News rabbiting

Zebrafish made to grow pre-hands instead of fins

Labels: World

PERHAPS the little fish embryo shown here is dancing a jig because it has just discovered that it has legs instead of fins. Fossils show that limbs evolved from fins, but a new study shows how it may have happened, live in the lab.

Fernando Casares of the Spanish National Research Council and his colleagues injected zebrafish with the hoxd13 gene from a mouse. The protein that the gene codes for controls the development of autopods, a precursor to hands, feet and paws.

Zebrafish naturally carry hoxd13 but produce less of the protein than tetrapods - all four-limbed vertebrates and birds - do. Casares and his colleagues hoped that by injecting extra copies of the gene into the zebrafish embryos, some of their cells would make more of the protein.

One full day later, all of those fish whose cells had taken up the gene began to develop autopods instead of fins. They carried on growing for four days but then died (Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2012.10.015).

"Of course, we haven't been able to grow hands," says Casares. He speculates that hundreds of millions of years ago, the ancestors of tetrapods began expressing more hoxd13 for some reason and that this could have allowed them to evolve autopods.

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Cautious Obama faces gun control pressure after school shooting

Labels: Technology

WASHINGTON: The latest mass shooting in the United States - this time with 20 children among the dead - is triggering a deluge of calls for President Barack Obama to address gun control, a politically sensitive issue which he avoided during his first term in the White House.

With the nation in shock over the carnage on Friday, Obama went on television and wiped away tears as he mourned the slain, which included six adults killed at the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school and another elsewhere.

The president stressed he was particularly saddened as a parent. He and wife Michelle have two young daughters.

"We have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this," Obama said in his weekly radio address on Saturday. "Regardless of the politics."

He did not go into details, however, and proponents of gun control are getting impatient.

"The country needs (Obama) to send a bill to Congress to fix this problem," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "Calling for 'meaningful action' is not enough. We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Friday it was too early to address the issue. "There is I'm sure - will be, rather, a day for discussion of the usual Washington policy debates, but I don't think today is that day," Carney said.

People reacted quickly. "Today is the day," read banners held by activists outside the White House in a vigil within hours of the school shooting.

A petition for tougher gun control legislation had more than 80,000 signatures on the White House website Saturday.

The Connecticut killings are unspeakably gruesome because such small children were involved.

But they are not the first such massacre under Obama's watch.

In January 2011 in Arizona six people died at the hands of a shooter targeting Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who took a bullet in the head but survived.

This summer 12 people were shot in Colorado during a midnight screening of a Batman movie.

Obama visited both cities and spoke of the need to crack down on gun violence. He promised to work with Congress and achieve a consensus.

But that is all. His timidity on the issue has been attributed to wariness of alienating voters who believe their constitutional right to bear arms is sacred, deserves a broad interpretation and is not to be touched.

The gun buff and manufacturers lobby, the National Rifle Association, is very critical of Obama even though he has done little that goes against its platform. Its pockets are deep, and it tries to influence local elections. Both Democrats and Republicans are wary of tangling with it.

But after winning re-election in November, Obama will not face the voters again and Jonathan Lowy, director of the Brady Center's Legal Action Project, said the NRA is nothing to fear.

"President Obama and other Democrats have really misread and overestimated the strength of the gun lobby," said Lowy, whose organisation is named for James Brady, the White House press secretary who was shot and left disabled in an assassination attempt on then president Ronald Reagan in 1981.

"The fact is they have very loud bark, but they have very little bite," he told AFP on Saturday.

"In the past election, they (the gun lobby) spent a lot of money - 99 percent of it was towards losing candidates, and that holds true in virtually every election cycle," Lowy said. "They spend a lot of money, they make a lot of noise and their candidates lose, so they really are not a force to be afraid of."

Left-leaning or moderate news outlets also urged the president to take action.

"Obama told the nation that he reacted to the shootings in Newtown 'as a parent,' and that is understandable, but what we need most is for him to act as a President, liberated at last from the constraints of elections and their dirty compromises - a president who dares to change the national debate and the legislative agenda on guns," David Remnick wrote in The New Yorker.

- AFP/de

The victims

Labels: Lifestyle

Newtown school shooting: World reacts

Newtown school shooting: world reacts

Conn. dad recalls loving, creative 6-year-old

Labels: Health

NEWTOWN, Conn. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, the father of a 6-year-old gunned down in Friday's school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman.

Robbie Parker's daughter Emilie was among the 20 children who died in the one of the worst attacks on schoolchildren in U.S. history. He was one of the first parents to speak publicly about their loss.

"She was beautiful. She was blond. She was always smiling," he said.

Parker spoke to reporters not long after police released the names and ages of the victims, a simple document that told a horrifying story of loss.

He expressed no animosity, said he was not mad and offered sympathy for family of the man who killed 26 people and himself.

To the man's family, he said, "I can't imagine how hard this experience must be for you."

He said he struggled to explain the death to Emilie's two siblings, 3 and 4.

"They seem to get the fact that they have somebody they're going to miss very much," he said.

Parker said his daughter loved to try new things — except for new food. And she was quick to cheer up those in need.

36 Photos

Vigils for Conn. school shooting victims

"She never missed an opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for those she around her," he said.

The world is a better place because Emilie was in it, he said.

"I'm so blessed to be her dad," he said.

Conn. Victim's Father Remembers 'Loving' Daughter

Labels: Business

ht emilie parker wy 121215 wblog Emilie Parker: Sandy Hook Victim Would Have Comforted Classmates, Dad Says

(Image credit: Emilie Parker Fund/Facebook)

Emilie Parker, the little girl with the blond hair and bright blue eyes, would have been one of the first to comfort her classmates at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had a gunman’s bullets not claimed her life, her father said.

“My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing and giving support to all the victims because that’s the kind of kid she is,” her father, Robbie Parker said as he fought back tears, telling the world about his “bright, creative and loving” daughter” who was one of the 20 young victims in the Newtown, Conn., shooting.

“She always had something kind to say about anybody,” her father said. ”We find comfort reflecting on the incredible person Emilie was and how many lives she was able to touch.”

Emilie, 6, was helping teach her younger sisters to read and make things, and she was the little girls would go to for comfort, he said.

“They looked up to her,” Parker said.

READ: Complete List of Sandy Hook Victims

Parker moved his wife and three daughters to Newtown eight months ago after accepting a job as a physician’s assistant at Danbury Hospital. He said Emilie, his oldest daughter, seemed to have adjusted well to her new school, and he was very happy with the school, too.

“I love the people at the school. I love Emilie’s teacher and the classmates we were able to get to know,” he said.

ap shock newton shooting sandy hook lpl 121214 wblog Emilie Parker: Sandy Hook Victim Would Have Comforted Classmates, Dad Says

(Image Credit: Alex von Kleydorff/AP Photo)

The family dealt with another tragic loss in October when Emilie lost her grandfather in an accident.

“[This] has been a topic that has been discussed in our family in the past couple of months,” Parker said. “[My daughters ages 3 and 4] seem to get the that there’s somebody who they will miss very much.”

Emilie, a budding artist who carried her markers and pencils everywhere, paid tribute to her grandfather by slipping a special card she had drawn into his casket, Parker said. It was something she frequently did to lift the spirits of others.

“I can’t count the number of times Emilie would find someone feeling sad or frustrated and would make people a card,” Parker said. “She was an exceptional artist.”

The girl who was remembered as “always willing to try new things, other than food” was learning Portuguese from her father, who speaks the language.

ht emilie parker 2 121215 wblog Emilie Parker: Sandy Hook Victim Would Have Comforted Classmates, Dad Says

(Image Credit: Emilie Parker Fund/Facebook)

On Friday morning, Emilie woke up before her father left for his job and exchanged a few sentences with him in the language.

“She told me good morning and asked how I was doing,” Parker said. “She said she loved me, I gave her a kiss and I was out the door.”

Parker found out about the shooting while on lockdown in Danbury Hospital and found a television for the latest news.

“I didn’t think it was that big of deal at first,” he said. “With the first reports coming in, it didn’t sound like it was going to be as tragic as it was. That’s kind of what it was like for us.”

CLICK HERE for full coverage of the Sandy Hook shooting.

Parker said he knows that God can’t take away free will and would have been unable to stop the Sandy Hook shooting. While gunman Adam Lanza used his free agency to take innocent lives, Parker said he plans to use his in a positive way.

“I’m not mad because I have my [free] agency to use this event to do whatever I can to make sure my family and my wife and my daughters are taken care [of],” he said “And if there’s anything I can do to help to anyone at any time at anywhere, I’m free to do that.”

ht emilie parker 3 121215 wblog Emilie Parker: Sandy Hook Victim Would Have Comforted Classmates, Dad Says

(Image credit: Emilie Parker Fund/Facebook)

Friday night, hours after he learned of his daughter’s death, Parker said he spoke at his church.

“I don’t know how to get through something like this. My wife and I don’t understand how to process all of this,” he said today. “We find strength in our religion and in our faith and in our family. ”

“It’s a horrific tragedy and I want everyone to know our hearts and prayers go out to them. This includes the family of the shooter. I can’t imagine how hard this experience must be for you and I want you to know our family … love and support goes out to you as well.”

CERN becomes first pure physics voice in UN chorus

Labels: World

Lisa Grossman, physical sciences reporter

(Image: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras)

If CERN observes the proceedings of the United Nations, will it change the outcome?

The international particle physics laboratory, based near Geneva, Switzerland, has been granted observer status in the General Assembly of the United Nations, CERN officials announced today.

The lab joins environmental groups and public health agencies as the first physical sciences research organization in the ranks of UN observers. Observer status grants the right to speak at meetings, participate in procedural votes, and sign and sponsor resolutions, but not to vote on resolutions.

In some ways, CERN's addition seems a natural move - and a long time coming.

The facility was founded in 1954 under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Its initial mission was to provide collaborative projects for researchers from Allied countries and former Axis countries after the second World War.

Arguably the lab's most high-profile project, the Large Hadron Collider, made headlines worldwide this year when it revealed detection of a new particle that appears to be the elusive Higgs boson.

"Through its projects, which bring together scientists from all over the world, CERN also promotes dialogue between nations and has become a model for international cooperation," CERN states in a press release. The lab says it may use its new status with the UN to help shore up scientific education and technological capabilities in developing countries, particularly in Africa.

But just as observing a quantum particle can change its state, can CERN's involvement truly collapse the UN's wavefunction and trigger better global science and technology policies? Only time will tell.

US Dollar falls as fiscal cliff worries grow

Labels: Technology

NEW YORK: The US dollar dropped to its lowest level against the euro in three months Friday, the euro going above US$1.31 as politicians in Washington appeared no closer to averting the economy-crunching fiscal cliff.

With just over two weeks to go before the deadline, markets began to show strains from worries that US leaders will not be able to carve out a compromise deal to beat the year-end deadline to skirt the cliff's harsh mandatory budget cuts and tax hikes.

At 2200 GMT, the euro was at US$1.3161, compared to US$1.3073 late Thursday.

The US dollar has slipped steadily for a week amid cliff fears and the Federal Reserve's extension of its bond-buying easy monetary accommodation, aimed at sparking more growth in the sluggish US economy.

The yen was mixed ahead of Sunday's Japanese general election: the euro gained to 109.94 yen from 109.38 yen, while the US dollar slipped to 83.52 yen from 83.64.

"According to most reports out of Japan, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is well ahead in polls and his coalition government should easily take more than 60 per cent of the seats in Parliament, leading to Abe's return to the PM seat," said Neal Gilbert of GFT.

"Abe has made many declarations that he wants to become more aggressive with monetary policy by lowering interest rates to 0 per cent, increasing the inflation target to 3 per cent, and increasing the amount of QE (quantitative easing)."

Gilbert added that if Abe regains the premiership, the yen's weakness "may be much more long lasting."

The US dollar slipped against the Swiss franc to 0.9172 francs, while the British pound edged higher to US$1.6173.

- AFP/jc

Pearlman: I think Bobby Petrino is slime

Labels: Lifestyle

Bobby Petrino was named head coach at Western Kentucky, months after being embroiled in scandal at University of Arkansas

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Bobby Petrino was named the new football coach at Western Kentucky this week

Hiring came just months after he was fired from Arkansas amid scandal

Jeff Pearlman says, sadly, this is no surprise in big-time college sports

He says the vast majority of players are ultimately hurt by the behavior of coaches and administrators

Editor's note: Jeff Pearlman is the author of 'Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton.' He blogs at jeffpearlman.com. Follow him on Twitter.

(CNN) -- I have a dog named Norma.

She is a small beige cockapoo who barks at the mailman.

I would not trust Bobby Petrino to watch her.

Jeff Pearlman

I also would not trust Bobby Petrino to take my car in for a tire change. I would not trust Bobby Petrino to deposit my Aunt Ruth's Social Security check. I wouldn't trust him to clean my bowling ball, shop for a Christmas ham, change a twenty for two tens, tell me the time or recite the proper lyrics to Blind Melon's "No Rain."

This is not because I am a particularly untrusting person.

No, it's because I think Bobby Petrino is slime.

In case you missed the news, two days ago Western Kentucky University held a press conference to announce that Petrino, undeniably one of the nation's elite football minds, had agreed to a four-year, $850,000 per year deal to take over the Hilltoppers.

With nearly 400 giddy sports fanatics in attendance, Petrino, standing alongside Todd Stewart, the school's athletic director, spoke of honor and loyalty and love and redemption. The ensuing press release, issued by Western Kentucky's sports information department, was straight out of Disney: 101. It made Petrino sound like a cross between Vince Lombardi, Martin Luther King and Gandhi; God's gift to young men seeking to better themselves.

Petrino fired as Arkansas head football coach

What it failed to mention—and what the school desperately wants everyone to fail to mention—is that Petrino may well be the least ethically whole man in the, ahem, ethically whole-deprived world of Division I collegiate sports.

Why, it was only seven months ago that Petrino, at the time the University of Arkansas' head coach, was riding his motorcycle when he crashed along Highway 16 near Crosses, Arkansas.

When asked by school officials to explain what had happened, he failed to mention that, eh, also on the bike was Jessica Dorrell, a 26-year-old former Razorbacks volleyball player who worked as the student-athlete development coordinator for the football program. It turned out that Petrino, a married father of four, was not only having an affair with Dorrell (who was engaged at the time), but was a key voice on the board that hired her for the position when she wasn't even remotely qualified.

During an ensuing university investigation, it was determined that Petrino made a previously undisclosed $20,000 cash gift to Dorrell as a Christmas present.

Ho, ho, ho.

To his credit, Jeff Long, the school's athletic director, defied the wishes of every pigskin-blinded Razorback fan and fired Petrino. In a statement, he rightly wrote that, "all of these facts, individually and collectively, are clearly contrary to character and responsibilities of the person occupying the position of the Head Football Coach—an individual who should serve as a role model and a leader for our student-athlete."

Now, ethics and morals and character be damned, Bobby Petrino has returned, spewing off nonsense about second chances (Ever notice how garbage men and bus drivers rarely get the second chances we are all—according to fallen athletic figures—rightly afforded as Americans?) and learning from mistakes and making things right.

Western Kentucky, a school with mediocre athletics and apparently, sub-mediocre standards, has turned to a person who lied to his last employer about the nature of an accident involving the mistress he allegedly hired to a university position she was unqualified to hold. Please, if you must, take a second to read that again. And again. And again.

Bobby Petrino, holder of a Ph.D. in the Deceptive Arts (he also ditched the University of Louisville shortly after signing a long-term extension in 2007, and quit as coach of the Atlanta Falcons 13 game into his first season later that year. He informed his players via a note atop their lockers), will be the one charged with teaching the 17- and 18-year-old boys who decide to come to Bowling Green about not merely football, but life. He will be their guide. Their compass. Their role model.

Bobby Petrino and social media prove a bad mix

Sadly, in the world of Division I sports, such is far from surprising. This has been a year unlike any other; one where the virtues of greed and the color of green don't merely cloak big-time college athletics, but control them. In case you haven't noticed, we are in the midst of a dizzying, nauseating game of Conference Jump, where colleges and universities—once determined to maintain geographic rivals in order to limit student travel—have lost their collective minds.

The University of Maryland, a charter member of the ACC, is headed for the Big Ten. The Big East—formerly a power conference featuring the likes of Syracuse, Georgetown, St. John's and Connecticut—has added Boise State, San Diego State, Memphis, Houston, Southern Methodist and Navy. Idaho moved from the WAC to the Big Sky, Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic went to Conference USA, the University of Denver—a member of the WAC for approximately 27 minutes—joined the Summit League. Which, to be honest, I didn't even know existed.

Rest assured, none of these moves (literally, nary a one) were conducted with the best interests of so-called student-athletes in mind. New conferences tend to offer increased payouts, increased merchandising opportunities, increased exposure and increased opportunities to build a new stadium—one with 80,000 seats, 100 luxury boxes, $20 million naming rights, $9 hot dogs and the perfect spot for ESPN to broadcast its Home Depot pregame show.

Why, within 24 hours of quarterback Johnny Manziel winning the Heisman Trophy, Texas A&M was hawking Heisman T-shirts for $24 on its website (Or, for a mere $54.98, one can purchase his No. 2 jersey).

Percentage of the dough that winds up in Manziel's pocket? Zero.

After another spectacular exit, Petrino eyes football return

That, really, is the rub of it all; of Petrino's crabgrass-like revival; of coaches bounding from one job for another (even as players can only do so after sitting out a year); of Rutgers moving west and San Diego State moving east and athletic department officials moving on up (to a penthouse apartment in the sky); of $54.98 jerseys.

It's the athletes ultimately getting screwed.

Sure, for the 0.5% of Division I football players who wind up in the NFL, the deal is a sweet one. The other 99.5%, however, are mere pawns, sold a dizzying narrative of glory and fame and lifelong achievement, but, more often than not, left uneducated, unfulfilled and physically battered.

They are told a coach will be with them for four years—then watch as said figure takes a $2 million gig elsewhere but, hey, only because it was right for him and his family.

They are told they will receive a great education, then find themselves stuck on a six-hour flight from California to Newark, New Jersey. They are told that these will be the greatest years of their life, that the college experience is a special one, that only the highest of standards exist.

Then they meet their new coach: Bobby Petrino.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jeff Pearlman.

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Conn. gunman sought to kill as many children as possible
Labels: Health

(CBS News) NEWTOWN, Conn. - Police say it's clear that the gunman who opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday was on a mission to kill as many people as possible. He took at least three guns and multiple clips of ammunition to target a defenseless elementary school and children as young as five.

Police say 20-year-old Adam Lanza was armed for a mass murder when he attacked a target he knew very well.

Connecticut elementary school massacre: 20 children among 27 dead
Obama: "We have been through this too many times"
8-year-old says teacher saved him in Conn. shooting

Lanza, whose mother was a teacher at Sandy Hill Elementary arrived in the school parking lot driving his mother's Black Honda.

He was carrying two lethal semi-automatic handguns: a Sig Sauer, the type of gun carried by Secret Service agents, and a Glock 9mm, a model used by many police officers and federal agents across the United States.

Officials say Lanza headed directly for a specific section of the school and opened fired, killing students in two classrooms. It is not known how many rounds he fired, but both guns are capable of carrying high-capacity extended clips, which can hold up to 30 rounds.

Police Lieutenant Paul Vance said evidence teams are still working through the horrible scene.

A .223 assault rifle

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CBS News

"We'll be here through the night, certainly through the weekend. We are not even putting a time stamp on when we will complete this project," Vance said.

Lanza died of a self-inflicted gunshot inside the school. But investigators suspect he may have intended to carry out a broader attack.

A third gun, a .223 assault rifle, was found outside the school in the back of his mother's car. It's similar to the type of gun used in the shooting on Tuesday at a mall outside of Portland, Oregon. CBS Correspondent John Miller reports said the guns were registered under her name.

Lanza's older brother, Ryan, is still being questioned by police who want to know what he might have known about the attack.

Ryan Lanza, the older brother of suspected Connecticut elementary school shooter Adam Lanza, was taken into police custody in Hoboken, N.J., Friday. He is being questioned, but has not been named a suspect.

/

CBS News

Sources say at this point he is not a suspect.

Investigators say they now believe the killing spree began at the home Lanza shared with his mother, who was a kindergarten teacher at the school.

CBS correspondent John Miller reports that Adam had the bigger personality of the two brothers. Ryan, 24, was the quiet one, went to business school and lived in New Jersey. Investigators believe that this shooting was the result of a conflict between he and his mother that was developing for a long time -- killing her and then killing what she loved most -- her students.

Read More..

Conn. Shooter Adam Lanza; 'Obviously Not Well'
Labels: Business

Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut this morning, was "obviously not well," a relative told ABC News.

Family friends in Newtown also described the young man as troubled and described his mother Nancy as very rigid. "[Adam] was not connected with the other kids," said one friend.

Late today, police said Nancy Lanza's body was found in the family home. According to sources, Lanza shot his mother in the face, then left the house armed with at least two semi-automatic handguns and a semi-automatic rifle.

State and federal authorities believe his mother may have once worked at the elementary school where Adam went on his deadly rampage, although she was not a teacher, according to relatives, perhaps a volunteer.

As part of the investigation authorities searched the New Jersey apartment of Adam's older brother Ryan in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Police had initially identified Ryan as the killer, until he sent out a series of Facebook posts saying it wasn't him and that he was at work all day.

Sources told ABC News that Ryan, 24, works as a senior person in Ernst and Young's tax practice in Manhattan.

"He's a tax guy and he is clean as a whistle," a source familiar with his work said.

Ryan has worked at the firm 4 years.

Today the NYPD and FBI went to Ernst & Young and removed Ryan's laptop and other possessions, which is part of the normal investigative process.

Officials were interviewing Ryan and his father, but neither person was under any suspicion, multiple sources said.

MORE: 27 Dead, Mostly Children, at Connecticut Elementary School Shooting

LIVE UPDATES: Newton, Conn. School Shooting

Click Here for the Blotter Homepage.

Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 13 December 2012
Labels: World

Violent beauty at the end of an Alaskan glacier

You can almost hear the crash of ice on water in this stunning image of an ice sheet calving off the Chenega glacier in Alaska

Overeating now bigger global problem than lack of food

The most comprehensive disease report ever produced confirms that, for the first time, there is a larger health problem from people eating too much than too little

In search of the world's oldest cave etching

Strange markings on the walls of a cave in Australia's vast Nullarbor Plain could have been a tactile code for ancient Aboriginal flint miners

Higgs boson having an identity crisis

Six months on from its announcement, the mass and decay rates of the particle thought to be the Higgs boson are proving hard to pin down

Go forth and print: 3D objects you can print yourself

We pick our favourite objects to 3D-print, including a mathematical cookie cutter, a wormhole and a New Scientist holiday tree ornament inspired by fractals

Laser drills could relight geothermal energy dreams

High-powered lasers that can drill through igneous rocks may make reaching oil and geothermal sources much easier

Robots should be cleaning your home

Tech investor Dmitri Grishin explains why the time is right for sleek, versatile robots that will be our everyday helpers rather than factory equipment

Welcome to the personal drone revolution

Sophisticated, affordable drones could soon be so commonplace that they will become our personal servants, says Michael Brooks

Finding dangerous asteroids, before they find us

Near-Earth Objects: Finding them before they find us by Donald Yeomans is a fascinating tour guide of the asteroids we should worry about

World's loneliest bug turns up in Death Valley

A microbe that survives deep below Earth's surface without the sun's energy has reappeared, in California

Search for aliens poses game theory dilemma

The complex question of whether to risk contact with ET may be navigable with a new spin on the "prisoner's dilemma"

'Robot ecosystem' in sight as apps get a cash boost

The first company dedicated to investing in consumer robotics stakes $250,000 on robot apps

First results from James Cameron's trip to the abyss

It's not Pandora, but the Mariana trench holds life just as strange as that in James Cameron's film Avatar

UK government urged to consider relaxing drug rules

A parliamentary report calls for a fresh programme of research to monitor the effects of European drug legalisation

Read More..

EU leaders upbeat on euro future after deal on banks, Greece
Labels: Technology

BRUSSELS: EU leaders debated the euro's future in a bullish mood Thursday after deals on banks and Greece, despite fears that political uncertainty in Italy could cause new worries for the single currency.
As video showed the bloc's 27 leaders smiling and joking with each other at the beginning of a two-day summit, EU President Herman Van Rompuy said leaders should aim to cap a triumphant week that began with the European Union picking up the Nobel Peace Prize.
"We started the week well in Oslo. Let's finish it well here in Brussels with a further positive outcome," Van Rompuy said.
"The worst is now behind us, but of course much still needs to be done," he added as the leaders began deliberations on how to make the 17-nation eurozone more stable after a crippling three-year crisis.
The hero of the day was Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti, hailed for tough reforms that have brought Italy back from the brink of financial collapse but who announced last weekend he would be stepping down.
"Confidence has been returning in Italy's capacity to solve problems," said European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso. "Let me praise Mario Monti and his government for this."
Jitters over Italy's political situation loomed over the summit, after Monti said he would soon step down and former leader Silvio Berlusconi indicated he might run for a fourth term.
But on the sidelines of the talks, Berlusconi hinted he might not put himself forward, telling Belgian television channel VRT that he had "so much to do" outside politics.
At the talks, leaders will debate a report drawn up by Van Rompuy that proposes steps towards greater economic integration in the eurozone, eventually with a common "fiscal capacity" and binding reform commitments.
Following on the heels of a summit only last month that collapsed over the EU's seven-year budget, the atmosphere was noticeably brighter after ministers sealed much-heralded agreements on supervising big banks and aid to Greece.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras exclaimed that "Grexit is dead", meaning the prospect of Greece leaving the euro currency area was no longer possible after ministers released bailout funds to avert bankruptcy.
After a buy-back programme designed to reduce Greece's debt mountain, Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker said a first payment of 34.3 billion euros ($44.7 billion) would be flowing to Athens "as early as next week."
This instalment would go to help recapitalise Greece's crisis-wracked banks, to be followed by another 14.8 billion euros in the first quarter of next year.
An ecstatic Samaras, who has pushed through painful reforms demanded by creditors often in the face of violent protest, told reporters: "Greece is back on its feet. The sacrifices of the Greek people have not been in vain."
"Today is not only a new day for Greece, it is indeed a new day for Europe," he added.
"It is flying. It is happening"
Hours before the Greece deal, ministers charged the European Central Bank with monitoring banks with assets of more than 30 billion euros, or equal to 20 percent of a state's economic output from March 2014.
The agreement, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "cannot be valued highly enough", is the first step on the path towards a banking union and clears the way for EU bailout funds to recapitalise struggling banks directly.
Merkel called the move a "big step towards more reliability and trust in the eurozone."
The new Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) for the eurozone -- which Britain and Sweden will not take part in -- will mean the ECB directly supervising some 200 of the biggest banks out of the estimated 6,000 eurozone lenders.
ECB chief Mario Draghi hailed the accord as "an important step towards a stable economic and monetary union, and towards further European integration".
More excitedly, Barroso said: "You remember, when we spoke about this some time ago, people said it will not fly. It is flying. It is happening."
Merkel voiced some satisfaction as she looked back on a year of seemingly endless crisis summits, damaging market volatility and, at times, near break-up of the eurozone bloc.
"All in all, I want to state at the end of 2012 that we have achieved a lot. It was a very heavy year in terms of work but it was also a year in which we managed to make big progress," said the leader of Europe's biggest economy.
The head of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, however complained that workers' rights had not been taken sufficiently into account.
"As the representatives of the people, we are annoyed that the social pact that we asked for has not been included in the report drawn up by Mr Van Rompuy," Schulz told reporters.
-AFP/ac

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'Lines of communication remain open' about fiscal cliff
Labels: Lifestyle

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Like Boehner's office, the White House describes the meeting as "frank"

"Lines of communication remain open," both sides say

Boehner says "spending is the problem;" Democrats say the rich should pay more

Stocks fall amid uncertainty about the political impasse over the fiscal cliff

Washington (CNN) -- Facing a looming deadline to avoid the fiscal cliff, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met Thursday for their first face-to-face talk in four days.

Boehner arrived for the previously unscheduled meeting just after 5 p.m. ET, a few hours after claiming Obama had failed to offer a serious compromise to prevent the fiscal cliff's automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect in less than three weeks. He spent about 50 minutes in the White House before returning to his office.

A White House official and Boehner's spokesman then issued near identical statements, calling the Oval Office meeting "frank" and saying the "lines of communication remain open."

The meeting didn't spur Boehner to change his plans to return to Ohio on Friday, one of the speaker's aides said. The House is scheduled to end its current session that day, but Majority Leader Eric Cantor has told lawmakers they could be working longer than that with the fiscal cliff still in limbo.

The inability to reach a deal, thus far, reflects Democrats and Republicans' underlying divisions about the size of government and how much the wealthiest Americans should pay in taxes.

For all the public posturing and private talks, there are fears failing to avert a crisis -- which has been two years in the making -- could spur another recession. The possibility is spooking holiday shoppers and investors, with stock values falling due to the fiscal uncertainty despite otherwise upbeat economic news.

Boehner on Thursday said the president hasn't signed on to a plan that "is truly balanced and begins to solve our spending problem." Republicans have said 71% of every tax dollar now goes to support Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as paying interest on the national debt, claiming the cost of these items would equal all federal tax revenue in 2026 unless changes are made.

"The president wants to pretend spending isn't the problem," said Boehner. "That's why we don't have an agreement."

One simple, controversial fiscal cliff fix

Minutes before he spoke, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi argued Obama and Congress already cut spending in budget battles of the past two years. Simply cutting more, she said, could hurt the economy.

"You're not going to reduce the deficit by ... only cutting your way to it because you will cut the prospects for job creation, which produce revenue," Pelosi said.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney complained Republicans haven't offered details on which deductions or loopholes they would eliminate to raise revenue. Regardless, he reiterated Obama will only agree to a deal if it involves tax rates going up for the top 2% of Americans and extending tax cuts for the vast majority -- a proposal some Republicans have expressed openness to, but not Boehner.

By the numbers: Fiscal cliff

The two sides have exchanged counteroffers that include two shifts by the White House. Democratic sources said Obama lowered his revenue demand from $1.6 trillion to $1.4 trillion but also added changes to the corporate rate to his proposal involving income taxes.

Obama and Democrats want Boehner to hold a vote on the president's tax plan to extend tax cuts for income up to $250,000 for families, which the Senate passed. Some House Republicans have said they'd support the measure, which the Senate passed, and Boehner avoided a direct answer when asked Thursday about a possible vote.

Boehner argues that raising taxes on high-income earners "will hurt small businesses."

Some small business owners interviewed by CNNMoney said they'd continue with plans to expand even if the Obama proposal gets passed and raises their taxes. They hate higher taxes, but say they'll endure it. And the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of major corporations, dropped its opposition to the Whit House plan on Wednesday.

"If your business is good, you'll grow it. We'll figure out a way," said Chelsea Sloan, who started the Uptown Cheapskate retail franchise. "Business owners who say they'll stop hiring if tax rates go higher are blowing smoke."

Sen. Ron Johnson conceded Wednesday on Fox Business Network that Obama "holds all the cards" since he can veto any bill. "So we may have to do a fallback position where we're just trying to minimize the damage," the Wisconsin Republican said.

At the same time, Johnson said Obama and fellow Democrats haven't shown they intend "to limit the rate of growth in government."

How people are prepping for the fiscal cliff

Democrats consider entitlement programs to be the foundation of the social contract with Americans and therefore question pushes to cut them. Instead, they insist the programs can be strengthened through improved efficiency and other reforms, such as the $700 billion in Medicare savings under Obama's 2010 health care reform law.

Is the tea party ready to deal on fiscal cliff?

Polls consistently show the public favors Obama's position of raising taxes on wealthy Americans in order to minimize cuts.

Nearly half of Americans -- 49% -- approve the president's handling of the talks, compared with 25% who say Boehner is doing a good job, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a Bloomberg National Poll found nearly two-thirds of respondents, including nearly 50% of Republicans, believe Obama's re-election gave him a mandate to seek higher taxes on the wealthy.

Businesses hate higher taxes but say they'll endure it

Regardless of which side of the debate citizens fall, experts agree most everyone will be affected if a deal isn't struck. Two former Senate majority leaders said Thursday both sides must be ready to compromise.

"The simplest way to put it is that we're at 24% spending, we're at 16% revenue," said Tom Daschle, the former Democratic senator from South Dakota. "We've got to bring those two closer together, and that's how you get a balanced budget, and ultimately that's how you get fiscal responsibility. ... It can be done."

To Trent Lott, the former Republican senator from Mississippi, it comes down to the principal negotiators.

"There'll come a moment when the speaker ... and the president will have to make a decision," Lott said. "But they need to do it in concert."

"It's like directing the orchestra. You've got to have the winds and the brass come together, and they're not quite there."

How will the fiscal cliff affect you?

CNN's Dana Bash, Paul Steinhauser, Caitlin Stark, Deirdre Walsh, Jessica Yellin, Ashley Killough and CNNMoney's Jose Pagliery contributed to this report.

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Donation-based hospital rescues Afghanistan's wounded
Labels: Health

(CBS News) KABUL - In Afghanistan, an American soldier and two Afghans were killed by a car bomb Thursday.

It happened near the U.S. airbase in Kandahar, a few hours after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta left there to meet with Afghan President Karzai.

Taliban attacks have grown more frequent, causing a sharp rise in civilian casualties. There's one place where many of those lives are saved or lost.

The non-profit trauma hospital goes by one name: Emergency. It offers free treatment to the bruised and bloodied victims of this conflict. Every patient who arrives there is a casualty of war.

Dr. Gino Strada

/

CBS News

Dr. Gino Strada is the chain-smoking Italian cardiologist who founded emergency in 1999. He told CBS News that he'll take in patients, regardless of whether they're Taliban or whatever their political affiliations may be.

"Otherwise, you're not a doctor anymore," he said, "then you're a judge."

Visit to military hospital shows extent of Syrian conflict
U.S. serviceman killed in Afghanistan just after Panetta visit
Children give graphic account of Afghan murders

Strada said he's seen a dramatic shift in the types of injuries he treats: Fewer bullet wounds and more from roadside bombs and heavy weapons.

"The weapons which are now used are much more powerful and destructive than those that were available ten or fifteen years ago," Strada said.

This year, the hospital has treated nearly two thousand patients -- an all time high. The vast majority are civilians.

Five-year-old Shayr Mohammed's wrist was fractured and his arm burned when he was hit by shrapnel.

His injuries have healed well. But not all children are so lucky.

Another young boy had picked up what he thought was a toy and it exploded in his pocket. By the time he arrived at Emergency, there was nothing the doctors could do.

"We live in a place where insurgents and police are shooting at each other all the time," his uncle said.

Strada said the fighting is coming closer to the capital and the fighting is becoming more intense.

"This is very worrying because it's very difficult to predict what's going to happen in the near future," he said.

As NATO troops prepare to pull out in 2014, there are fears that the security situation could deteriorate further and that Afghanistan's healthcare system will be overwhelmed.

A patient at the Emergency hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan.

/

CBS News

The U.S. has spent nearly a billion dollars on health care in Afghanistan the last ten years. But Strada said there is little to show for it.

"What worries me is particularly is corruption in the health sector. When you look at the amount of international aid that has come to Afghanistan for health, you would expect to find fantastic hospitals everywhere. And you don't see one," Strada said.

But there's no shortage of patients, and the war outside Emergency's walls rages on.

Donations to Emergency are accepted at the links below:
www.emergencyusa.org
www.emergency.it/en-index.html

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NASA Debunks Mayan Doom, 10 Days Early
Labels: Business

Dec 13, 2012 2:57pm

Kukulkan pyramid, Yucatan, Mexico. Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty.

We’ll never know if they were wrong.

NASA has quietly published a web video explaining why the world did not come to an end “yesterday,” Dec. 21, 2012.

The date of its release, December 11, was no mistake, even if doomsayers would likely call it one last act of earthly hubris. NASA uploaded the four-minute “ScienceCasts” explainer, titled “Why the World Didn’t End Yesterday,” in an effort to answer hundreds of calls and emails they receive daily. It also has a dedicated website that’s received at least 4.6 million visitors — people asking if the Maya prophecy is coming true and what they should do about it.

“If there was anything out there, like a planet headed for Earth, said NASA Astrobiologist David Morrison, it would already be one of the brightest objects in the sky,” the narrator explains in a cheerfully pedantic voice. “Everybody on Earth could see it. You don’t need to ask the government, just go out and look. It’s not there.”

(Note: Still not convinced? Consider this: Even if the Maya, a declining Mesoamerican civilization wiped almost entirely off the map by 17^th century Spanish conquistadors, are to be trusted with this kind of high-stakes stuff, scientists agree that reports concerning their prediction of our collective demise have been greatly exaggerated, if not fabricated. Anthropologists say the Mayan calendar was cyclical, and frequently restarted without ending.)

As for rumors about solar flares and reports the sun is reaching the “max of its 11-year solar cycle,” well, that’s all true. But NASA calls is it the “wimpiest cycle” of the past 50 years.

Anyway, “the sun has been flaring for billions of years and it has never, once, destroyed the world.”

Dwayne Brown, a senior public affair officer at NASA, said the space agency felt a sense of duty as the date neared. People have been calling in to headquarters “who want to do harm to their families” in an effort to protect them from the unknown horrors expected to arrive with the Maya apocalypse, he said.

“As the attention on the issue is growing,” the video’s producer and director Michael Brody said, “we didn’t want the rumors growing…. The idea is to take a straight, stoic, standard [scientific] look… and give it a hook.”

“You’re the smart guys, you know what’s up in space,” Brown said, his way of distilling public sentiment toward NASA. “Well, we do!”

READ: Apocalypse Believers Flocking Here: Why?

And what they know is quite simple. The world might end on a Friday, but it won’t be tomorrow or the one after. Most scientists agree we have about five billion years of battery life, in the form of the sun, to go before the time comes to get nervous.

Brown’s best advice: “Let’s take it day-by-day.”

SHOWS: World News

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UK government urged to consider relaxing drug rules
Labels: World

JUST say yes to considering relaxed drug controls, urged a panel of UK parliamentarians this week - but Prime Minister David Cameron has rejected the calls.

Many countries have loosened their penalties for drug use, including the Czech Republic and Portugal, which introduced a "de-penalisation" strategy in 2000. Citizens caught in possession avoid criminal records but must attend drug advice sessions. Last month, the US states of Colorado and Washington voted to legalise the recreational use of cannabis.

The UK report calls for the effects of these legal moves to be monitored. "Drugs policy ought to be evidence-based as much as possible," it concludes. "We recommend that the government fund a detailed research project to monitor the effects of each legalisation system."

The report notes that 21 countries have now introduced some form of decriminalisation. But the government's response has been lukewarm. "I don't support decriminalisation," said Cameron. "We have a policy which actually is working in Britain. Drugs use is coming down."

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

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Clashes as Argentines outraged by sex slavery case
Labels: Technology

BUENOS AIRES: Angry Argentines clashed with police and smashed windows and politicians voiced outrage on Wednesday after a court acquitted 13 people charged with running a sex slavery ring.
Demonstrators furious over the legal ruling took to the streets of the capital and in at least seven provinces, including Tucuman in the north, where a court announced the acquittal Tuesday.
Susana Trimarco, an activist who personally freed many sex slaves as she searched for her missing daughter Marita Veron, spoke with President Cristina Kirchner, who was among those angered by the verdict. Veron is believed to be among the victims of the sex ring.
"I had a call from the president and she was shouting 'I cannot believe it. I cannot believe it'," she said.
"Even the wife of President (Barack) Obama voiced her support to me. I thank her from the bottom of my heart and assured her that we are not going to stop fighting," she added, referring to the US first lady, Michelle Obama.
In Buenos Aires, demonstrators gathered outside the local office representing Tucuman province threw rocks and other heavy objects at the windows, smashing them.
In Tucuman itself, where Veron went missing a decade ago, a large procession of people marched with a banner that read, "Justice for Marita."
In 2008, Trimarco's tireless campaign won a toughening of sentences for those convicted of sex trafficking, but she has yet to find her daughter, who vanished in 2002 at the age of 23.
Trimarco and fellow campaigners believe that Marita is among the victims of an alleged sex ring in Tucuman province in northern Argentina. But on Tuesday a court in Tucuman found the suspects not guilty.
The verdict triggered national outrage, and protest groups called for marches in cities around the country.
"The court system does not understand the system of people trafficking," lamented Zaida Gatti, who leads the state-run National Program to Rescue People Harmed by Trafficking Crimes.
Trimarco's attorney Jose D'Antona said he planned to seek the impeachment of the members of the court.
A disappointed Kirchner, a lawyer herself by training, said she hoped more "democratization" could be brought to Argentina's court system.
"I thought that I would find her devastated," the president said after her phone call to Trimarco. "But I found her more calm and centered than ever, and more determined to keep on fighting."
As recently as Sunday, the president had honored Trimarco, already a recipient with similar prizes in the United States and Canada, with a human rights award for her work.
Socialist Hermes Binner, who ran against Kirchner, told reporters "Susana Trimarco's lonely fight is in stark contrast with the impunity in the Marita Veron case."
Prosecutors in Tucuman had sought between 12 to 25 years in jail for those accused in the case. The grounds for the court ruling were not immediately made public.
"Let us build a commitment to change out of our outrage at this ruling," urged Ricardo Alfonsin, another former presidential candidate, with the Radical Civic Union.
Ruling party Senator Beatriz Rojkes, who represents Tucuman and is married to its Governor Jose Alperovich, said she was "emotional and surprised" but added that "prostitution exists, and it will always exist."
A saddened Trimarco told reporters: "we are not fighting against prostitution. We are fighting against the trafficking of women."
-AFP/ac

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Mall gunman: 'I have lived one crazy life so far'
Labels: Lifestyle

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Jacob 'Jake' Roberts uses edgy, dark humor on his Facebook page

'I'm an alcoholic... Lol just kidding,' he wrote in his introduction

He wanted to become a firefighter and was taking classes, one friend says

Roberts loved working at a Portland gyro eatery, he wrote on his Facebook page

(CNN) -- Intended or not, the central image on the Facebook page of Jacob "Jake" Roberts, the Oregon shopping mall gunman, is haunting.

A "Follow Your Dreams" slogan painted on a wall is stamped "Cancelled" in red.

His humor is equally edgy.

"Hey what's up guys my names Jake and I'm an alcoholic... Lol just kidding," Roberts wrote in the first line of his introduction, which included grammatical errors. "If you were to ask someone that knows me they would probably say that I am a pretty funny person that takes sarcasm to the max.

Read more: Oregon mall shooting victims remembered

"I'm the conductor of my choo choo train," he continued. "I may be young but I have lived one crazy life so far."

Authorities have released a photograph of Roberts, 22, who wore a hockey-like face mask and opened fire on holiday shoppers Tuesday at the Clackamas Town Center in Happy Valley, Oregon, near Portland. He killed two people and then himself.

The photograph of Jacob Tyler Roberts depicts someone in tune with the latest fashion trends. He sports a thin chin beard and gauge earrings embedded in both lobes. Black, wavy hair frames a half-smile and almond-shaped eyes.

One of his Facebook friends, Brittany Curry, 21, told CNN she dated Roberts for five months last year. They met through mutual friends in the Portland area, she said.

"I am in shock. I don't know what to feel," Curry said in a telephone interview. "He was really a good guy. He was really happy. He put everybody before himself."

Roberts owned one gun, Curry said, but she didn't want to elaborate.

His Facebook page lists "shooting" as one of his 10 interests, along with camping, sleeping, rafting, BMX, sushi and spending money.

Read more: Details, but no answers, in Oregon mall shooting

Roberts valued his friends, Curry said.

Roberts wrote on his Facebook page: "My friends are my family and I don't think that will ever change. I have done a lot for myself in the past year some good and some bad but I still press on.

"I like hanging out with my friends and having a good time maybe get a little drunk every now and then. I like to think of myself as a bit of an adrenaline junkie... Yup that's right I'm a junkie lol. But I'm just looking to meet new people and see the world," Roberts typed.

When they were dating, Roberts was living in an apartment across from the Clackamas Town Center mall, Curry said.

Roberts wanted to be a firefighter and was taking classes at Clackamas Community College, Curry said.

"It was always his dream," Curry said.

In the meantime, he had been working as a cook at Big Bertha's gyro eatery in Portland for more than two years, Curry said.

About that job, Roberts commented on Facebook: "Right now I work at the most badass gyro shop in town. I am one of the few people that can say I love my job and actually mean it."

Read more: Inside Clackamas Town Center Mall

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Semi-subs become vehicles of choice for drug smugglers
Labels: Health

(CBS News) CHARLESTON, S.C. - Under a shed is Bigfoot Two -- a 60-foot semi-submarine captured by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Caribbean in 2008. It cost just $2 million to build but was carrying $150 million in cocaine.

Under a shed is Bigfoot Two -- a 60 foot semi-submarine captured by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Caribbean in 2008. It cost just $2 million to build but was carrying $150 million in cocaine.

/

CBS News

Vessels like that one are called semi-submersibles because they sail with their tops just above the surface to maintain an air supply for the crew. The semis move cocaine from Colombia to Central America, where it's then transferred by land into the U.S.

7.5 tons of cocaine unloaded from "narco-sub"
Massive "Drug Sub" Seized in Colombia

Inside we found the semi-sub to be a floating warehouse with a huge space for drugs and little else. In the pilot house of the Bigfoot Two semi-submersible are the helm, a compass, the controls, and very cramped quarters for the crew of four.

Another semi-sub was caught by the Coast Guard in September, 2011. While patrolling drug-smuggling lanes, the cutter Mohawk received an intelligence tip and intercepted a vessel near Honduras. When a Coast Guard skiff closed in, the crew scuttled the sub and bailed. The vessel sank in seconds.

Vessels like that one are called semi-submersibles because they sail with their tops just above the surface to maintain an air supply for the crew.

/

CBS News

With an unknown cache of cocaine resting just 80 feet below the surface, the Coast Guard feared dealers would try to retrieve the lost treasure. So the FBI's dive team was called.

"Part of the whole mission is to deny those drugs the ability to get here to our country," said dive team leader Michael Tyms, "so to leave them there would've left the job unfinished, so to speak."

Wearing underwater cameras, Tyms and his team cut into the submarine, finding more $200 million worth of cocaine wrapped in waterproof packets.

Now drug runners are moving to a more sophisticated harder-to-detect vessel. Soldiers in Ecuador have discovered some fully submersible submarines along rivers that connect to the sea.

Coast Guard Commander Tom Walsh worries about other groups getting access to that kind of stealth technology. Asked if someone could use a submersible for terrorist activity or arms running, he said: "That's a very big concern of ours. These vessels would certainly be of value to terrorist organizations that want to move people or equipment or other items towards the United States."

As for the men who jumped off that semi-sub, they were rescued by the Coast Guard and are now in prison in the United States.

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Mall Shooter Quit Job, Was Going to Hawaii
Labels: Business

In the days before he stole a semiautomatic weapon and stormed into an Oregon shopping mall, killing two people in a shooting spree, Jacob Roberts quit his job, sold his belongings and began to seem "numb" to those closest to him.

Roberts' ex-girlfriend, Hannah Patricia Sansburn, 20, told ABC News today that the man who donned a hockey mask and opened fire on Christmas shoppers was typically happy and liked to joke around, but abruptly changed in the week before the shooting.

Roberts unleashed a murderous volley of gunfire on the second floor of the Clackamas Town Center on Tuesday while wearing the mask and black clothing, and carrying an AR-15 semiautomatic weapon and "several" magazines full of ammunition. He ended his barrage by walking down to the first floor of the mall and committing suicide.

READ: Why Mass Shooters Wear Masks

"I don't understand," Sansburn said. "I was just with him. I just talked to him. I didn't believe it was him at all. Not one part of me believed it."

She said that in recent weeks, Roberts quit his job at a gyro shop in downtown Portland and sold all of his belongings, telling her that he was moving to Hawaii. He had even purchased a ticket.

She now wonders if he was really planning to move.

Oregon Mall Shooting: 2 Dead in Clackamas Town Center Watch Video

Oregon Mall Shooting: 'Killing of Total Strangers' Watch Video

Oregon Mall Shooting: Woman on Macy's Employee's Heroism Watch Video

"He was supposed to catch a flight Saturday and I texted him, and asked how his flight went, and he told me, 'oh, I got drunk and didn't make the flight,'" she said. "And then this happens... It makes me think, was he even planning on going to Hawaii? He quit his job, sold all of his things."

Roberts described himself on his Facebook page as an "adrenaline junkie," and said he is the kind of person who thinks, "I'm going to do what I want."

Roberts, who attended Clackamas Community college, posted a picture of himself on his Facebook page firing a gun at a target. His Facebook photo showed graffiti in which the words "Follow Your Dreams" were painted over with the word "Cancelled."

Sansburn said the pair had dated for nearly a year but had broke up over the summer. Throughout their relationship, she had never seen him act violently or get angry.

"Jake was never the violent type. He didn't go out of his way to try to hurt people or upset people. His main goal was to make you laugh, smile, make you feel comfortable. I never would have guessed him to do anything like this ever," she said.

"You can't reconcile the differences. I hate him for what he did, but I can't hate the person I knew because it was nothing like the person who would go into a mall and go on a rampage. I would never associate the two at all."

The last time she saw him, which was last week, he "seemed numb," and she didn't understand why, she said.

"I just talked to him, stayed the night with him, and he just seemed numb if anything. He's usually very bubbly and happy, and I asked him why, what had changed, and said 'nothing.' He just had so much he had to do before he went to Hawaii that he was trying to distance himself from Portland," Sansburn said.

Sansburn said the last message she sent Roberts was a text, asking him to stay, and saying she didn't want him to leave. He replied "I'm sorry," with a sad face emoticon.

Police are still seeking information about what Roberts was doing in the days leading up to the shooting. They said today they believe Roberts stole the gun he used in the rampage from someone he knew. They have searched his home and his car for other clues into his motive.

Read ABC News' full coverage of the Oregon Mall Shooting

Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said earlier today on "Good Morning America" that he believes Roberts went into the mall with the goal of killing as many people as he could.

"I believe, at least from the information that's been provided to me at this point in time, it really was a killing of total strangers. To my knowledge at this point in time he was really trying, I think, to kill as many people as possible."

Sansburn said she has not talked to police.

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Today on New Scientist: 11 December 2012
Labels: World

Out-of-season's greetings from the Arctic frost flowers

Season's regards from an icy meadow in the Arctic, but it's no winter wonderland and please don't dash out into it

How hacking a mosquito's heart could eradicate malaria

Watch how a double-pronged trick helps mosquitoes remain healthy while carrying disease, a process that could be exploited to eliminate malaria

New drug lifts hard-to-treat depression in hours

A new class of drugs that changes the way neurons interact in the brain can rapidly lift people out of depression

E. O. Wilson and poet laureate on altruism and mystery

Leading evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson and former US poet laureate Robert Hass discuss free will, wilderness and the mysterious origin of the arts

Souped-up immune cells force leukaemia into remission

Genetically engineered white blood cells have been shown to have a strong impact on leukaemia after just three months

War of words: The language paradox explained

If language evolved for communication, how come most people can't understand what most other people are saying?

AC/DC's Highway to Hell sent via a drone's laser beam

A dose of rock music proves that a drone's reconnaisance data can be sent via reflected laser beam instead of radio

'Biology is a manufacturing capability'

Soon we'll be able to engineer living things with mechanical precision, says Tom Knight, father of synthetic biology

Read More..

Freezing fog grounds British flights
Labels: Technology

LONDON: Severe fog has forced the cancellation of dozens of flights scheduled to take-off and land at Britain's airports on Wednesday with more disruption expected later in the day.
Flights to Warsaw, Nice, Stockholm, Aberdeen and several German cities were among 20 cancelled by London's Heathrow.
"It's better to cancel flights when there's fog because in fog you can't land as many planes per hour because you have to leave more space between the planes," said a spokesman for the airport.
The smaller London City Airport also reported disruption.
A message on the airport's Twitter page said: "Visibility has not improved, flight disruptions are present and expected to continue until further notice. Please call your airline for info."
Britain is in the middle of a cold snap with temperatures hitting minus 10C (14F) in some parts of the country.
"The fog is currently pretty widespread," explained Julian Mayes, forecaster for MeteoGroup.
"It's currently located over central England as a large area of low cloud, which is descending down as fog.
"Visibility is poor and the areas affected include the Midlands, the eastern side of Wales, most of East Anglia, most of the area just to the north of London, Bristol and parts of central southern England," he added.
- AFP/ck

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Several people shot at Oregon mall
Labels: Lifestyle

By Michael Martinez and Cristy Lenz

updated 7:41 PM EST, Tue December 11, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

A gunman is firing at the Clackamas Town Center outside Portland

"Multiple victims" have been shot, authorities say

The mall is 11 milles southeast of downtown Portland

(CNN) -- A gunman is actively firing at the Clackamas Town Center mall in Clackamas, Oregon, authorities said Tuesday.

"Multiple victims" have been shot, says Public Safety Director Steve Campbell of the city of Happy Valley.

The two-story mall is about 11 miles southeast of downtown Portland and is anchored with such stores as Sears, JC Penney and Macy's, according to its website.

Read More..

Two reportedly shot dead in suburban Ore. mall
Labels: Health

The scene outside the Clackamas Town Center in suburban Portland, Ore., on Dec. 11, 2012. / KOIN-TV

Updated 7:36 p.m. ET

PORTLAND, Ore. Emergency dispatchers in Portland, Ore., are receiving reports that a man with a rifle reportedly fired as many as 20 shots inside a shopping mall.

The Oregonian reports two people were killed and at least one other was shot by a man brandishing a semiautomatic rifle. Dispatchers received reports that a shooting may have occurred near Macy's inside the Clackamas Town Center and that a man was seen with a rifle near the mall's food court.

A dispatch worker confirmed to CBS affiliate KOIN that at least two people were shot. Witnesses tell KOIN the town center was evacuated and placed on lockdown.

Clackamas County sheriff's deputies are responding. Deputies have not been able to confirm that a shooting has occurred.

Entrances to the mall have been blocked off.

Read More..

Obama Recognizes Syrian Opposition Group
Labels: Business

In a diplomatic shift, President Obama said today his administration now formally recognizes the newly-formed, leading coalition of Syrian rebels who are fighting to topple Syria's embattled President Bashar Assad.

"We've made a decision that the Syrian Opposition Coalition is now inclusive enough, is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime," Obama said.

The announcement, made during an exclusive interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters, grants new legitimacy to the rebel group and marks a new phase in U.S. efforts to isolate the Assad regime.

"It's a big step," Obama said of the decision. The United States follows Britain and the European Union, both of which last month recognized the Syrian opposition group.

More of Barbara Walters' exclusive first joint, post-election interview with President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama airs Friday, Dec. 14, on "20/20" at 10 p.m. ET on ABC stations.

The diplomatic designation will allow the United States to more closely support rebel efforts, including the organization of a future post-Assad government, administration officials said.

"Obviously, with that recognition comes responsibilities," Obama said of the young coalition. "To make sure that they organize themselves effectively, that they are representative of all the parties, [and] that they commit themselves to a political transition that respects women's rights and minority rights."

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

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The move does not include the provision of weapons, but it opens the door for that possibility in the future.

"Providing arms has to be done in a way that helps promote a political solution," one senior Obama administration official said today. "And until we understand how these arms promote a political solution, we do not see how provision of arms is a good idea."

But the official added, "the president has never ruled out in the future providing arms."

Obama expressed caution today about some Syrian factions involved with the coalition, warning that the United States will not support extremist elements.

"Not everybody who's participating on the ground in fighting Assad are people who we are comfortable with," Obama told Walters. "There are some who, I think, have adopted an extremist agenda, an anti-U.S. agenda, and we are going to make clear to distinguish between those elements."

The president specifically singled out the group Jabhat al-Nusrah for its alleged affiliation with Al Qaeda in Iraq. The State Department says the jihadist group is responsible for nearly 600 violent attacks in major Syrian cities in the past year.

"Through these attacks, al-Nusrah has sought to portray itself as part of the legitimate Syrian opposition while it is, in fact, an attempt by [Al Qaeda in Iraq] to hijack the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purposes," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

The Obama administration blacklisted al-Nusrah earlier this week, imposing economic sanctions and branding it a terrorist organization.

Recognition of the Syrian rebel group has been expected. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was to formally announce the new relations with the United States during a meeting of international allies supporting Syria's rebels in Marrakech, Morocco, on Wednesday.

She has since cancelled her trip because of an illness. Her deputy, Bill Burns, will attend in her place.

President Obama also discussed the looming "fiscal cliff" and suggested a new flexibility on cuts to entitlement spending. Read that report here.

ABC News' Martha Raddatz contributed to this report.

More of Barbara Walters' exclusive first joint, post-election interview with President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama airs Friday, Dec. 14, on "20/20" at 10 p.m. ET on ABC stations.

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Doha summit launches climate damage aid
Labels: World

The latest summit to stop climate change, held in Doha, Qatar, over the past two weeks has been roundly slammed. Little was agreed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and the latest modelling, carried out by the Climate Action Tracker consortium shows global averages temperatures are still set to rise by at least 3 °C above pre-industrial levels.

There was one breakthrough: developing countries won a promise from developed ones that they would compensate them for losses and damage caused by climate change. The deal offers the promise of large amounts of climate aid. But first, science will have to catch up with politics.

All countries will suffer from climate change. There will be consequences even if humanity slashed its emissions and stopped temperatures rising more than 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, the stated goal of the UN negotiations. In actual fact, with emissions rising faster than ever, a 3 or 4 °C rise is likely this century.

The consequences will be manifold. Deserts will spread and lethal heatwaves become more frequent. Changes in rainfall will bring droughts, floods and storms, while rising seas will swamp low-lying areas, obliterating valuable territory. Food production will fall.

Before Doha kicked off, the charities ActionAid, CARE International and WWF released a report arguing that rich countries should compensate poor countries for such damages. Tackling the Limits to Adaptation points out that climate change will cost countries dearly, both economically and in less tangible ways such as the loss of indigenous cultures.

Two-pronged approach

So far, climate negotiations have taken a two-pronged approach to the problem. On the one hand, they have sought to create incentives or imperatives to cut emissions. On the other, they have established a pot of money for poor countries to pay for measures that will help them fend off the unavoidable consequences of climate change – such as sea walls and irrigation systems.

That, according to some, leaves a third element missing. Helping those who suffer the consequences of climate change is a moral obligation and must be part of any treaty on climate change, says Niklas Höhne of renewable energy consultancy Ecofys. The idea of climate compensation has been around since the early 1990s, when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was negotiated.

In Doha, a coalition including China, the Alliance of Small Island States and the G77 group of developing countries pushed for it to revived.

They proposed a scheme that would decide when countries had suffered climate harms, and compensate them. It would be a form of insurance, and the greatest international aid scheme ever. The idea gained momentum after Typhoon Bopha struck the Philippines last week, and that country's negotiator Naderev "Yeb" Saño broke down in tears during a speech. And, although developed nations had little incentive to agree, the conference concluded with a promise to set something up next year.

Compensation poses a fundamental challenge to climate science, which still struggles to work out if trends and events are caused by greenhouse gases or would have happened anyway. "We can't say that an individual event was caused by climate change," says Nigel Arnell of the University of Reading, UK. "What we can do is say that the chance of it happening was greater."

Systematic tests

Some climatologists are now running systematic tests to decide whether extreme weather events are caused by climate change. They run climate models with and without humanity's emissions. If the odds of a particular event are different, it suggests it was at least partially driven by emissions. By this measure, the 2003 European heatwave and 2011 Texas drought were both made more likely by human emissions.

But this science is in its infancy. We can confidently attribute large-scale trends and temperature changes, says Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. But changes in rainfall, and short-term events like hurricanes, are harder because we do not really understand them. Trenberth speculates that superstorm Sandy would not have flooded the New York subways without climate change, but says it's not possible to prove.

Arnell says that might prove unworkable. Gradual changes – such as rising sea levels, melting glaciers and ocean acidification – are easy to attribute to climate change but their consequences difficult to cost; sudden events are easy to cost but difficult to attribute.

There may be another possibility. Rather than examining individual events, climate models could predict the extra climate-related costs each country would experience, allowing regular payouts. "That would be a way round it," says Arnell. Delegates at next year's conference will have to consider these questions.

Positive step

Harjeet Singh of ActionAid in New Delhi, India, calls the Doha deal "a positive step forward". But it is only an agreement in principle: no money was committed, and even a promise to do so in the future was left out of the final text. Edward Davey, the UK's secretary of state for energy and climate change, said it was "far too early" to talk about committing money. "We aren't saying there should be compensation," he said.

Singh says the developed world would save money by cutting emissions now, rather than letting temperatures rise and then paying compensation. Small island states were keen to get an agreement on loss and damage because emissions cuts are going so slowly, making dangerous climate change almost certain. The Doha agreement is a first step towards dealing with the consequences of that failure.

On 'other business'

Aside from agreeing to make compensation available for loss and damage, the Doha summit achieved little. Nearly two decades ago, the world's governments set out to agree a binding deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Doha included some baby steps towards a deal in 2015, but that is not guaranteed and in any case will come too late to stop dangerous climate change. Only Lebanon and the Dominican Republic made new emissions pledges.

The talks were bogged down in rows over financing. In a deal that was separate to the adaptation fund, developed countries had promised in 2009 to deliver $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poor nations prepare for climate change. Between 2009 and 2012 they allocated $10 billion a year. In Doha they refused to say how they would scale that up, simply promising to "continue" – leaving developing countries unsure if or when they would get more.

The Kyoto protocol was renewed until 2020, but its global effect is likely to be limited. Its value is partly symbolic, to show that binding agreements can be reached, and as one of many small and medium-scale projects to cut emissions.

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