Conn. town in mourning inundated with gifts, money

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) ? Newtown's children were showered with gifts Saturday ? tens of thousands of teddy bears, Barbie dolls, soccer balls and board games ? and those are only some of the tokens of support from around the world for the town in mourning.

Just a little over a week ago, 20 children and six school employees were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, attacked the school, then killed himself. Police don't know what set off the massacre.

Days before Christmas, funerals were still being held Saturday, the last of those whose schedules were made public, according to the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association. A service was held in Utah for 6-year-old Emilie Parker. Others were held in Connecticut for Josephine Gay, 7, and Ana Marquez-Greene, 6.

All of Newtown's children were invited to Edmond Town Hall, where they could choose a toy. Bobbi Veach, who was fielding donations at the building, reflected on the outpouring of gifts from toy stores, organizations and individuals around the world.

"It's their way of grieving," Veach said. "They say, 'I feel so bad, I just want to do something to reach out.' That's why we accommodate everybody we can."

The United Way of Western Connecticut said the official fund for donations had $2.8 million in it on Saturday. Others sent envelopes stuffed with cash to pay for coffee at the general store, and a shipment of cupcakes arrived from a gourmet bakery in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The Postal Service reported a six-fold increase in mail in the town and set up a unique post office box to handle it. The parcels come decorated with rainbows and hearts drawn by schoolchildren.

Some letters arrived in packs of 26 identical envelopes ? one for each family of the children and staff killed or addressed to the "First Responders" or just "The People of Newtown." One card arrived from Georgia addressed to "The families of 6 amazing women and 20 beloved angels." Many contained checks.

"This is just the proof of the love that's in this country," Postmaster Cathy Zieff said.

Peter Leone said he was busy making deli sandwiches and working the register at his Newtown General Store when he got a phone call from Alaska. It was a woman who wanted to give him her credit card number.

"She said, 'I'm paying for the next $500 of food that goes out your door,'" Leone said. "About a half hour later another gentleman called, I think from the West Coast, and he did the same thing for $2,000."

At the town hall building, the basement resembled a toy store, with piles of stuffed penguins, dolls, games, and other fun gifts. All the toys were inspected and examined by bomb-sniffing dogs before being sorted and put on card tables. The children could choose whatever they wanted.

Jugglers entertained the children, a dunk tank was set up outside and the crowd of several hundred parents and children sang an enthusiastic rendition of "Happy Birthday" to one child. A man dressed as Santa Claus was in attendance, and high school students were offering arts and crafts such as face painting and caricatures.

Newtown resident Amy Mangold, director of the local Parks and Recreation department, attended with her 12-year-old daughter, Cory. She acknowledged that most people here could afford to buy their own gifts but said "this means people really care about what's happening here. They know we need comfort and want to heal."

She pointed to two people across the room. "Look at that hug, that embrace. This is bringing people together. Some people haven't been getting out since this happened. It's about people being together. I see people coming together and healing."

Many people have placed flowers, candles and stuffed animals at makeshift memorials that have popped up all over town. Others are stopping by the Edmond Town Hall to drop off food, toys or cash. About 60,000 teddy bears were donated, said Ann Benoure, a social services caseworker who was working at the town hall.

"There's so much stuff coming in," Mahoney said. "To be honest, it's a bit overwhelming; you just want to close the doors and turn the phone off."

Mahoney said the town of some 27,000 with a median household income of more than $111,000 plans to donate whatever is left over to shelters or other charities.

Sean Gillespie of Colchester, who attended Sandy Hook Elementary, and Lauren Minor, who works at U.S. Foodservice in Norwich, came from Calvary Chapel in Uncasville with a car filled with food donated by U.S. Foodservice. But they were sent elsewhere because the refrigerators in Newtown were overflowing with donations.

"We'll find someplace," Gillespie said. "It won't go to waste."

In addition to the town's official fund, other private funds have been set up. Former Sandy Hook student Ryan Kraft, who once baby-sat Lanza, set up a fund with other alumni that has collected almost $150,000. It is earmarked for the Sandy Hook PTA.

Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel is raising money for a memorial to the victims. He said one man wrote a check for $52,000 for the project.

Several colleges, including the University of Connecticut, have set up scholarship funds to pay for the educations of students at Sandy Hook and the relatives of the victims.

Town officials have not decided yet what to do with all the money. A board of Newtown community leaders is being established to determine how it is most needed and will be best utilized, said Isabel Almeida with the local United Way, which has waived all its administrative fees related to the fund.

She said some have wondered about building a new school for Sandy Hook students if the town decides to tear the school down, but that decision has not been made.

And while the town is grateful for all the support, Almeida said, it has no more room for those gifts. Instead, she encouraged people to donate to others in memory of the Sandy Hook victims.

"Send those teddy bears to a school in your community or an organization that serves low-income children, who are in need this holiday season, and do it in memory of our children," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed, Christopher Sullivan, Eileen AJ Connelly, Susan Haigh and John Christoffersen contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/conn-town-mourning-inundated-gifts-money-173114867.html

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Soyuz capsule docks with space Station

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) ? A Soyuz capsule packed with three astronauts successfully docked Friday with the International Space Station, taking the size of the full crew at the orbiting laboratory to six.

American Tom Marshburn, Russian Roman Romanenko and Canadian Chris Hadfield traveled two days in the capsule before linking up with the space station's Russian Rassvet research module.

The docking took place around 255 miles (410 kilometers) above the capital of Kazakhstan.

Almost three hours passed before pressure was equalized between the capsule and the space station, allowing for safe entrance.

As the hatches were unlocked, the arriving trio was welcomed by NASA astronaut Kevin Ford and Russian colleagues Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin.

The six colleagues exchanged hugs and posed for photos as they floated in the weightless atmosphere of the station.

Minutes after entry, Hadfield could be heard saying in English: "I love what you've done with the place."

Hadfield flew to the space station in 2001, when he spent 11 days at the facility and performed two spacewalks. He will take over as the space station's first ever Canadian commander in its fourteen year history when the crew now onboard prepares to leave in March.

Family members spoke for the first since the launch with the astronauts in a linkup from the Korolyov space center outside Moscow.

"It was just a heck of a ride for the three of us. It's like being on a crazy dragster, just a fun, crazy zip up to space," Hadfield said, speaking to his son.

The incoming crew will spend nearly five months at the space station before returning to earth.

Their mission began with a launch from the Russian-leased Baikonur space port in southern Kazakhstan.

The International Space Station is the biggest orbiting outpost ever built and can sometimes be seen from the Earth with the naked eye. It consists of more than a dozen modules built by the U.S., Russia, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency.

The astronauts will conduct some 50 scientific experiments including a test for a system aimed at predicting natural calamities.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soyuz-capsule-docks-space-station-145245931.html

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Bells toll for Newtown massacre victims

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) ? The chiming of bells reverberated throughout Newtown on Friday, commemorating one week since the crackle of gunfire in a schoolhouse killed 20 children and six adults in a massacre that has shaken the community ? and the nation ? to its core.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gathered with other officials in rain and wind on the steps of the Edmond Town Hall as the bell rang 26 times in memory of each life lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The gunman also killed his mother before the massacre, and himself afterward.

Officials didn't make any formal remark, and similar commemorations took place throughout the country.

Though the massacre does not rank as the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history ? that happened at Virginia Tech ? the tender age of the victims and the absence of any apparent motive has struck at Americans' hearts and minds. The gunman used a military-style assault rifle loaded with ammunition intended to inflict maximum damage, officials have said.

The White House said President Barack Obama privately observed the moment of silence.

Just a week after the attack on the first grade students and members of the school's staff, gun control has taken a front burner in Congress, where previous mass shootings produced only minimal legislative reaction. Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that the Obama administration would push to tighten gun laws.

The National Rifle Association, at its first public event since the shootings, called Friday for armed police officers to be posted in American school to stop the next killer "waiting in the wings."

Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the nation's largest gun-rights lobby with 4.3 million members, said at the Washington news conference that, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

He blamed video games, movies and music videos for exposing children to a violent culture.

Though security was tight, the briefing was interrupted twice by people holding up signs that blamed the NRA for killing children. The protesters were taken from the room.

Newtown schools superintendent Janet Robinson told The Associated Press on Friday that consolidating the first grade classes at Sandy Hook Elementary School is part of the process of preparing for the students' return Jan. 3 to a refurbished middle school in Monroe. She said most of the classes will remain intact, except the first grade where 20 students were killed. She said one of the three classes has a single remaining student.

Traffic stopped in the streets outside the town hall in Newtown early Friday as bells rang out to honor the dead.

Malloy, taking deep breaths with his hands folded in front of him, was joined by the Newtown superintendent of schools, lawmakers and other officials as bells rang out at the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church.

Firefighters bowed their heads around a memorial filled with teddy bears, other stuffed animals and a New York Giants pillow. Some hugged and onlookers shook their hands afterward.

"When I heard the 26 bells ring it just melted my soul," said Kerrie Glassman, of Sandy Hook, who said she knew seven of the victims. "It's just overwhelming. You just can't believe this happened in our town."

Among those who gathered in Newtown was a group of 13 survivors of the 2005 school shooting on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota. The group drove nearly 1,500 miles to support and comfort the families and survivors. They brought gifts intended to bring a message of resilience and hope, including a plaque that survivors of the 1999 Columbine shooting gave to them after their experience.

"This is just something we had to do," said Ashley Lejeunesse, 23, who was also in the Red Lake classroom.

The chiming of bells reverberated throughout the nation, and there were observances around the world.

In Washington, religious leaders from a broad range of faiths gathered at Washington National Cathedral to call for their congregations to lobby Congress to enact gun control and mental health reforms to address pervasive gun violence. In a garden beside the National Cathedral, they paused to listen as a funeral bell tolled.

In New York City, bells at the historic Trinity Church near the World Trade Center tolled 28 times. In Massachusetts, bells in churches around the state, including Boston's historic Old North Church, rang in honor of those killed in the attack. A moment of silence was observed throughout Colorado, and bells rang out in Denver, while in Wyoming, St. Mary's Cathedral in Cheyenne and other places of worship rang bells 26 times. In Ohio, places of worship from Cincinnati to Cleveland and beyond tolled their bells 26 times, and schools across the state marked the moment with silence.

In Alabama, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, governors invited citizens to take part in a moment of silence.

In the west African nation of Liberia, 20 children from a school sponsored by the Newtown Rotary Club gathered at the U.S. Embassy to give their condolences. Each child from the Caroline Miller School in Monrovia placed a flower on a poster bearing the name of a victim of the shooting.

When the bells tolled to honor the victims of last week's shooting rampage, they did so 26 times, for each child and staff member killed.

There is rarely a mention by residents of the first person police said Adam Lanza killed that morning: his mother, Nancy, who was shot in the head four times while she lay in bed.

A private funeral was held Thursday in New Hampshire for Nancy Lanza, according to the police chief in Kingston, N.H., where her funeral was held. About 25 family members attended.

The Newtown area weathered more funerals Friday, with five planned.

A standing room-only crowd filled the St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church in Trumbull for the funeral of Mary Sherlach. The school psychologist who rushed toward the gunman during the shooting was remembered as a caring professional, a fan of the Miami Dolphins and a woman who ultimately put the lives of others ahead of her own.

Investigators have said that Nancy Lanza, a gun enthusiast, visited shooting ranges several times and that her son also visited an area range.

Authorities say Adam Lanza shot his mother at their home and then took her car and some of her guns to the school, where he broke in and opened fire. A Connecticut official said Nancy Lanza was shot four times in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.

Adam Lanza was wearing all black, with an olive-drab utility vest, during the school attack. Investigators have found no letters or diaries that could explain the rampage.

Friends and acquaintances have described him as intelligent, but odd and quiet.

Friends said he would stare down at the floor and not speak when she brought him into a local pizzeria. They knew that he'd switched schools more than once and that she'd tried home schooling him. But while she occasionally expressed concern about his future during evenings at the bar, she never complained.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Michael Melia, John Christoffersen, Eileen Connelly, Susan Haigh and David Klepper in Newtown.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bells-toll-victims-one-week-shooting-143254939.html

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Woman's attack could be turning point for India's rape laws

The gang-rape and beating of a 23-year-old woman on a private bus as it cruised around Delhi Sunday could be the turning point for improvements in the country?s rape laws.

After nearly a week of massive protests across the capital demanding tougher punishments for rapists and better protection of women, the parliamentary standing committee will meet next week to discuss creating fast-track courts for those accused of rape.

Proposals for changes in the law come at a critical time. Many people say there is little deterrent for rapists: Because of social stigma, few females come forward to report the crime. Those that do often have to wait years for their cases to be heard. And even then, the conviction rate is just 34.6 percent, according to the National Crimes Record Bureau. Delhi has the highest number of rapes in the country, with 572 rapes reported last year. While Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code lists punishments of up to a life sentence for rape, those convicted are often let off after serving only a few months or years.

But fast-track courts could change how people think about such crimes by expediting the trial period. Proposed amendments would also provide better privacy for women with in-camera trials, which would keep them from being in the same room as the accused.

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While politicians and activists are encouraged that the public outrage could push parliament to reform laws, Anil Bairwa of the Association for Democratic Reforms says fast track courts will not solve the problem.

He points to a report released this week that found as many as 27 Indian politicians in senior positions have rape or molestation cases pending against them.

?When the politicians passing the legislation and governering states across India have themselves been accused of rape and molesting women, it really shows where this country is in its nascent laws to protect women. Hopefully fast-track courts and stiffer penalties will start bringing some of these people to task.?

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Leaders from all political walks of life have pledged their support to improve the safety of women in Delhi and across the country. That these normally polarized politicians could come together on this issue, says Nirmala Sitharaman, the national spokeswoman for the Baratiya Janta Party (BJP), shows that politicians are united in their pledge to improve the laws.

Ms. Sitharaman says the gruesome case that propelled the issue into the national spotlight shows how little perpetrators fear punishment: In the Delhi bus gang rape, both the woman and her friend who tried to protect her were thrown out of the moving bus ? on a highway on the outskirts of the city, according to court testimony.

?Though the government may move slow in many areas, the commitment members of parliament have made to pass new legislation to protect women is real,? she says. ?This terrible act has shaken the policymakers in this city to their core.?

But not everyone is convinced change is on the way. The pressure people across the city have been putting on the government this week must continue, says Dr. Vandana Prasad of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. ?Announcements for changes in a law can mean something happening in one week or 10 years.?

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/delhi-gang-rape-case-could-turning-point-indias-180438137.html

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GOP Senators vow to trim superstorm Sandy aid to $23.8 billion

Senate Republicans have proposed an alternate disaster relief plan for states affected by superstorm Sandy, which would use $23.8 billion- rather than President Obama's proposed $60.4 billion- to fund initial relief.

By David Lawder,?Reuters / December 19, 2012

Congressman Peter King, (c.), and Senator Chuck Schumer, listen as Congresswoman Nita Lowey speaks during a news conference, Dec. 14, in New York. Elected officials, business and labor leaders met with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo federal aid to New York following Superstorm Sandy. The U.S. Senate is debating a $60.2 billion aid package requested by President Obama.

Bebeto Matthews/AP

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U.S.?Senate?Republicans sought to slash a $60.4 billion aid bill to cover reconstruction after Superstorm Sandy, proposing on Wednesday to fund only $23.8 billion in immediate disaster relief while assessing longer-term needs.

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The far smaller initial amount is one of a number of Republican amendments aimed at cutting projects from a bill that they see as a "slush fund" loaded with questionable requests for spending on unrelated programs and big infrastructure.

Senator?Daniel Coats?of?Indiana?said his plan for $23.8 billion in initial funding would provide sufficient money for immediate needs through March 27, for work such as debris cleanup, repairing damaged equipment, rebuilding destroyed homes and businesses.

"It seems to me the most logical, responsible way to move forward is to identify the immediate needs and provide the immediate funding to meet those needs," said Coats, a member of the?Senate Appropriations Committee.

He said longer-term needs could be considered next year, as?Congress?works on approving new money to keep government agencies and programs funded after a stopgap measure runs out on March 27.

Senate?Democrats are trying to push through President Barack Obama's full $60.4 billion Sandy disaster aid request before the end of the year.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/6LZrBLe_oaQ/GOP-Senators-vow-to-trim-superstorm-Sandy-aid-to-23.8-billion

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Report: Europe May Have Scuttled Google's FTC Deal

The postponement of Google's deal with the Federal Trade Commission may have been caused, at least in part, by Europe's tough stance with the company. As of a few days ago, reports suggested that Google was close to hashing out a deal with the FTC, but that the European Commission's two-year antitrust investigation was far from resolved.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/26cdbfbc/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C769120Bhtml/story01.htm

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Shapiro: Obama never learned how to manage Congress

By Walter Shapiro

Being president is a daily, even hourly, character test. Every decision from approving a drone attack in Yemen to framing the State of the Union address is fraught with real-world consequences that can shape a president?s legacy.

Of course, political survival plays a role in these calculations. That is why the six weeks since the election are so potentially revealing about Barack Obama, who remains the most guarded and emotionally remote modern president. For the first time since he ran for the Illinois state Senate in 1996, Obama does not have to worry about the short-term verdict of the voters.??

Since his definitive re-election, the president has summoned poetry from despair in his prayerful speech at the Sandy Hook memorial. But Obama also allowed Susan Rice, his presumed choice for secretary of state, to step aside in the face of trumped-up Republican attacks over Benghazi. And, in what appears to have been a futile effort to placate John Boehner, the president this week voluntarily abandoned a position on taxes that he had upheld in virtually every speech during the 2012 campaign.

Until the moment Obama leaves office in 2017, all assessments of his character as a leader are tentative, works in progress subject to revision in light of new developments. But with that sense of humility in mind, here is what we have learned about Obama since the election:

Guns: At his Wednesday press conference, Obama took umbrage at the accurate suggestion that he had been AWOL on the subject of gun violence before 20 children died in Newtown. ?I?ve been president of the United States dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, an auto industry on the verge of collapse [and] two wars? Obama said defensively. ?I don?t think I?ve been on vacation.?

External events often dictate a president?s priorities, so Obama did not need to invoke Afghanistan and Iraq to justify his prior lack of interest in renewing the assault-weapons ban. But now that the president has pledged that gun legislation will be a centerpiece of his State of the Union address next month, Obama should be held to a higher standard.

Dating back to the 2009 stimulus bill and health care reform, the standard Obama approach to Capitol Hill has been to stand aloof from the legislative details and the backroom bargaining over final wording. But as Joe Biden should know from the 1994 crime bill (which included an ineffective assault-weapons ban), a hands-off approach by the White House does not work with gun legislation. Without active presidential leadership, any gun bill that passes Congress will have NRA-engineered loopholes wide enough to drive an armored truck through.

To govern is to choose. And in the tear-stained aftermath of the Connecticut massacre, Obama appears to have placed a higher legislative priority on guns than immigration reform. It may well be a morally and politically defensible choice, especially if Obama is correct in sensing that this is a once-a-generation moment to lessen gun violence.

But that cause requires an activist LBJ-style president willing to exert unrelenting pressure on Congress rather than the familiar conflict-averse Obama searching for a non-existent consensus. Within the tight limitations imposed by the Supreme Court, it will be difficult to pass federal legislation that both significantly reduces gun deaths and survives constitutional scrutiny.

That is the character test awaiting Obama over guns: The president has a choice between a protracted and debilitating legislative crusade on Capitol Hill or the empty symbolism of a toothless bill that does little to prevent the next school shooting.

National Security: Obama?s second-term national security team could well be dominated by two former senators and Vietnam veterans?John Kerry, who the president just nominated as secretary of state, and, if the rumors are true, Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon.

What this may suggest is that Obama has made a conscious decision to reflect America?s war weariness in his top appointments. Both Kerry and Hagel?along with Biden, of course?understand how an unpopular war can derail even the most successful two-term president. It is even possible to interpret both the Kerry Pick and potential Hagel nomination as an indication that Obama intends to resist any hair-trigger response to Iran?s nuclear weapons program or other flash-point crisis.

But it is equally likely that, after the furor over Rice, Obama is simply taking the easy path?picking nominees who will sail through Senate confirmation because of their Capitol Hill pedigrees. (A scurrilous attack on Hagel as anti-Israel, orchestrated by Weekly Standard editor and Iraq War cheerleader Bill Kristol, has aroused a fierce counter-reaction).

That is the Obama enigma: How much is ideology and how much is conflict avoidance? With Kerry and Hagel, is the president reflecting a dovish, but pragmatic, outlook in foreign affairs? Or are these both make-no-waves choices picked because of factors that have little to do with their national-security orientation? Kerry, after all, was the only well-known alternative to Rice, and Hagel would be reprising the Robert Gates role as the token Republican at the senior level of the Obama Cabinet.

Taxes: In Iowa City in late May 2007, a fledgling presidential candidate named Obama unveiled his health-care plan. His proposed expansion of coverage would be paid for by (wait for it) ending the Bush tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 a year. There was nothing magical about $250,000 other than, in political terms, it seemed to separate the wealthy from the upper middle class.

But through slavish repetition by Obama, that $250,000 figure seemed as unalterable as pi. In his mid-November press conference, Obama again talked passionately about the need ?to pass a law right now that would prevent any tax hike whatsoever on the first $250,000 of everyone?s income.?

After more than five-and-a-half years, that ironclad Obama position is now officially inoperative. The president?s budget offer to Boehner Monday raised that income threshold to $400,000. Since the House speaker could not even pass a bill raising taxes on those earning more than $1 million per year, there is a persistent sense that?once again?Obama has been rolled.

There is no overarching ideology here, since some compromise in the face of the ?fiscal cliff? has long been inevitable. But with Obama, there is always the question of where does political positioning end and bedrock principle begin?

During his 2011 budget talks with Boehner, Obama offered to gradually increase the age of eligibility for Medicare. The president subsequently abandoned that position, but he is now willing to accept a new inflation formula for Social Security that will, over time, slightly reduce benefits. The point is not that Medicare and Social Security should be off limits in all budget negotiations, but rather it comes back to the enduring mystery of precisely what does Obama believe.

During his re-election campaign, Obama remained elusively vague about his second-term plans. But the assumption was that?once free of political pressures?Obama would reveal his governing agenda. Now, it seems quite possible that even after the inaugural address next month, we will still be searching for the Rosetta Stone that deciphers Obama?s vision.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/still-not-king-of-the-hill--in-his-first-term--obama-never-learned-how-to-manage-congress-153236240.html

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Egyptian prosecutor suddenly retracts resignation

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's chief public prosecutor, forced to quit this week after opposition protests, retracted his resignation on Thursday, setting the stage for more turmoil as the nation votes in a referendum on its political future.

Prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim, appointed by President Mohamed Mursi when he assumed sweeping new powers last month, said he had changed his mind because his resignation on Monday had been offered under duress.

Ibrahim had quit after more than 1,000 members of his staff gathered at his office in Cairo to demand that he step down. Mursi's decision to appoint Ibrahim, instead of leaving the appointment to judicial authorities, threatened the independence of the judiciary, the angered prosecutors said.

Ibrahim described his removal from office as "mysterious and abnormal" and said it was now up to the justice minister to decide on his future, according to the state-run al-Ahram news website.

Several prosecutors immediately announced they were suspending work and would stage an open-ended protest outside Ibrahim's office.

Ibrahim's about-face came 48 hours before Egyptians vote in a referendum on a divisive new constitution championed by Mursi as a vital step in Egypt's transition to democracy almost two years after the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

The opposition, facing defeat over the constitution, urged voters to reject the Islamist-backed charter and pledged to fight on to amend it during elections expected next year.

OPPOSITION URGES 'NO' VOTE

The opposition, a coalition of liberals, leftists, Christians and secular Muslims, called for a "no" vote against a document it views as leaning too far towards Islamism.

The first day of voting on December 15 resulted in a 57 percent majority in favor of the constitution. The second stage on Saturday is expected to produce another "yes" vote as it covers regions seen as more conservative and likely to back Mursi.

The National Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition, said a "no" vote meant taking a stand against attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood, Mursi's political base, to dominate Egypt.

"For the sake of the future, the masses of our people should strongly and firmly say 'no' to injustice and 'no' to the Brotherhood's dominance," the Front said in a statement.

A senior Front member, Abdel Ghaffar Shokr, head of the Popular Socialist Coalition Party, said that if the constitution was approved, the opposition would go on fighting to change it.

"That's why we will participate in the legislative election because it is the only way to amend the constitution," he said.

The constitution must be in place before elections can be held. If it passes, the poll should be held within two months.

In an attempt to mobilize voters, the opposition said it planned to hold public meetings, distribute flyers and send cars equipped with loudspeakers through the streets.

A street protest against the constitution in Cairo this week attracted only a few hundred people, well down on the numbers drawn to previous such events.

ISLAMIST PROTEST

Islamist groups are planning a mass protest in Alexandria on Friday, a move likely to raise tensions a day before the vote.

The Muslim Brotherhood called for the rally after a violent confrontation between Islamists and the opposition in Egypt's second city last week that ended with a Muslim preacher besieged inside his mosque for 14 hours.

The run-up to the referendum has been marked by often violent protests in which at least eight people have died.

Mursi and his backers say the constitution is needed to advance Egypt's transition from decades of military-backed autocratic rule. Opponents say it is too Islamist and ignores the rights of women and of minorities, including 10 percent of Egyptians who are Christian.

Demonstrations erupted when Mursi awarded himself extraordinary powers on November 22 and then fast-tracked the constitution through a drafting assembly dominated by his Islamist allies and boycotted by many liberals.

The referendum is being held over two days because many of the judges needed to oversee polling stayed away in protest.

Judicial authorities on Thursday named the judges who will supervise polling stations on Saturday. The opposition cited a lack of judges at some polling stations in a list of alleged irregularities in the first round.

In order to pass, the constitution must be approved by more than 50 percent of those voting.

(Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-opposition-vows-fight-against-islamist-charter-120802768.html

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Obama to Americans on gun control: I need your help ( video)

President Obama issued a videotaped response to the several hundred thousand people who have signed a petition posted on the White House website calling for toughened gun laws in response to the shooting, in which 20 school children and six adults were killed in?Newtown, Connecticut last week.

By Steve Holland,?Reuters / December 21, 2012

President?Barack Obama?urged Americans on Friday to keep up the pressure on lawmakers to tighten gun regulations as a result of the mass shooting of 26 people in?Newtown, Connecticut, a week ago.

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Obama issued a videotaped response to the several hundred thousand people who have signed a petition posted on the White House website calling for toughened gun laws in response to the shooting, in which 20 school children and six adults were killed at a?Newtown?school.

"I need your help," Obama said in the video. "If we're going to succeed, it's going to take a sustained effort from mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, law enforcement and responsible gun owners, organizing, speaking up, calling their members of?Congress?as many times as it takes, standing up and saying 'Enough' on behalf of all our kids."

Obama has called for?Congress?to approve a ban on the sale in the?United States?of military-style assault weapons, a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips, and to ensure everyone gets a background check before they buy a gun, even if the purchase takes place at an open-air gun show currently exempt from such requirements.

For years Americans have been reluctant to impose greater restrictions on gun purchases, but the?Newtown?shooting has changed many minds and Obama is seeking to take advantage of the shift in attitude.

He has directed Vice President?Joe Biden?and a team of Cabinet officials to offer concrete proposals by next month on how to tighten gun laws and improve Americans' access to mental healthcare, strengthen school safety and address a culture that glorifies guns and violence.

Obama said he would push for these proposals early next year.

"You've started something and now I ask you to keep at it," he said.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/TT1qggyF458/Obama-to-Americans-on-gun-control-I-need-your-help-video

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