The president will work with Congress to get this done," the White House says


• The House Speaker says his Plan B wasn't voted on because it didn't have "sufficient support"


• A bill to alter cuts did narrowly pass the House; the White House says it would veto


• The fiscal cliff's tax hikes and spending cuts are set to take effect in January

Washington (CNN) -- House Speaker John Boehner's proposal to avert the looming fiscal cliff's automatic tax increases failed to curry enough Republican support Thursday night, after which Congress left for the holiday with no clear end in sight in the high-stakes debate.

Boehner said earlier Thursday that he was confident that his so-called Plan B -- which would extend tax cuts that are set to expire at year's end for most people while allowing rates to increase to 1990s levels on income over $1 million -- would pass the House, and in the process put pressure on President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Senate. But his gambit seemed in doubt earlier Thursday as Republican leaders struggled to get most all their members to sign on -- even enlisting senators like Sen. Rob Portman, to work the House floor -- knowing the chamber's Democrats oppose it.

Then, around 8 p.m., House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced that the measure would not go up for a vote as planned.

"The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass," Boehner said in a statement. "Now it is up to the president to work with Senator (Harry) Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff."

Democratic leaders already had signaled they oppose the so-called Plan B.

After Thursday night's unexpected reversal, Republican legislators walked past reporters through the halls of Congress, and most did not take questions. One who did -- Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizonan who will move to the Senate next month -- said he was disappointed.

"It's too bad; I'd rather vote on it tonight," said Flake, who said he sides with Democrats in backing the extension of tax cuts except for household income of more than $250,000. "Get it done."

What this means next in the fiscal cliff talks is unclear. From here, scenarios range from intensified and ultimately successful talks in the coming days or entrenchment as the fiscal cliff becomes a reality next year, when a new Congress could enter negotiations with Obama.

The Plan B was significant because Republican leaders previously insisted they wouldn't raise rates on anyone, while Obama called tax rates for those earning more than $250,000 threshold to return to 1990s levels while extending tax cuts for everyone else.

Although the House didn't vote on Boehner's tax measure, most Republicans did vote together earlier Thursday as the House narrowly approved, 215-209, a related measure to alter automatic spending cuts set to kick in next year under the fiscal cliff, replacing cuts to the military with reductions elsewhere. The Congressional Budget Office said this would lead to $217.7 billion in cuts over the next decade, short of the $1.2 trillion in cuts that would go into effect in January if the fiscal cliff isn't averted.

Moments after that vote, the White House issued a statement indicating it would veto this bill. But that should be a moot point, since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he won't bring it up for a vote.

Republicans consider piggybacking spending cuts to 'Plan B'

"For weeks, the White House said that if I moved on rates, that they would make substantial concessions on spending cuts and entitlement reforms," House Speaker John Boehner said before his plan fell flat. "I did my part. They've done nothing."

While the Ohio congressman said Obama seems "unwilling to stand up to his own party on the big issues that face our country," Democrats say Republican leaders are buckling to their conservative base by backing off as negotiations seemed to be nearing a deal.

White House spokesman Jay Carney called the GOP alternatives "a major step backwards," claiming they'd lead to extended tax cuts of $50,000 for millionaires. Reid slammed the two Republican measures -- the one that passed and the one that wasn't brought up for a vote -- as "pointless political stunts."

The war of words notwithstanding, Boehner, Carney and Senate Democratic leaders all said they are ready to talk. Reid has said the Senate -- with many members attending a memorial service Friday and funeral in Hawaii on Sunday for Sen. Daniel Inouye -- will be back at work December 27. And after Thursday's session, Cantor's office said legislative business was finished for the week but the House could reconvene after Christmas if needed.

"I remain hopeful," Boehner said. "Our country has big challenges, and the president and I are going to have to work together to solve those challenges."

The path toward the fast-approaching fiscal cliff

The possibility of a fiscal cliff -- which economists warn will hit the American economy hard -- was set in motion two years ago, as a way to force action on mounting government debt. Negotiations between top Congressional Republicans and Democrats resumed after Obama's re-election last month as did the barbs from both sides.

Polling has consistently shown most Americans back the president, who insists wealthy Americans must pay more, rather than Boehner and his Republican colleagues, who have balked at tax rate hikes and demanded spending cuts and entitlement program reforms.

A new CNN/ORC International survey released Thursday showed that just over half of respondents believe Republicans should give up more in any solution and consider the party's policies too extreme.

CNN poll: Are GOP policies too extreme?

The two sides seemingly had made progress on forging a $2 trillion deficit reduction deal that included new revenue sought by Obama and spending cuts and entitlement changes desired by Boehner.

Senior administration officials said Obama and Boehner have not spoken since Monday, when the president made a counterproposal to a Republican offer over the weekend.

The president's offer set $400,000 as the household income threshold for a tax rate increase. It also included a new formula for the consumer price index applied to benefits for programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to protect against inflation, much to the chagrin of some liberals.

The new calculation, called chained CPI, includes assumptions on consumer habits in response to rising prices, such as seeking cheaper alternatives, and would result in smaller benefit increases in future years. Statistics supplied by opponents say the change would mean Social Security recipients would get $6,000 less in benefits over the first 15 years of chained CPI.

Boehner essentially halted negotiations by introducing his Plan B on Tuesday. He described it as a fallback option to prevent a sweeping tax increase when tax cuts dating to President George W. Bush's administration expire in two weeks. The spending cut vote -- similar to one passed by the House last year that went nowhere in the Senate -- was added to the docket later Thursday, to appeal to conservative legislators upset about backing a tax increase without acting on spending and protecting the military budget.

The House speaker's reasoning was that the passage of Plan B and the spending bill would put the onus on Obama and Senate Democrats to accept them or offer a compromise.

For now, the Obama administration won't have to weigh in on the tax part of that scenario. As to the House-approved spending cuts bill, White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage dismissed the GOP alternative as "nothing more than a dangerous diversion" for eliminating federal funding by negatively impacting millions of seniors, disabled individuals and poor and at-risk children.

In a statement Thursday night, the White House didn't address Thursday's House proceedings but referenced its top priority -- ensuring that 98% of Americans don't see their taxes rise in January. The statement expressed confidence that there will be deal on the fiscal cliff but with no explanation of how, when or what such an agreement would look like.

"The president will work with Congress to get this done, and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy," the White House said.

Delay of 100 million tax returns?

CNN's Tom Cohen, Greg Botelho, Joe Sterling and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

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Bank robber from daring Chicago jail escape caught after manhunt

CHICAGO One of two bank robbers was arrested late Thursday after a manhunt following the pair's daring escape from a high-rise federal jail in Chicago, the FBI said.

FBI spokeswoman Joan Hyde said Joseph "Jose" Banks was captured without incident in Chicago. Agents and officers from the Chicago FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force, along with officers from the Chicago Police Department, arrested Banks about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Hyde said in a news release.

The search continued early Friday for Kenneth Conley, who fled the jail with Banks early Tuesday.

Banks, 37, and Conley, 38, somehow broke a large hole into the bottom of a 6-inch wide window of the Metropolitan Correctional Center, dropped a makeshift rope made of bed sheets out and climbed down about 20 stories to the ground.

The escape went unnoticed for hours, with surveillance video from a nearby street showing the two hopping into a cab shortly before 3 a.m. Tuesday. They were no longer wearing their orange jail-issued jumpsuits.

When the facility did discover the two men were gone, around 7 a.m., what was found revealed a meticulously planned escape, including clothing and sheets shaped to resemble a body under blankets on beds, bars inside a mattress and even fake bars in the cells.

A massive manhunt involving state, federal and local law enforcement agencies was launched, as SWAT teams stormed into the home of a relative of Conley, only to learn the two had been there but had left, and searched other area homes and businesses -- including a strip club where Conley once worked.

Law enforcement officials did not answer a host of questions, including how the men could collect about 200 feet of bed sheets, and what they might have used to break through the wall of the federal facility.

Banks, known as the Second-Hand Bandit because he wore used clothes during his heists, was convicted last week of robbing two banks and attempting to rob two others. Authorities say he stole almost $600,000, and most of that still is missing.

During trial, he had to be restrained because he threatened to walk out of the courtroom. He acted as his own attorney and verbally sparred with the prosecutor, at times arguing that U.S. law didn't apply to him because he was a sovereign citizen of a group that was above state and federal law.

Conley pleaded guilty last October to robbing a Homewood Bank last year of nearly $4,000. Conley, who worked at the time at a suburban strip club, wore a coat and tie when he robbed the bank and had a gun stuffed in his waistband.

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Fiscal Cliff 'Plan B' Is Dead: Now What?

Dec 20, 2012 11:00pm

The defeat of his Plan B — Republicans pulled it when it became clear it would be voted down — is a big defeat for Speaker of the House John Boehner.  It demonstrates definitively that there is no fiscal cliff deal that can pass the House on Republican votes alone.

Boehner could not even muster the votes to pass something that would only allow tax rates on those making more than $1 million to go up.

Boehner’s Plan B ran into opposition from conservative and tea party groups -including Heritage Action, Freedom Works and the Club for Growth – but it became impossible to pass it after Senate Democrats vowed not to take up the bill and the president threatened to veto it.  Conservative Republicans saw no reason to vote for a bill conservative activists opposed – especially if it had no hopes of going anywhere anyway.

Plan B is dead.

Now what?

House Republicans say it is now up to the Senate to act.  Senate Democrats say it is now up to Boehner to reach an agreement with President Obama.

Each side is saying the other must move.

The bottom line:  The only plausible solution is for President Obama and Speaker Boehner to do what they have failed repeatedly to do:  come up with a truly bi-partisan deal.

The prospects look grimmer than ever. It will be interesting to see if the markets react.

SHOWS: This Week

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2013 Smart Guide: Searching for human origins in Asia

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"

Move over Africa. It is where humanity began, where we took our first steps and grew big brains. But those interested in the latest cool stuff on the origins of our species should look to Asia instead.

Why so? It looks as if some early chapters in the human story, and significant chunks of its later ones too, took place under Asian skies.

For starters, 37-million-year-old fossils from Burma are the best evidence yet that our branch of the primate tree originated in Asia rather than Africa.

A great deal later, after the emergence of early humans from Africa, some of our distant cousins set up shop in Asia, only to die out later. In 2012 anthropologists described for the first time human fossils unlike any others - ancient hominins dubbed the Red Deer Cave People who lived in what is now China as recently as 15,000 years ago, then vanished without further trace.

The implication is that more long-lost cousins remain to be found in South-East Asia's neglected fossil record. We know a little about the enigmatic Denisovans, for example. Their DNA was first discovered in 50,000-year-old fossil fragments from a Siberian cave in 2010, and traces of that DNA live on in modern Indonesians. Not only does this show that the Denisovans interbred with our species, it also suggests they occupied a territory so large it took in South-East Asia as well as Siberia.

Yet the only evidence we have of their existence are a finger bone and a tooth. Too long have the vast plains and forests of Asia remained untouched by the trowels and brushes of palaeoanthropologists. Teams of them are champing at the bit to explore Asia's rocks. Denisovans - and, hopefully, other ancestors, too - will not remain faceless for long.

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Train service disrupted on NEL due to train fault

SINGAPORE: Train services on the Northeast Line have been delayed due to a train fault on Thursday.

A caller to the MediaCorp hotline said a train has apparently broken down.

She said commuters have been told to take the bus to Serangoon station to continue their journey.

Delays of up to 20 minutes can be expected in train services in both directions.

One commuter said she had been stuck in the train for about 30 minutes.

- CNA/xq

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Obama to GOP: 'Take the deal'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• White House threatens to veto Boehner's "plan B"


• President Obama suggests Republicans are fixated on besting him personally


• Speaker Boehner says the House will pass his fallback tax plan Thursday


• Without a deal, everyone's taxes go up in the new year

Washington (CNN) -- After progress earlier this week in fiscal cliff negotiations, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner butted heads Wednesday, setting the stage for a showdown as the deadline looms for an agreement.

The negotiations had focused on a $2 trillion package of new revenue, spending cuts and entitlement changes the two sides have shaped into a broad deficit reduction plan.

Boehner on Tuesday proposed a "plan B," which would extend Bush-era tax cuts on income of up to $1 million. He described it as a fallback option to prevent a sweeping tax hike while negotiations continue on a broader plan.

But the White House on Wednesday threatened to veto "plan B," saying it would bring only "minimal" changes in projected budget deficits.

Obama told reporters earlier in the day that Republicans were focused too much on besting him personally rather than thinking about what's best for the country.

"Take the deal," Obama said to Republicans, referring to the broader proposal, adding that it would "reduce the deficit more than any other deficit reduction package" and would represent an achievement.

"They should be proud of it," Obama said. "But they keep on finding ways to say 'no' as opposed to finding ways to say 'yes.' "

His comments at a White House news conference came less than two weeks before the end of the year, when the nation's taxpayers would face automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts if no agreement is reached.

Economists say that failure to reach agreement could spark another recession.

Boehner issued his own statement Wednesday, saying the president had yet to make a proposal offering a balance between increased revenue and spending cuts.

In a 52-second appearance before reporters, Boehner said the House will pass his fallback plan Thursday limiting tax increases to income above $1 million.

While the plan represents a concession from Boehner's original vow to oppose any tax-rate increase, it sets a higher threshold than the $400,000 sought by Obama.

Once the House passes his plan, the president can either persuade Senate Democrats to accept it or "be responsible for the largest tax increase in American history," Boehner said before walking off without answering shouted questions.

The Obama administration and congressional Democrats said Boehner changed course because he was unable to muster Republican support for the larger deal being negotiated with Obama.

At his news conference, Obama alluded to last Friday's Connecticut school shootings in calling on Republicans to put aside political brinksmanship. "If there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be perspective about what's important," he said.

"Right now, what the country needs is for us to compromise," he continued. He characterized as "puzzling" the GOP refusal to accept his compromise.

Asked why an agreement was proving so elusive after both sides had made concessions, Obama said it might be that "it is very hard for them to say 'yes' to me."

"At some point they've got to take me out of it," Obama said of Republicans, adding they should instead focus on "doing something good for the country."

Boehner responded by arguing that Obama's proposal was not evenly balanced, with more new revenue instead of the spending cuts and entitlement reforms Republicans seek.

The Boehner plan B would leave intact government spending cuts, including those related to defense, which are required under a budget deal reached last year to raise the federal debt ceiling. The threat of cuts was intended to motivate Congress to reach a deal.

Opinion: Art that calls the fiscal cliff's bluff

But Obama said Wednesday that Boehner's proposal "defies logic" because it raises tax rates on some Americans, which Republicans say they do not want, and contains no spending cuts, which Republicans say they do want.

He also criticized the measure as a benefit for wealthy Americans, who would have lower tax rates on income up to $1 million.

The White House and congressional Democrats say plan B has no chance of passing; Obama said that bringing it up only wastes time.

Senior administration officials said Obama and Boehner have not spoken to each other since Monday. GOP leaders planned to vote Thursday on Boehner's proposal, as well as Obama's long-standing proposal to return to higher tax rates of the 1990s on income above $250,000 for families.

Obama on Monday raised the threshold for the higher tax rates to $400,000.

Conservative allies publicly supported Boehner's plan Wednesday.

Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist provided political cover for Republicans who have signed his pledge against tax increases, saying he could support plan B.

Obama and Democrats argue that increased revenue, including higher tax rates on the wealthy, must be part of broader deficit reduction plan.

Obama made the tax proposal a theme of his re-election campaign, arguing that it would prevent a tax increase for middle-class Americans.

Polls show support for the Obama plan, and some Republicans have called for acceding to the president on the tax issue in order to focus on cuts to spending and entitlement programs.

Budget experts: Fiscal cliff deal could disappoint

Boehner and Republicans initially opposed any rise in tax rates but agreed to raising revenue by eliminating some deductions and loopholes. The offer of a plan with higher rates for millionaires represented a further concession, but Obama and Democrats say it would not suffice.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Boehner's plan appeared to be a result of pressure from tea party conservatives opposing a wider deal.

"It would be a shame if Republicans abandoned productive negotiations due to pressure from the tea party, as they have time and again," Reid said this week.

Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel, shot back that the plan B proposal gave Democrats what they wanted -- higher tax rates on millionaires.

What happens if the payroll tax cut expires

Obama's latest offer has generated protests from the liberal base of the Democratic Party because it includes cuts in entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Justin Ruben, executive director of MoveOn, which backed Obama's presidential campaigns, said its members would consider any benefit cuts "a betrayal that sells out working and middle-class families."

In particular, liberals cited concessions that Obama made Monday in his counteroffer, including a new inflation formula applied to benefits called chained CPI.

Obama offers fiscal cliff tax concession

Chained CPI includes assumptions on consumer habits in response to rising prices, such as seeking cheaper alternatives, and would result in smaller benefit increases in future years.

Statistics supplied by opponents say the change would mean Social Security recipients would get $6,000 less in benefits over the first 15 years of chained CPI.

But White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama's CPI proposal "would protect vulnerable communities, including the very elderly, when it comes to Social Security recipients." He called the president's acceptance of the chained CPI a signal of his willingness to compromise.

CNN's Dan Lothian, Dana Bash, Deirdre Walsh and Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.

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Senate GOP proposes much smaller Sandy aid package

WASHINGTONSenate Republicans on Wednesday proposed a $24 billion emergency aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims, less than half of what Democrats hope to pass by Christmas.

The GOP alternative bill would provide more than enough money to pay for immediate recovery efforts through the spring.

Republicans complain that the $60.4 billion Democratic bill being debated in the Senate is larded with money for projects unrelated to damage from the late October storm, which battered the Atlantic coastline from North Carolina to Maine.

The Republican version does not include $13 billion Democrats want for projects to protect against future storms, including fortification of mass transit systems in the Northeast and protecting vulnerable seaside areas by building jetties against storm surges.

49 Photos

Sandy's devastation on Staten Island

Republicans said however worthy such projects may be, they are not urgently needed and should be considered by Congress in the usual appropriations process next year, not through emergency spending.

"We want to take care of urgent needs now," said Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations homeland security subcommittee, who put forward the bill. "We can look at other needs down the road when we have more time to look at them."

The GOP bill also scraps spending from the Democratic bill that is not directly related to Sandy damages, such as the $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for declared fisheries disasters in 2012 that could go to New England states, Alaska, New York and Mississippi.

The aid will help states rebuild public infrastructure like roads and tunnels and help thousands of people displaced from their homes. Sandy was the most costly natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and one of the worst storms ever in the Northeast.

More than $2 billion in federal funds has been spent on relief efforts so far for 11 states and the District of Columbia. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund still has about $4.8 billion, and officials have said that is enough to pay for recovery efforts into early spring.

Earlier this month, Govs. Chris Christie, R-N.J., Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., and Dannel Malloy, D-Conn., argued in an op-ed that "in times of crisis no region, state or single American should have to stand alone or be left to fend for themselves," pointing to the "hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, thousands still left homeless or displaced, tens of billions of dollars in economic loss" as evidence that "It's time for Congress to stand with us."

The governors, while recognizing that "our nation faces significant fiscal challenges," strive to separate the disaster-relief needs of their region from the ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations consuming Capitol Hill, arguing that Congress must "not allow this much-needed aid to fall in to the ideological divide."

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Obama Invokes Newtown on 'Cliff' Deal

Invoking the somber aftermath of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., President Obama today appealed to congressional Republicans to embrace a standing "fair deal" on taxes and spending that would avert the fiscal cliff in 13 days.

"If there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be a sense of perspective about what's important," Obama said at a midday news conference.

"I would like to think that members of that [Republican] caucus would say to themselves, 'You know what? We disagree with the president on a whole bunch of things,'" he said. "'But right now what the country needs is for us to compromise.'"

House Speaker John Boehner's response: "Get serious."

Boehner announced at a 52-second news conference that the House will vote Thursday to approve a "plan B" to a broad White House deal -- and authorize simply extending current tax rates for people earning less than $1 million a year and little more.

"Then, the president will have a decision to make," the Ohio Republican said. "He can call on Senate Democrats to pass that bill or he could be responsible for the largest tax increase in American history."

Fiscal Cliff Negotiations: Trying to Make a Deal Watch Video

House Speaker John Boehner Proposes 'Plan B' on Taxes Watch Video

'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations: Deal Might Be Within Reach Watch Video

Unless Congress acts by Dec. 31, every American will face higher income tax rates and government programs will get hit with deep automatic cuts starting in 2013.

Obama and Boehner have been inching closer to a deal on tax hikes and spending cuts to help reduce the deficit. But they have not yet had a breakthrough on a deal.

Obama's latest plan would raise $1.2 trillion in new tax revenue over 10 years, largely through higher tax rates on incomes above $400,000. He also proposes roughly $930 billion in spending cuts, including new limits on entitlement spending, such as slower annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries.

Boehner has agreed to $1 trillion in new tax revenue, with a tax rate hike for households earning over $1 million. He is seeking more than $1 trillion in spending cuts, with significant changes to Medicare and Social Security.

The president said today that he remains "optimistic" about reaching a broad compromise by Christmas because both sides are "pretty close," a sentiment that has been publicly shared by Boehner.

But the speaker's backup plan has, at least temporarily, stymied talks, with no reported contact between the sides since Monday.

"The speaker should return to the negotiating table with the president because if he does I firmly believe we can have an agreement before Christmas," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a White House ally.

Schumer said Obama and Boehner are "not that far apart" in the negotiations.

"If they were to come to an agreement by Friday, they could write this stuff over the Christmas break and then we'd have to come back before the New Year and pass it," Schumer said.

Obama said he is "open to conversations" and planned to reach out to congressional leaders over the next few days to try to nudge Republicans to accept a "fair deal."

"At some point, there's got to be, I think, a recognition on the part of my Republican friends that -- you know, take the deal," he told reporters.

"They keep on finding ways to say no, as opposed to finding ways to say yes," Obama added. "At some point, you know, they've got take me out of it and think about their voters and think about what's best for the country."

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Fail-safe software could stop flash crashes

HIGH-FREQUENCY trading algorithms are seriously profitable. But they are also a serious problem, leading to mysterious "flash crashes" on the world's financial markets. So would emergency fail-safes of the kind used to prevent medical robots and nuclear reactors going haywire be any help?

Philip Bond, a computer scientist at the University of Bristol, UK, thinks so. At present, suspicious trading at an exchange can be stopped by a catch-all "market halt", but that's often too late: what is needed is a reliable way of sensing when wild stock-price variations suggest a build-up to a crash. At that point a smart circuit breaker could step in, Bond told a London meeting of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation on 11 December.

The idea is to avoid another debacle like the flash crash of 6 May 2010, when $10 trillion was briefly knocked off the Dow Jones Industrial Average after a trading firm's high-frequency algorithm went awry. Prices mostly recovered in a matter of minutes, but the turbulence caused slumps in stock prices around the globe.

High-speed traders have a distinct advantage over traditional investors, according to research by Andrei Kirilenko, chief economist at the US Commodity Trading Futures Commission, and his colleagues. Kirilenko presented the findings on 30 November at the National Bureau of Economic Research's Market Microstructure Meeting. This skewed playing field might increase market instability even more.

Because high-frequency trading algorithms (HFTs) can work at blistering speeds - a trade every 60 microseconds is common - a lot can happen before humans have a chance to intervene. This has left governments scrambling to come up with ways to regulate the practice. The European Parliament is considering legislation that could force traders to increase trading intervals to a "safer" half a second.

But Bond and his colleagues, who examined the risks of high-speed trading for the UK government, say that enforcing a delay is wrong-headed. Making algorithms wait half a second would stop them from reacting to breaking financial news and render them useless.

Instead, they propose using circuit-breaker algorithms that will trip when trading becomes erratic. Such software monitors systems like medical robots and nuclear reactors for potentially dangerous behaviour. "HFT circuit breakers need to be considered as very high reliability software engineered to work under stressed conditions and with multiple backups," he says.

A decision is needed fast. The proportion of high frequency trades has declined in the US in recent years as they have lost some of their initial edge, but they still account for a majority of trades. And the hardware needed to get in the game is becoming more accessible - a server running a high-speed system costs only $270,000, and prices will keep falling.

Any technical backstops will have to distinguish between algorithms gone haywire and simple bad decision-making, warns Fod Barnes, an economist with UK consultants Oxera. "The HFT system is a bit more complex than just engineering," he says. "Why should those who manage to write an algorithm that makes a series of very bad trades be protected from their own folly?"

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50 community countdown parties to welcome 2013

SINGAPORE: Grassroots organisations under the People's Association umbrella are organising about 50 community countdown parties islandwide to usher in the new year.

80,000 residents are expected to join in the revelry, which will also feature more budding local performers. Some of the highlights include a cosplay event, stargazing, and fireworks.

For example, for the countdown at Boon Lay, local bands will perform for the residents, while at the cosplay event at the Sengkang West countdown party, organisers will try to set the first record for largest cosplay gathering in the Singapore Book of Records.

At Nee Soon GRC's countdown party, the fireworks display will be upped to five minutes - from three minutes in previous years.

People's Association's chief executive director Mr Yam Ah Mee said that in the last few years, he has noticed more youth community leaders getting involved in the planning and organising of these countdown parties.

"These youths have brought together new insights to how they would like to organise the countdown, to provide platforms for fellow other youths and fellow other residents to come - not just to watch the countdown, but to participate in the countdown. And the youths have also planned to involve more of the residents' talents so residents can showcase, using the platform of the countdown, to showcase their talents to fellow other residents," he said.

- CNA/ck

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Strauss-Kahn pimp charges weighed

By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

updated 3:46 AM EST, Wed December 19, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Strauss-Kahn does not deny he attended sex parties


• But, his lawyers say, he didn't know the girls were paid for sex


• Earlier this month, he settled a civil suit with a New York hotel maid


• He also deflected two other scandals

(CNN) -- In one case after another, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has managed to put behind him the allegations of sexual misconduct that sidelined his prospects of becoming France's next president.

On Wednesday, the former chief of the International Monetary Fund -- and one time French finance minister -- will find out if he has managed a clean sweep.

A French appeals court will decide whether prosecutors should drop charges against Strauss-Kahn for his alleged participation in a prostitution ring, in what is known in France as the "Carlton affair."

Strauss-Kahn does not deny that he attended sex parties at Hotel Carlton in the northern city of Lille. But, his lawyers claim, he did not know that the young women at the parties were being paid for sex.

So, to charge Strauss-Kahn with aggravated pimping, is "unhealthy, sensationalist and not without a political agenda," his lawyers said.

Strauss-Khan, a 63-year-old economist, was widely expected to become the Socialist presidential candidate -- until his professional career imploded with an arrest in New York in May 2011.

A New York hotel housekeeper, Nafissatou Diallo, told police that a naked Strauss-Kahn emerged from a room of his spacious luxury hotel suite and tried to force himself on her, at one point dragging her into the bathroom and trying to remove her underwear.

Strauss-Kahn alleged the encounter was consensual, but stepped down from his $500,000 job at the IMF.

A grand jury indicted him on seven counts, including sexual abuse and attempted rape, but prosecutors later dropped the charges after concluding Diallo had lied about some details of the alleged attack -- despite forensic evidence that showed a sexual encounter had occurred.

Diallo then filed a civil suit against Strauss-Kahn. The two sides reached a settlement last week, the details of which have not been disclosed.

Earlier in October, a French prosecutor dropped an investigation connecting Strauss-Kahn to a possible gang rape in Washington.

The young Belgian woman whose testimony was the basis for the inquiry withdrew her previous statement and said she would not press charges -- leaving the investigation with no grounds to continue, officials said.

Strauss-Kahn also faced allegations of attempted rape from a young French writer.

Tristane Banon filed a complaint, alleging a 2003 attack. But prosecutors said the case could not be pursued because of a statute of limitations.

Strauss-Kahn denied the allegations and has since filed a countersuit in France, alleging slander.

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UBS to pay $1.5B in fines for rate manipulation

Updated 3:30 a.m. EST

GENEVA Swiss banking giant UBS AG said Wednesday it has admitted to fraud and agreed to pay some $1.5 billion to U.S., British and Swiss authorities in a probe into the rigging of global benchmark interest rates.

The settlement caps a tough year for Switzerland's biggest bank, which is one of several leading banks that has been under investigation over allegations of manipulating the benchmark LIBOR interest rate, short for London interbank offered rate. It is used to set the interest rates on trillions of dollars in contracts around the world, including mortgages and credit cards.

The rate is a self-policing system and relies on information global banks submit to a British banking authority. American and British regulators have already fined Britain's Barclays $453 million for submitting false information between 2005 and 2009 to keep the interest rate low.

UBS said some of its employees tried to rig the LIBOR rate in several currencies, but that its Japan unit, where much of the manipulation took place, entered a plea to one count of wire fraud in a proposed agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.

The statement from the UBS board of directors said some of its personnel had "engaged in efforts to manipulate submissions for certain benchmark rates to benefit trading positions."

The bank also said some of its employees had "colluded with employees at other banks and cash brokers to influence certain benchmark rates to benefit their trading positions" or had given "inappropriate directions to UBS submitters that were in part motivated by a desire to avoid unfair and negative market and media perceptions during the financial crisis."

Sergio Ermotti, who was appointed CEO of UBS AG in November 2012 in the wake of a major trading scandal, said in the statement that the misconduct does not reflect the bank's values or standards.

"We deeply regret this inappropriate and unethical behavior. No amount of profit is more important than the reputation of the firm, and we are committed to doing business with integrity," he said.

With more than $2.4 trillion in invested assets, Zurich-based UBS is one of the world's largest managers of private wealth assets. At last count, the bank had 63,745 employees in 57 countries. It has said it aims for a headcount of 54,000 in 2015.

Along with Credit Suisse, the second-largest Swiss bank, UBS is on the list of the 29 "global systemically important banks" that the Basel, Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements, the central bank for central banks, considers too big to fail.

In 2008, UBS was forced to seek a bailout from the Swiss government when it was hard hit by the financial crisis and its fixed-income unit had more than $50 billion in losses. U.S. authorities fined UBS $780 million in 2009 for helping U.S. citizens avoid paying taxes. The U.S. government has since been pushing Switzerland to loosen its rules on banking secrecy and has been trying to shed its image as a tax haven, signing deals with the United States, Germany and Britain to provide greater assistance to foreign tax authorities seeking information on their citizens' accounts.

In April, Ermotti called Switzerland's tax disputes with the United States and some European nations "an economic war" putting thousands of jobs at risk.

In September 2011, the bank announced more than $2 billion in losses and blamed a 32-year-old rogue trader, Kweku Adoboli, at its London office for Britain's biggest-ever fraud at a bank.

Britain's financial regulator fined UBS, saying its internal controls were inadequate to prevent Adoboli, a relatively inexperienced trader, from making vast and risky bets. Adoboli has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

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Newtown Settles In for Prayerful, Somber Christmas

Residents of Sandy Hook, Conn., gather every year under an enormous tree in the middle of town to sing carols and light the tree. The tree is lit this year, too, but the scene beneath it is starkly different.

The tree looms over hundreds of teddy bears and toys, but they are for children who will never receive them. The ornaments are adorned with names and jarringly recent birth dates.

Wreaths with pine cones and white ribbons hang near the tree, one each for a life lost. A small statue of an angel child sleeps among a sea of candles.

A steady flow of well-wishers, young and old, tearfully comes to cry, pray, light candles, leave gifts and share hugs and stories.

CLICK HERE for complete coverage of the massacre at Sandy Hook.

The Christmas season is a normally joyful time for this tight-knit village, but in the wake of a shooting rampage, holiday decorations have given way this year to memorial signs. And instead of cars with Christmas trees on top, there are media vans with satellites.

Connie Koch has lived in Newtown for nine years. She lives directly behind Sandy Hook Elementary School, where Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 children and six adults before turning the gun on himself. Earlier that Friday morning, he had also killed his mother at home.

President Obama on Newtown Shooting: 'We Must Change' Watch Video

Koch said the shocked town, which includes the Village of Sandy Hook, is experiencing a notably different Christmas this year.

"It's more somber, much more time spent in prayer for our victims' families and our friends that have lost loved ones," she said as she stood near the base of the tree.

CLICK HERE for a tribute to the shooting victims.

Her family has been touched by the tragedy is multiple ways.

"My daughter, she lost her child that she babysat for for six years," she said, holding back tears. "And for her friend who lost her mother. And for my dear friend who lost one of her friends in the school, one of the aides.

"It's hard. And there will be much prayer on Christmas morning for these people, for our community."

Koch said her community always rallies in the face of tragedy, but the term "hits close to home" resonates this time more than ever before. She says the only way to make it through is one day at a time.

"It's all you can do, one hour at a time," Koch said. "For me, I don't even want to wake up in the morning because I don't want to have to face it again. You feel like it's still just a dream and with the funerals starting, it's becoming more real. It's becoming more final."

Another Newtown parent, Adam Zuckerman, stood by the makeshift memorial with a roll of red heart stickers with the words, "In Our" above a drawing of the Sandy Hook Elementary School welcome sign. He was selling the stickers to collect money for a Sandy Hook victims' fund.

"It's a lot," he said of the events of the past few days. "We don't know how it's going to affect our community, but I feel very strongly that I needed to do something to keep it positive, to keep this community positive."

Zuckerman's 20-year-old stepdaughter came home from college for winter break the night before the shooting. As a high school student, she worked in one of the town's popular toy stores.

"She knew a lot of the kids," he said of his daughter. "Their parents brought them in over the years. We have other friends who have lost family here and good friends who are dear friends with the principal of the school. … It's pretty rough."

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Twin attack could deliver universal flu vaccine

A UNIVERSAL vaccine. It is the stuff of dreams for flu scientists, but it could be within reach if a new type of vaccine that elicits an immune response from white blood cells is combined with traditional vaccines.

Every year, between 250,000 and 500,000 people of all ages die worldwide after getting seasonal flu, partly because few people are vaccinated for it. When a novel human flu evolves in pigs or poultry and becomes pandemic, the numbers can be even higher. The solution is better vaccines for people and animals.

Flu comes back every year because when you catch it or are vaccinated, your immune system is only trained to identify the flu's large surface proteins. These proteins change from year to year, allowing flu to strike again if you haven't had an updated vaccine.

To end the need for continually updated shots, researchers have tried to create a vaccine for all flu, with varied success.

Most attempts have been vaccines designed to make us produce antibodies, aimed not at flu's surface proteins, but at internal proteins that are the same in all flu viruses. Success has been mixed. But there is another arm to the immune system. White blood cells called T-cells tend to attack a wider range of invaders than antibodies. If a vaccine sensitises them to internal flu proteins, they could potentially kill all types of flu.

Earlier this year, Sarah Gilbert and colleagues at the University of Oxford equipped the virus used in the smallpox vaccine, which stimulates this cell-mediated immunity, with two proteins common to all flu viruses. They reported that this vaccine prevented symptoms in some people experimentally infected with flu, and those that did get sick had milder symptoms.

Now Colin Butter and colleagues at the Institute for Animal Health in Compton, UK, have tested that vaccine, and a similar one made of a different live virus, in chickens (Vaccine, doi.org/jz6). Just as in people, it did not prevent infection, but the birds' T-cells responded strongly, and less of the virus was passed on.

Neither result sounds very impressive. But, says Butter, the key will be combining these vaccines with the classic kind that elicits antibodies. Gilbert reports that her team has tested such a combination in people, and has seen cell-mediated immunity to the universal proteins, as well as antibodies to specific surface proteins.

Such a combination could be more than the sum of its parts. In chickens, for example, antibodies could knock out the main virus, while T-cells mop up the variants that evade the antibodies and allow the virus to keep spreading - and evolving. "We could finally get vaccines that stop viral spread completely," says Butter.

The "universal" proteins would also give chickens and humans some protection against novel flu viruses. And because they work against all flu, such vaccines can be stockpiled to prepare for pandemics. "I'd love to have a stockpile of vaccine with both antibody and cell-mediated capabilities," says Thomas Reichert of the Entropy Research Institute in Lincoln, Massachusetts. This gives us a chance to beat an adversary we've been defeated by time and again. Or as Reichert puts it: "Now that might bring flu to the negotiating table."

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Report details extensive Walmart bribery in Mexico

NEW YORK: Retail giant Walmart aggressively bribed Mexican officials to get the necessary permits to open more than a dozen supermarkets across the country, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper said its own investigation had identified 19 store sites that were the target of bribery, and detailed one case in which more than $200,000 in bribes was paid to build a supermarket near famed Aztec ruins.

"The Times' examination reveals that Wal-Mart de Mexico was not the reluctant victim of a corrupt culture that insisted on bribes as the cost of doing business. Nor did it pay bribes merely to speed up routine approvals.

"Rather, Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited," it said.

Wal-Mart "used bribes to subvert democratic governance -- public votes, open debates, transparent procedures. It used bribes to circumvent regulatory safeguards that protect Mexican citizens from unsafe construction. It used bribes to outflank rivals."

The Times said Walmart officials themselves did not pay bribes, but arranged for outside lawyers and other middlemen to deliver envelopes of cash that could not be traced back to the company.

The Times said Walmart managed to build a Sam's Club in one of Mexico City's most densely populated neighbourhoods without a construction, environmental or even traffic permit after paying bribes totalling $341,000.

It paid $765,000 in bribes to build a large refrigerated distribution centre in an environmentally fragile flood basin north of the city, the Times said.

And in the case it detailed, Walmart paid more than $200,000 in bribes to build a supermarket in the ancient city of Teotihuacan, near the town's famed step pyramids.

The Times said it used a $52,000 bribe to alter a zoning map that had been approved by the town's elected leaders, and bribed other officials to help it circumvent laws on protecting antiquities, sparking protests in 2004.

Walmart said in response to the story that it had launched an investigation a year ago into potential violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act -- which prohibits bribery -- but had not yet reached any final conclusions.

"We are committed to having a strong and effective global anti-corruption programme everywhere we operate and taking appropriate action for any instance of non-compliance," spokesman David Tovar said in the statement.

Walmart is the largest private employer in Mexico, with 221,000 people working in 2,275 stores across the country, according to the Times.

- AFP/al

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