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| Roswell shooting: Mourners gather for vigil, describe school terror - Los Angeles Times Posted: 15 Jan 2014 08:14 AM PST ROSWELL, N.M. – As mourners gathered for an evening vigil, witnesses described the pandemonium inside a middle school gymnasium when a seventh-grader opened fire with a shotgun, gravely injuring two students before classes began. "I walked into the gym and heard the bangs, but I thought it was a joke – people pop bags in school all the time," Blas Mendez, 14, told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. "I didn't think it was a gun until I heard all the screaming and crying." This southeastern New Mexico farming community of 50,000 was coming to grips with the nation's latest school shooting, which sent a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, both students at Berrendo Middle School, to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas. At a late-night news conference, state police identified the victims as Nathaniel Tavarez and Kendal Sanders. Nathaniel remained in critical condition after two surgeries, police said. Kendal's condition had been upgraded from serious to satisfactory. New Mexico Police Chief Pete Kassetas said officers had interviewed 60 of the 500 people who were inside the gym at the time of the shooting. He said authorities planned to search the suspect's Roswell home, his school locker and his backpack. Kassetas identified the weapon used in the shooting as a 20-gauge shotgun whose wooden stock had been sawed down, apparently to fit inside the bag in which it was sneaked into school. He said police were investigating whether the shooter "published on social media about the attack." The 14-year-old Blas, in an interview with The Times, said he knew the suspect, who, he said, had warned friends and cousins not to go to the gym that morning. "He told them to go to the cafeteria instead," Blas said. He said the boy also warned of his attack on social media Sunday, two days before the shooting. Blas showed a post under the suspect's online nickname that read, "Tomorrow will be the first Monday that will be fun for me lol never thot I'd say that." However, it turned out the school was closed Monday because of plumbing problems. At the evening news conference, authorities commended teacher John Masterson for approaching the armed boy and convincing him to lay down the weapon just after the shooting. They called him a hero. Melissa Miranda was one of more than 1,000 community members who attended the vigil Tuesday night at the Roswell Convention Center, where people recited prayers and sang songs to the lead of a chorus and guitar player. Miranda said all three of her children, two daughters and a son, were at the school at the northern end of town when the shooting occurred. "I told them that no matter how bad this situation was, no matter how sad it makes you feel, it could have been a lot worse," she said. "That young man had a gun and he opened fire in a crowd of students." Diego Miranda, 14, said the shooting took place before classes began and after the students had congregated in the gym, rather than in the schoolyard, because the day was cool and blustery. He said the students were assembled on two facing bleachers, the eighth-graders taking up one and the sixth- and seventh-graders sitting in separate sections on the other. "All the sixth- and seventh-graders started screaming and crying because they were the closest," Diego said. "People started running out of the gym." Ellen Paiz, 13, was also in the gym. "I heard the first shots and thought they were fireworks," she said. On Tuesday night, she sat inside the convention center with her mother and a friend. Tears streamed down Ellen's face. "I turned around to see if anyone was hit and I saw a teacher hit the floor," she said. The young shooter had a shotgun in his hand, Ellen said, and she looked down and saw the boy who had been shot on the floor in front of him. "There was blood everywhere," she said, sobbing. Later, a minister at the vigil led the mourners in prayer. In his talk, he mentioned the suspect, who was in custody Tuesday night. "I pray for that young man who walked into that school this morning with a shotgun," he said. "I pray for his heart and I pray for his future. What was going through his mind?" | ||
| Senate Report Finds Benghazi Attack Was Preventable - New York Times Posted: 15 Jan 2014 08:45 AM PST [unable to retrieve full-text content]
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| Bursa resume the week's trading positively Posted: 14 Jan 2014 06:24 PM PST Share prices on Bursa Malaysia resume the week's trading in positive territory in early trading today, bolstered by
They said major US equity indices rose between 0.7 per cent and 1.7 per cent amid rising confidence in the economy. At 9.09am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was quoted 0.62 of a point easier at 1,834.35 after opening at 1,834.74. Turnover stood at 209.12 million shares worth RM164.81 million. Gainers edged losers by 191 to 145, with 1,229 counters unchanged. HwangDBS Vickers Research said from a technical perspective, the key FBM KLCI could continue its rebound from a recent low of 1,822 ahead. The benchmark index will probably rise further and challenge the immediate resistance hurdle of 1,840. The research house said on the corporate front, investors may find interest in IOI Properties Group, as its shares will be making their debut listing on the Main Market this morning; CIMB, which will resume trading after raising RM3.6 billion via a private placement of 500m shares at RM7.10 apiece; and Perak Corp, in reaction to media report highlighting that a group of minority shareholders are fighting for a higher price than the existing takeover offer price. On the scoreboard, the Finance Index lost 66.59 points to 16,731.5, the Plantation Index slipped 27.19 points to 8,608.91, while the Industrial Index added 12.62 points to 3,132.1. The FBM Emas Index inched down 1.62 points to 12,704.36, the FBMT100 Index shed 3.92 points to 12,402.3, and the FBM Ace was 34.7 points higher at 6,046.85. The FBM 70 gained 7.18 points to 14,112.69. Among actives, Iris Corporation earned three sen to 45.5 sen, while Sumatec Resources Bhd was flat at 31 sen and IOI Properties rose 59 sen to RM3.09. As for heavyweights, Maybank lost seven sen to RM9.84, Tenaga lost six sen to RM11.64 and Axiata slipped three sen to RM6.71.-- Bernama |
| KLCI futures traded firmer in early trading Posted: 14 Jan 2014 06:26 PM PST The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) futures contracts (FKLI) on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were firmer in early trading today. Spot month January 2014 eased 0.5 of a point to 1,836 but February 2014 firmed 0.5 of a point to 1,836.5. March 2014 added 2.0 points to 1,837 while June 2014 rose 4.5 points to 1,835. Turnover totalled 2,498 lots while open interest stood at 40,034 contracts.
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| Dozens of trade-offs in $1.1 trillion budget bill - Atlanta Journal Constitution Posted: 14 Jan 2014 08:18 AM PST A massive $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government through October and finally put to rest the bitter budget battles of last year is getting generally positive reviews from House Republicans eager to avoid another shutdown crisis with elections looming in 10 months. Veteran Republicans said the generally positive response to the all-encompassing spending bill reflected the desire of the rank and file to avoid a repeat of the politically damaging budget standoffs with the White House that led to last year's 16-day partial government shutdown. The government closure sent congressional approval numbers plummeting and roughed up Republicans in particular. They've regained support amid the troubled rollout of President Barack Obama's health care law. "The shutdown educated — particularly our younger members who weren't here during our earlier shutdown — about how futile that practice is," said House Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky. "There is a real hard determination now that we will reacquire and use the power of the purse that the Congress constitutionally has been given." Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said the bill would get "our country off this notion of shutting the government down" and would allow Republicans to "keep the spotlight on some other issues that affect the other side that we think are very important," a reference to the health care law that's weighing politically on Democrats. The massive measure contains a dozens of trade-offs between Democrats and Republicans as it fleshes out the details of the budget deal that Congress passed last month. That pact gave relatively modest but much-sought relief to the Pentagon and domestic agencies after deep budget cuts last year. Western Republicans from timber country were anxious about a cutoff of funding of federal payments in lieu of taxes to towns surrounded by federal lands but were reassured that the payments would be extended though separate legislation. Gulf Coast lawmakers praised a provision aimed at delaying federal flood insurance premium increases from new flood maps that have proven faulty, but the provision left in place other reforms enacted in 2012. The GOP-led House is slated to pass the 1,582-page bill Wednesday, though some tea party conservatives are sure to oppose it. Democrats pleased with new money to educate preschoolers and build high-priority highway projects are likely to make up the difference even as Republican social conservatives fret about losing familiar battles over abortion policy. The bill would avert spending cuts that threatened construction of new aircraft carriers and next-generation Joint Strike Fighters. It maintains rent subsidies for the poor, awards federal civilian and military workers a 1 percent raise and beefs up security at U.S. embassies across the globe. The Obama administration would be denied money to meet its full commitments to the International Monetary Fund but get much of the money it wanted to pay for implementation of the new health care law and the 2010 overhaul of financial regulations. "This agreement shows the American people that we can compromise, and that we can govern," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. "It puts an end to shutdown, slowdown, slamdown politics." The House vote is expected less than 48 hours after the measure became public, even though Republicans promised a 72-hour review period for legislation during their campaign to take over the House in 2010. On Tuesday, the House is slated to approve a short-term funding bill to extend the Senate's deadline to finish the overall spending bill until midnight Saturday. The current short-term spending bill expires at midnight Wednesday evening. The measure doesn't contain in-your-face victories for either side. The primary achievement was that there was an agreement in the first place after the collapse of the budget process last year, followed by a 16-day government shutdown and another brush with a disastrous default on U.S. obligations. After the shutdown and debt crisis last fall, House Budget committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., struck an agreement to avoid a repeat of the 5 percent cut applied to domestic agencies last year and to prevent the Pentagon from absorbing about $20 billion in new cuts on top of the ones that hit it last year. White House budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell says the measure is a "positive step" because it "unwinds some of the damaging cuts caused by sequestration, ensures the continuation of critical services the American people depend on, and brings us closer to returning the budget process to regular order." She also praised investments in early childhood education and infrastructure. To be sure, there is plenty for both parties to oppose in the legislation. Conservatives face a vote to finance implementation of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and Wall Street regulations, both enacted in 2010 over solid Republican opposition. A conservative-backed initiative to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions was dumped overboard and social conservatives failed to win new restrictions on abortion. Democrats must accept new money for abstinence education programs they often ridicule, and conservatives can take heart that overall spending for daily agency operations has been cut by $79 billion, or 7 percent, from the high-water mark established by Democrats in 2010. That cut increases to $165 billion, or 13 percent, when cuts in war funding and disaster spending are accounted for. Money for Obama's high-speed rail program would be cut off — a defeat for California Democrats — and rules restricting the sale of less efficient incandescent light bulbs would be blocked. Democrats are more likely to climb aboard than tea party Republicans, but only after voting to give Obama about $6 billion more in Pentagon war funding than the $79 billion he requested. The additional war money is helping the Pentagon deal with a cash crunch in troop readiness accounts. Including foreign aid related to overseas security operations, total war funding reaches $92 billion, a slight cut from last year. At the same time, the bill is laced with sweeteners. One is a provision exempting disabled veterans and war widows from a pension cut enacted last month. The bill contains increases for veterans' medical care backed by both sides and fully funds the $6.7 billion budget for food aid for low-income pregnant women and their children. Yet the National Institutes of Health's proposed budget of $29.9 billion falls short of the $31 billion budget it won when Democrats controlled Congress. Democrats won a $100 million increase, to $600 million, for so-called TIGER grants for high-priority transportation infrastructure projects, a program that started with the 2009 stimulus bill. The spending bill would spare the Pentagon from a brutal second-wave cut of $20 billion in additional reductions on top of last year's $34 billion sequestration cut, which forced furloughs of civilian employees and harmed training and readiness accounts. Consistent with recent defense measures, the bill largely fulfills the Pentagon's request for ships, aircraft, tanks, helicopters and other war-fighting equipment, including 29 new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, eight new warships as requested by the Navy, and a variety of other aircraft like the V-22 Osprey, new and improved F-18 fighters and new Army helicopters. It also contains a longstanding provision blocking the Postal Service from ending Saturday mail delivery and closing rural post offices, a rule that's taking on greater importance as Congress contemplates cost-cutting steps for the post office. |
| Kelly Thomas verdict: Family wants officers to face federal charges - Los Angeles Times Posted: 14 Jan 2014 08:49 AM PST Two former Fullerton police officers were found not guilty Monday in the beating death of Kelly Thomas and charges against a third officer will be dropped. Family and supporters of the homeless schizophrenic man, who died after a violent 2011 altercation with police, are now hoping federal authorities will step in. Ron Thomas, Kelly's father and a former sheriff's deputy, said he hoped that the U.S. Justice Department would file federal charges against the officers. The FBI had been investigating and monitoring the case. "I've never seen something so bad happen to a human being, and have it done by on-duty police officers," Thomas said. "And they can walk away scot-free." Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Los Angeles field office, said the agency opened a civil rights investigation into the case in 2011. Now that the state court trial has concluded, she said, "investigators will examine the evidence and testimony to determine if further investigation is warranted at the federal level." The verdict came after nearly three weeks of testimony from 25 witnesses in an often-packed Santa Ana courtroom. At the heart of the trial was the 33-minute surveillance video, synced with audio from recorders worn by officers. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, who prosecuted the case himself, said the trial was fair. "I would do the same thing again," he said. "I think it's a matter that the jury had to see." After the jury returned the not guilty verdict -- after about eight hours of deliberation -- Rackauckas said he would not continue to pursue a case against Officer Joseph Wolfe, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Monday night, dozens of people gathered at the Fullerton transit depot not far from where Kelly Thomas was beaten by police in the summer of 2011. More protests and vigils were expected Tuesday and over the weekend. Curtis Gamble, 53, who is homeless, said many of his friends witnessed the beating. "They didn't get a chance to testify," Gamble said. He recalled sleeping on benches at the station and waking to see Thomas sifting through trash cans at the site. Some of the approximately 100 people who gathered at the site, known as "Kelly's corner," were crying. Others waved signs that said "No More Killer Cops" and "Change 4 Justice." Near a memorial lighted by candles, people signed a guest book. Among those in the crowd was Thomas' mother, Cathy. "To know all of these people are out here still supporting us means a lot," she said, her eyes teary. "It seems like everybody we talk to was in agreement: It was murder." ALSO: Kelly Thomas trial: 'Not guilty' verdicts a blow to D.A. Mother dies after Sylmar fire that claimed husband, 2 children 'Octomom' Nadya Suleman charged with lying in applying for welfare paloma.esquivel@latimes.com adolfo.flores@latimes.com |
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| Gov. Christie faces federal probe over Sandy relief funds - Chicago Tribune Posted: 13 Jan 2014 09:13 AM PST A lawmaker said Monday, that a federal agency will investigate whether New Jersey improperly spent Hurricane Sandy relief money on an ad campaign that featured the governor while he was running for re-election. U.S. investigators are looking into whether embattled New Jersey Governor Chris Christie misused about $2 million in Superstorm Sandy relief funds for an ad campaign that put him in the spotlight in an election year, a lawmaker said on Monday. Already enmeshed in a scandal over snarled traffic at the George Washington Bridge, Christie, a rising star in the Republican party, is now being audited by the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat. The inspector is focusing on a federally financed $25 million Jersey Shore marketing campaign that included a television commercial featuring Christie and his family, which cost $2 million more than a competing bid without them. "It is inappropriate for taxpayer-funded dollars that are critical to our state's recovery from this natural disaster to fund commercials that could potentially benefit a political campaign," Pallone said in an August 8, 2013 letter requesting the investigation. "While promoting tourism at the Jersey Shore in the wake of Hurricane Sandy is certainly a worthy endeavor, recent reports have led me to believe that the state has irresponsibly misappropriated funding allocated by Congress from the Sandy aid package and taken advantage of this waiver for political purposes," the letter said. The winning ad, with the tag line that New Jersey was "Stronger than the Storm," aired in the spring as Christie headed into a re-election campaign to win a second term. On October 29, 2012, Sandy devastated New York, New Jersey and other parts of the East Coast. The historic storm killed at least 159 people, and damaged or destroyed more than 650,000 homes, many in Pallone's district on the Jersey Shore, where the storm made landfall. "Had Governor Christie chosen the less expensive firm, $2.2 million in federal disaster aid could have potentially been directed elsewhere, for example, to provide 44 Sandy-impacted homeowners $50,000 grants to raise their homes," Pallone said in a press release. There was no immediate response to calls and emails to Christie's office for comment. News of the audit arrives in the shadow of a scandal dubbed "Bridgegate" by tabloids, in which a massive traffic jam was orchestrated by Christie's staff in September, apparently as political payback against the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, who didn't endorse Christie for reelection. Christie, a likely contender for the White House in 2016, last week fired a top aide who called for the closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge, and has denied knowledge of the scheme. The Democratic Assembly speaker-elect said he planned to call the New Jersey Legislature into a special session this week to continue to investigate the four-day incident, which paralyzed Fort Lee, on the Jersey side of the bridge. U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman, whose job Christie held before being elected governor, has opened an investigation into the decision to close the lanes. The governor also faces a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court on Thursday by Rosemarie Arnold, a lawyer charging that area residents suffered financially from being trapped in traffic. Reuters |
| Israel Retaliates to Gaza Fire After Sharon Burial - ABC News Posted: 13 Jan 2014 09:18 AM PST The Israeli air force retaliated to Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on Monday, hitting sites used by militants after rockets were fired from the territory near the end of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral. The location in southern Israel where Sharon was later buried is within range of rockets from the Palestinian territory, and rockets have hit the area in the past. Israeli police said they exploded about 10 kilometers away from the ceremony. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said "The Terrorists and their infrastructure operating in the Gaza Strip will not succeed in their grotesque intentions. The IDF will seek them out, eliminate their capabilities and pursue them wherever they may hide," he said. In Gaza, a security official said training sites used by militants from Islamic Jihad and Hamas were hit. Some damage was caused but no injuries were reported, the official said, speaking anonymously as he is not allowed to speak with the media. Israeli media reported that the Iron Dome anti-missile system was deployed near Sharon's ranch in southern Israel to protect against rockets during the funeral. The military declined to comment. Hundreds of Israeli VIPs and international dignitaries, including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, attended the state memorial ceremony for Sharon, who died Saturday after a stroke left him in a coma for the last eight years. He was 85. A convoy with Sharon's casket left the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem and drove toward the site of a 1948 battle in which he was wounded. From there, it traveled to Sharon's private desert ranch for burial. Palestinian militants in Gaza fired two other rockets toward Israel a few hours before the funeral the military said, but they did not explode inside Israel. |
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| FTSE Bursa Malaysia update: 10.30am Posted: 12 Jan 2014 06:33 PM PST At 10.30am today, there were 325 gainers, 260 losers and 248 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia. The FBM-KLCI was at 1,836.10 up 9.49 points, the FBMACE was at
Turnover was at 674.981 million shares valued at RM359.745 million.-- Bernama |
| KL shares traded firmer in early session Posted: 12 Jan 2014 06:16 PM PST Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were firmer in the early session today after opening slightLy lower on profit-taking. Thirty three minutes after trading, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.84 points to 1,833.45 after opening at 1,825.42. Dealers said the key FBM KLCI will probably range-bound with a marginal upward bias today. On the chart, the benchmark index could pull away further from the immediate support level of 1,825 towards the resistance threshold of 1,840.
The FBM Emas Index surged 46.41 points to 12,705.85, the FBMT100 Index perked 45.55 points to 12,405.5, the FBM Ace garnered 32.86 points to 5,994.04, with the FBM 70 gaining 49.14 points to 14,142.67. Gainers outnumbered losers by 264 to 153, with 1,143 counters unchanged. Turnover amounted to 314.6 million shares worth RM155.5 million. Among actives, Minetech Resources earned 1.5 sen to 22.5 sen, Iris Corporation inched up 2.5 sen to 40.5 and Malaysia Airlines added half-a-sen to 31.5 sen. Heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM9.83, Tenaga gained 16 sen to RM11.74, Axiata and CIMB were flat at RM6.75 and RM7.30, respectively.-- Bernama |
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| What did West Virginia officials know? - MSNBC Posted: 12 Jan 2014 08:59 AM PST West Virginia authorities were aware of the hazardous chemicals stored at Freedom Industries' facilities long before Thursday's chemical spill, a newly released document reveals. According to the Charleston Gazette, Freedom Industries, the company at the center of the massive spill, filed the required "Tier 2" form with the state back in February informing officials that one million pounds of the coal-cleaning chemical 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) were being stored in tanks at the Etowah River Terminal along the now-polluted Elk River. Under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, Freedom Industries was required to alert the state of the presence of hazardous chemicals at its facilities so authorities and emergency responders were aware of the potential risks. "Obviously, the whole idea of the chemical inventory reports is to properly inform local emergency officials about the sorts of materials they might have to deal with," chemical safety expert Fred Millar said, according to the Gazette. "It's just head-in-the-sand to be ignoring this type of threat." Officials seemed surprised to learn that MCHM was being stored in Freedom Industries' facilities, and they did not appear to have an emergency plan in place to respond to the spill. "This was not a chemical we were familiar with," West Virginia American Water Company spokesperson Laura Jordan told the Wall Street Journal Saturday. At Friday's press conference, West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Romblin called the spill "unacceptable," and is continuing to advise residents not to use tap water. As many as 300,000 residents remain without potable water as officials continue to investigate how the leak occurred. The West Virginia Poison Center by Saturday morning logged nearly 800 calls from residents reporting symptoms of nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches, and skin irritation. |
| Ariel Sharon lies in state as Israeli public tell their stories of his life - Telegraph.co.uk Posted: 12 Jan 2014 08:48 AM PST Mr Sharon, who died on Saturday after spending the last eight years of his life in a coma following a devastating stroke, will be buried at his ranch in the Negev desert next to the grave of his late wife, Lily. Israelis of all ages – including schoolchildren too young to recall Mr Sharon's career – gave a variety of reasons for paying homage to one of Israel's most controversial figures. Some acknowledged that the former prime minister had made serious mistakes, such as the 1982 invasion of Lebanon that led to the massacre of Palestinians at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Christian forces allied to Israel. But many agreed that he showed a strength of leadership unique in their country's 65-year history. "He was a great man. He did a lot of things that were good for the country and maybe some things that were not good," said Ronen Yekutieal, 25, a law student from Holon, near Tel Aviv. "He was the last real leader that grew up here and there will be no other leader like him in the years ahead." "As a leader, as a politicians and as a Zionist, he was a symbol. He was part of the history of this country," said Daniel Bergfeld, 44, a web designer from Jerusalem, who had allowed to his 12-year-old son, Gad, a day off school to attend. Perhaps the most unusual mourner was Yehudi Dudevani, 69, a former brigadier-general who served under Mr Sharon in the Israeli paratroopers. Mr Dudevani said his father, Moshe, had fought alongside Mr Sharon at Latrun, near Jerusalem, during Israel's 1948 War of Independence, when they were the commanders of parallel regiments. Both men were wounded in the fighting, but while Mr Sharon allowed himself to be removed from the battlefield, Mr Dudevani snr insisted on staying with his comrades and perished. He was given a military funeral after his remains were discovered 50 years later. His son kept his own identity hidden from Mr Sharon, despite being in frequent contact, until they met at the Knesset after both had left the army. "When I told him who my father was his hands starting shaking and he broke out in a sweat," said Mr Dudevani. "Then he told me the most important thing in my life. He said, 'I was wounded and left my injured men in the field. Your father was injured and stayed with his men. The most important message I can give to the army is what your father did. He symbolises the message that we don't leave injured men in the field.' "He was criticising himself for what he didn't do. That's why I'm here today." |
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