Ottawa parents reeling after mass shooting at Connecticut elementary school

   People take part in a candlelight vigil in Times Square, for the victims of the Sandy Hook School shooting, in New York, December 14, 2012. A heavily armed gunman opened fire on school children and staff at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday, killing at least 26 people, including 20 children, in the latest in a series of shooting rampages that have tormented the United States this year. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Sharon Ianni-Luci broke into tears when she heard of the young, innocent lives lost in a small Connecticut elementary school Friday morning.
Right away, her thoughts turned to her own small children, safely sequestered at Frank Ryan Catholic Senior Elementary School in Ottawa.

“I felt for the parents of the children and I was trying to imagine how I would react if something like that happened here,” she said.

She decided to pick her kids up after school so she could hold them close without having to wait for them to get off the bus.

Ianni-Luci said every time she preps her kids for school there’s the lingering fear that such a tragedy could be wrought on them — a fear shared by all parents — but she tries to keep it in the back of her mind.
“This is something that usually happens in the United States,” she said. “I feel that we’re pretty safe here in Ottawa, I try not to worry.”

 http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/12/14/ottawa-parents-reeling-after-mass-shooting-at-connecticut-elementary-school

Sun+ News Sponsorship Adam Lanza returned to Sandy Hook as mass killer

In the aftermath of Friday’s elementary school shooting, a shattered New England town searched for clues to why a young man would commit so heinous an act.

The life of Adam Lanza will be dissected, analyzed and re-analyzed in the days to come as investigators dig into the background of the 20-year-old, who law enforcement sources say returned to his elementary school and opened fire.

Thus far, there are clues, but no answers.

Police have not even publicly confirmed Lanza as the assailant who killed 20 young children between the ages of 5 and 10, plus six adults and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

      
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/12/15/adam-lanza-returned-to-sandy-hook-as-mass-killer

Connecticut school shooting: Police find 'good evidence' on motive for massacre

Names of shooting victims not yet disclosed

 

NEWTOWN, CONN - Investigators have found "some very good evidence" to explain what drove a 20-year-old gunman to slaughter 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in the small Connecticut town of Newtown, the site of one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history, an official said on Saturday.

The attacker, identified by law enforcement sources as Adam Lanza, opened fire on Friday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which teaches children aged 5 to 10. He is suspected of killing 26 people at the school before turning the gun on himself, as well as killing one other person at another nearby site.

"Our investigators at the crime scene ... did produce some very good evidence in this investigation that our investigators will be able to use in, hopefully, painting the complete picture as to how - and more importantly why - this occurred," Connecticut State Police Lieutenant Paul Vance told a news conference.

Vance did not describe the evidence but did say the shooter forced his way into the school, as opposed to being let in.

 http://www.torontosun.com/2012/12/15/search-for-answers-begins-after-newtown-conn-school-massacre

Newtown shooting shows enough is enough with gun violence

   People pray and stand outside the overflow area of a vigil at the Saint Rose of Lima church in Newtown, Conn. December 14, 2012. The peace and security of the suburban Connecticut community of Newtown lay shattered on Friday after a gunman attacked a primary school in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. Tearful parents and children gathered around Sandy Hook Elementary School by midday on Friday, surrounded by police vehicles, as young and old alike struggled to make sense of a shooting rampage that killed at least 28 people, including 20 children. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)


NEWTOWN, CONN. - Acrimony, animosity, annoyance.
Exasperation, indignation, vexation.

Where the hell do you start to describe the mood here?

They are not even close to the right words to capture just how angry people are.
There is nothing worse a human being can do than randomly open fire and murder innocent kids in cold blood at a school.

Except, perhaps, not do anything to prevent it from happening again.
The infuriation here is not just over the needless death of so many innocent children and adults but that another school shooting has rocked America.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/12/14/newtown-shooting-shows-enough-is-enough-with-gun-violence

Al-Mahmoudi's Trial Starts In Tripoli 11/12/2012 12:41:00

Libya's former Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi has gone on trial in Tripoli charged with "acts that led to the unjust killing of Libyans". He is also accused with two others of funnelling about $25m of public money through Tunisia to help forces supporting the former Libyan dictator Gaddafi.

Mr Mahmoudi, who served as prime minister in the Gaddafi regime from March 2006, fled Libya to neighbouring Tunisia when pro-Gaddafi forces lost control of Tripoli during last year's uprising. The former dictator was eventually ousted Gaddafi from power after more than four decades. The former Libya PM was was extradited to Libya to face charges last June.

He appeared in court on Monday in traditional Libyan dress, speaking only once, to confirm his identity. He has denied wrongdoing. He is one of four senior officials from the former government being prosecuted in Libya.

His two co-defendants were managers of a company overseen by one of Gaddafi's most prominent sons, Seif al-Islam. They are accused of channelling public funds through private accounts in Tunisia to help pay for support to pro-Gaddafi forces.

Mr Mahmoudi's defence lawyer also submitted a list of six witnesses, some of whom are currently in jail and awaiting trial.

The trial is due to resume in mid-January.

Human rights groups had urged Tunisia not to extradite him, saying he could be subject to human rights violations in Libya. But Libya's new government has pledged to treat all detainees fairly.

Libya's former Prime Minister, al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi in court
 

Abdul-Jalil Accused Of Abusing Power 12/12/2012 13:29:00

 Libyan military prosecutors have accused the former chairman of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil of abusing his power. The charge is in connection with the killing of a top field commander, Abdel Fattah Younes during last year’s conflict.

Abdel Fattah Younes was Muammar Gaddafi’s interior minister before he defected and joined the rebellion. He was killed by gunmen in July 2011.

Mystery has surrounded his death that happened when he was called back from the front line. It was Jalil who explained how he had died at the time.

Younes was welcomed by some into the rebellion and spurned by others. At one point he vied with others for command of the anti-Gaddafi forces.



Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the former chairman of the National Transitional Council of Libya
                                            

Libyans in Malta Demand Removal of 'Gaddafi Loyalists' from Government 12/12/2012 18:04:00

For the umpteenth time, a number of Libyans living in Malta Wednesday organised a protest in front of the Libyan Embassy and the Maltese capital, Valletta demanding demanding the removal of people with strong ties to the Gadaffi regime from the Libyan government, and changes in the Libyan embassy personnel in Malta. They said that the only changes in the Libyan embassy in Malta since the end of last year's conflict have been cosmetic. The only real change in the embassy, they said, was the the flag. The Libyan community in Malta was also protesting over the way violent militias are governing and terrorising the country since the February 17 Revolution saying that Libya is being run by the military militias based in Misurata and other parts of the country. Libyans in Malta, other protesters in the main cities of Libya and throughout most of the European countries insist that if militias and Gaddafi loyalists are not removed from places of authority in Libya, last year's revolution would have been in vain and people would have shed their blood for nothing. At the end of the protest, the Libyan community in Malta presented Mohammed M A Elghirani, the Libyan Charge d'Affairs in Malta a letter in order for him to forward to the Libyan government, now being led as Prime Minister Dr Ali Zidan.

Four Wounded In Benghazi Bomb Blast 13/12/2012 16:09:00

Libyan police officials say a bomb blast outside a police station in the eastern city of Benghazi has wounded four people, two of them seriously.

Police officials have been quoted saying that there was no immediate indication on who was behind the blast in Libya's second largest city - home to hundreds of Islamist militiamen who ught Gaddafi's forces in last year's civil war. After the fighting, most refused to surrender their weapons.

Benghazi has also witnessed a series of assassinations in recent weeks, including the killing last month of its security chief.

In the same city in September, militants attacked the American consulate and killed the US ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans working in the consulate.

Syria government 'losing control' - Russian official

 


A Russian official has said for the first time that the Syrian government may be defeated by opposition forces.

President Bashar al-Assad's forces are "losing more and more control and territory", deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said.

He said Russia, one of Syria's staunchest allies, was making plans for a possible evacuation of thousands of its citizens.

Separately, Syria denied reports it had fired Scud missiles at rebels.
Nato's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen earlier said the organisation had detected the launch of such short-range missiles, saying it showed an "utter disregard" for the lives of the Syrian people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20710561

North Korea still years away from missiles that pose threat to United States: experts

          This picture received from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 12, 2012 shows the rocket Unha-3, carrying the satellite Kwangmyongsong-3, being monitored on a large screen at a satellite control center in Cholsan county, North Pyongan province in North Korea. North Korea confirmed it had launched a long-range rocket and succeeded in its mission of placing a satellite into orbit. 

 They don’t call it rocket science for nothing.

North Korea’s first successful launch of a three-stage, long-range rocket has outraged world leaders who consider it similar to a missile capable of attacking the United States, Europe and other far-away targets. But experts say Pyongyang is years away from even having a shot at developing reliable missiles that could bombard the American mainland.

A missile program is built on decades of systematic, intricate testing, something extremely difficult for economically struggling Pyongyang, which faces guaranteed sanctions and world disapprobation each time it stages an expensive launch.

“One success indicates progress, but not victory, and there is a huge gap between being able to make a system work once and having a system that is reliable enough to be militarily useful,” said Brian Weeden, a former U.S. Air Force Space Command officer and a technical adviser to the Secure World Foundation, a think tank on space policy.\



         South Korean conservative activists set fire to a mock North Korean missile and an effigy (C, unseen) of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during a protest denouncing North Korea's rocket launch the day before, in Seoul on December 13, 2012. North Korea's rocket launch is a timely boost for its young leader, securing his year-old grip on power and laying to rest the humiliation of a much-hyped but failed launch eight months ago, analysts say.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12/13/north-korea-still-years-away-from-missiles-that-pose-threat-to-united-states-experts/ 

Star Green party candidate Andrew Weaver says New Democrat asked him to step aside.

          

Climate scientist Andrew Weaver will run for the B.C. Green Party in Oak Bay-Gordon Head.

Photograph by: Bruce Stotesbury , Times Colonist

The B.C. Green party candidate for Victoria’s Oak Bay-Gordon Head riding says the New Democrats, spooked at his party’s chances in next spring’s provincial election, asked him to step aside soon after he was nominated in September.

Renowned climate scientist Andrew Weaver announced on Twitter Wednesday night that friend and former federal NDP candidate Michael Byers called him the day after the nomination to offer a deputy minister position in any potential B.C. NDP government if Weaver would step aside.

“I had no intention of ever saying anything,” Weaver said of the private conversation. He said he is disclosing the phone call now because NDP supporters are starting to launch Twitter attacks on him about various environmental issues.

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Green+party+candidate+Andrew+Weaver+says+Democrat+asked+step/7691247/story.html

Ian Mulgrew: Courts take on fundamental questions of life and death.

         

Vancouver Sun columnist Ian Mulgrew.

Photograph by: Staff , PNG

ust as abortion and the moment a fetus became a person racked Canadians of an earlier generation, so the end of consciousness and assisted death are vexing this one.

 

With baby boomers facing infirmity and mortality and the medical community’s burgeoning abilities to sustain life, questions about the withdrawal of care and the right to die have come to the forefront.

The Supreme Court of Canada and B.C.’s top courts are wrestling with cases that raise these concerns, entangled in a thorny thicket of religious beliefs, fundamental rights and health-care policy.

 

 http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/Mulgrew+Courts+take+fundamental+questions+life+death/7690425/story.html

Milwaukee woman convicted of killing pregnant woman to steal fetus faces sentencing.

    

FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2012, file photo, Annette Morales-Rodriguez sits next to her attorneys in a Milwaukee court. Morales-Rodriguez is scheduled for sentencing Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 for trying to steal a baby by attacking a pregnant woman and slicing out her full-term fetus, killing both the mother and child. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger, File)

ILWAUKEE - Annette Morales-Rodriguez, distraught over her inability to give her boyfriend a son, had already pretended to have two miscarriages and was faking a third pregnancy when she settled on a sinister plan to abduct another Hispanic woman, carve the child from her womb and pass it off as her own. 

 

She followed through last year and ended up killing not only 23-year-old Maritza Ramirez-Cruz, but also Ramirez-Cruz's full-term son as well. On Thursday, Morales-Rodriguez will be sentenced to prison for life. The only unknown is whether the judge will allow for the possibility of parole. Wisconsin doesn't have the death penalty.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Milwaukee+woman+convicted+killed+pregnant+woman+steal+fetus/7693366/story.html

Right-to-work law gives Michigan unions new task: persuading members to continue paying fees.

 

Protesters hold a silent protest in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, a day after thousands of protesters rallied on the grounds as lawmakers pushed final versions of right-to-work legislation. The tape over their mouths shows how Gov. Rick Snyder and his allies have silenced Michigan’s middle class, and effectively cut the wages of Michiganders by $1500. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

 

LANSING, Mich. - Now that Michigan has become a right-to-work state, unions in this stronghold of organized labour confront a new and urgent problem: convincing members to continue paying for their services instead of taking them for free.
Brushing aside protests from thousands of labour supporters, the Republican-controlled state House approved measures Tuesday making it illegal to require that nonunion workers pay fees to unions for negotiating wage contracts and other services. The Senate did likewise last week, and Gov. Rick Snyder swiftly signed the bills into law.
The laws take effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns this month, giving unions little time to devise a strategy for keeping members on board and convincing nonmembers to continue their financial support.

   

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Righttowork+gives+Michigan+unions+task+persuading+members/7690901/story.html

   

Trial date set for B.C. man charged with four murders.

Cody Legebokoff is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Prince George-area women

        

A trial date has been set in B.C. Supreme Court for accused serial killer Cody Legebokoff.

A judge in Vancouver has ordered the 22-year-old northern B.C. man to return to court on Sept. 9, 2013.

Legebokoff is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Prince George-area women who disappeared in the region, starting in 2009.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Trial+date+charged+with+four+murders/7689016/story.html

Photos: Star-studded Sandy benefit concert.

        
         
         
     
         

Who played at the 12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief? It’s probably easier to list off who didn’t play the benefit show. All the monsters of classic rock were there -- Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Roger Waters, Bon Jovi, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel -- along with a few current superstars and several comic celebrities. Take a look.

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/music/Photos+Star+studded+Sandy+benefit+concert/7691606/story.html

Anti-virus software founder John McAfee arrives in US after being deported from Guatemala.

    

Software company founder John McAfee is surrounded by members of the press as he leaves an immigration detention center for the La Aurora international airport in Guatemala City, Wednesday Dec. 12, 2012. McAfee, who is being deported to the U.S., was detained last week for immigration violations after he sneaked into Guatemala from neighboring Belize, where authorities sought to question him about the murder of his neighbor. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

MIAMI - Anti-virus software founder John McAfee arrived in the U.S. on Wednesday night after being deported from Guatemala, where he had sought to evade police questioning in the killing of a man in neighbouring Belize.
The American Airlines commercial jet carrying McAfee landed in Miami shortly before 7 p.m., said Miami International Airport spokesman Greg Chin.

A short time later, a posting on McAfee's website announced that he was at a hotel in Miami's upscale South Beach neighbourhood. He said he arrived by taxi after a group of customs or immigration agents, he didn't know which, escorted him to an airport taxi stand. McAfee has frequently communicated through the website.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Flight+carrying+antivirus+software+founder+John+McAfee+arrives/7690497/story.html

Official: Syria fires Scud missiles at insurgents in the north.

    

Syrian men use sledgehammers to break the concrete of a residential building destroyed in a government airstrike, while searching for belongings under the rubble, in Maaret Misreen, near Idlib, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

KABUL - Syrian government forces have fired Scud missiles at insurgents in recent days, escalating the 2-year-old conflict against rebels seeking to overthrow the regime, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, two officials said forces of President Bashar Assad have fired the missiles from the Damascus area into northern Syria. These officials asked not to be named because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

News of the missiles came on the same day that more than 100 countries, including the United States, recognized a new Syrian opposition coalition. That has further isolated Assad's regime and opened a way for greater humanitarian assistance to the forces battling to oust him.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Official+Syria+fires+Scud+missiles+insurgents+north/7688548/story.html

Bomb explodes near Syrian capital as rebels edge closer to Assad's seat of power.

    

Syrian men use sledgehammers to break the concrete of a residential building destroyed in a government airstrike, while searching for belongings under the rubble, in Maaret Misreen, near Idlib, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

BEIRUT - Syria's state news agency says a bomb has gone off in a suburb southwest of the Syrian capital.

Thursday's blast comes as rebels seeking to oust President Bashar Assad have been edging closer to Damascus, his seat of power.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Explosion+targets+Syrian+Interior+Ministry+building+Damascus/7688220/story.html

\

Plot to kill, castrate Justin Bieber foiled: U.S. report.

          

Justin Bieber performs onstage during Z100’s Jingle Ball 2012, presented by Aeropostale, at Madison Square Garden on December 7, 2012 in New York City. Two Americans were reportedly arrested after their plan to kill and castrate Bieber was revealed.

Photograph by: Jamie McCarthy

Two would-be assassins from New Mexico are being implicated in a bizarre plot to kill Canadian pop megastar Justin Bieber.
KRQE News 13 in Albuquerque, the state’s largest city, reported the alleged scheme Wednesday.
The television station said it was part of a plan to strangle the Ontario-born singer and three other people.
Detectives quoted by the station say Mark Staake, 41, and his nephew Tanner Ruane, 23, had begun hatching their plot at the state prison near Las Cruces.

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/celebrity/Plot+kill+castrate+Justin+Bieber+foiled+report/7690292/story.html