Space Pictures This Week: Frosty Mars, Mini Nile, More

Photograph by Mike Theiss, National Geographic

The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, illuminates the Arctic sky in a recent picture by National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss.

A storm chaser by trade, Theiss is in the Arctic Circle on an expedition to photograph auroras, which result from collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere and gaseous particles in Earth's atmosphere.

After one particularly amazing show, he wrote on YouTube, "The lights were dancing, rolling, and twisting, and at times looked like they were close enough to touch!" (Watch his time-lapse video of the northern lights.)

Published December 14, 2012

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School Safety Questioned After Conn. Shooting













Along with fire drills, schools have been conducting lockdown drills -- often known as active shooter drills -- since the Columbine massacre in 1999.


But safety officials do not agree yet on what teachers and students should do when a homicidal gunman invades their school.


At Sandy Hook Elementary School, teachers, staff and students had been drilled on how to handle such a situation.


"We practice it, and they knew what to do, and you just think about protecting the kids, and just doing the right thing," library clerk Mary Ann Jacob said.


She said had been drilled to send the kids in the library to a back closet between book shelves, a plan developed in advance.


"You have to have a certain amount of fire drills, and evacuation drills, and a certain amt of lockdown drills," she said. "Kids know the routine, and the teachers know the routine, and everyone has a spot in the room where they are supposed to go to."


Click here for more photos of the scene.


School safety expert Ken Trump told ABC News that he thinks the Sandy Hook teachers did what they could to protect their students.


"It does sound as though the teachers did everything humanly possible, down to risking their lives, to protect the children in this Connecticut school," Trump said.








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Connecticut Shooting Tragedy: Remembering the Victims Watch Video





The school's principal and five other adults died in the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn.


"Teaching kids to lock down, securing your rooms, and, in some cases, teachers stepping forth to protect the children at the risk of their own lives, is something that we see occurring more and more over the years in school safety," Trump said.


He and others particularly praised the actions of first grade teacher Kaitlin Roig, who locked her classroom door and barricaded herself and her 14 students in a locked bathroom.


But former SWAT officer Greg Crane told ABC News that he thinks existing lockdown procedures aren't sufficient.


"What she [Roig] did was a fantastic move," said Crane, who founded a school safety program called ALICE, which stands for alert, lock down, inform, counter, evacuate.


"Was she taught that move? Did every teacher know to lock the door and also barricade it? If that's the case, why weren't other teachers taught that?" Crane asked.


Most schools tell teachers to lock their doors and sit quietly until helps arrives, Crane said.


Typical are the procedures, obtained by ABCNews.com, outlined by a New Jersey school district that calls their drills "Lock Down Yellow."


Instructions to the students include:


"Go to the room nearest your location in the hallway.


"No one will be able to leave room for any reason.


"Silence must be maintained (Use of cell phones are not permitted).


"Make sure you are marked present.


"Do not leave the classroom until directed by PA System, telephone or by an administrator."


But Crane founded ALICE because he believed there was something wrong with the lock down-only policies in most schools.


"We've taught a generation of Americans to be passive and static and wait for police," said Crane, whose wife was an elementary school principal in Texas at the time of the Columbine attack.


"We don't recommend just locking a door because locked doors have been defeated before," Crane said. "Try to make yourself as hard a target as possible."


ALICE argues students and teachers should not be passive and that they should improvise. He even suggests they throw things are their attacker.






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A normally stoic president sheds tears over mass shooting of ‘our children’



“The majority of those who died today were children — beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old,” Obama said partway into a four-minute statement.

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Public skydiving event in S'pore may become yearly affair






SINGAPORE: Daredevils can rejoice, as there are plans for a yearly public skydiving event to be held in Singapore, subject to authorities' approval.

The first of the plunges took place on Saturday above Sentosa, where 15 thrill-seekers took the leap of faith.

It was held in conjunction with Asia Pacific's inaugural indoor skydiving world championships, which runs from 14 to 16 December at iFly Singapore in Sentosa.

"The key thing about this tandem jump is to make the sports available to the Singaporeans," said Lawrence Koh, the founder of iFly.

"Skydiving seems to be very niche in Singapore, so we can show that we can actually do skydiving here, occasionally."

Some of the skydiving participants were children.

"As a tandem passenger, as long as you're (physically) fit, you can do it," said Pierre-Francois Vilquin, the tandem skydiving instructor at iFly.

"You know, we've taken people that are over 80 years old."

The event organisers had to seek clearance from agencies like the Defence Ministry, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and police.

A basic tandem skydiving package costs around S$1,400.

- CNA/xq



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Quota bill: Mulayam threatens UPA

MAINPURI (UP): Terming the proposed legislation on SC/ST quota in promotion as anti-national, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today said his party would review its stand on supporting the UPA government from outside, if the Bill is passed.

"If voting is done on the Bill in the House, I will reconsider my party's support to the government.... We will review party's outside support to the government," he told reporters here.

"The bill is anti-national and will divide the people. My party has opposed the bill inside and outside the House and will continue its opposition," Yadav said.

He said it was unfortunate that his party members who were opposing the "anti-people" bill were thrown out of the House.

Yadav said that he had asked the Prime Minister why he was not "bringing out the facts about the posts that will be captured by people" due to reservation in promotion.

"For just 22 per cent people, rest of the population including general candidates, backward castes and other communities will suffer immensely creating problem in society," he warned.

Yadav claimed that if the bill was passed "then no Prime Minister will get a cabinet secretary nor any chief minister will get chief secretary of any other caste".

The UPA has just over 250 MPs in the Lok Sabha after the TMC withdrew support from the government. The UPA is provided crucial support from outside by 21 MPs of the Samajwadi Party and 22 MPs of Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, which is batting for the quota bill.

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Space Pictures This Week: Frosty Mars, Mini Nile, More

Photograph by Mike Theiss, National Geographic

The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, illuminates the Arctic sky in a recent picture by National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss.

A storm chaser by trade, Theiss is in the Arctic Circle on an expedition to photograph auroras, which result from collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere and gaseous particles in Earth's atmosphere.

After one particularly amazing show, he wrote on YouTube, "The lights were dancing, rolling, and twisting, and at times looked like they were close enough to touch!" (Watch his time-lapse video of the northern lights.)

Published December 14, 2012

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School Shooting: Officials Seek Details on Gunman













The FBI is in at least three states interviewing relatives and friends of the elementary school gunman who killed 20 children, seven adults and himself, trying to put together a better picture of the shooter and uncover any possible explanation for the massacre, ABC News has learned.


The authorities have fanned out to New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts to interview relatives of Adam Lanza, 20, and his mother, who was one of Lanza's shooting victims.


The victims died Friday when Lanza invaded Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and sprayed staff and students with bullets, officials said. Lanza also was found dead in the school.


Lt. Paul Vance said 18 children died in the school and two more died later in a hospital.


Six adults also were slain, bringing the total to 26. Among them was the school's principal, Dawn Hochsprung, multiple sources told ABC News. Another adult victim was teacher Vicki Soto, her cousin confirmed.


In addition to the casualties at the school, Lanza's mother, Nancy Lanza, was killed in her home, federal and state sources told ABC News.


According to sources, Lanza shot his mother in the face, then left his house armed with at least two semi-automatic handguns, a Glock and a Sig Sauer, and a semi-automatic rifle. He was also wearing a bulletproof vest.


READ: Connecticut Shooter Adam Lanza: 'Obviously Not Well'


Lanza then drove to the elementary school and continued his rampage, authorities said.








Newtown Teacher Kept 1st Graders Calm During Massacre Watch Video











Newtown School Shooting: What to Tell Your Kids Watch Video





It appeared that Lanza died from what was believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The rifle was found in his car.


"Evil visited this community today," Gov. Dan Malloy said at a news conference Friday evening.


CLICK HERE for more photos from the scene.


In the early confusion surrounding the investigation, federal sources initially identified the suspect as Adam's older brother Ryan Lanza, 24. Identification belonging to Ryan Lanza was found at the shooting scene, federal sources told ABC News.


Ryan Lanza soon took to Facebook to say he was alive and not responsible for the shooting. He later was questioned by police.


During the rampage, first-grade teacher Kaitlin Roig, 29, locked her 14 students in a class bathroom and listened to "tons of shooting" until police came to help.


"It was horrific," Roig said. "I thought we were going to die."


She said that the terrified kids were saying, "I just want Christmas. ... I don't want to die. I just want to have Christmas."


A tearful President Obama said Friday that there was "not a parent in America who doesn't feel the overwhelming grief that I do."


The president had to pause to compose himself after saying these were "beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10."


As he continued with his statement, Obama wiped away tears from each eye. He has ordered flags flown as half staff.


It is the second worst mass shooting in U.S. history, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 when 32 were killed before the shooter turned the gun on himself. The carnage in Connecticut exceeded the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in which 13 died and 24 were injured.


Friday's shooting came three days after masked gunman Jacob Roberts opened fire in a busy Oregon mall, killing two before turning the gun on himself.


The Connecticut shooting occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, which includes 450 students in grades K-4. The town is located about 12 miles east of Danbury, Conn.


The massacre prompted the town of Newtown to lock down all its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said.






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Golf: Garcia shows his class at Johor Open






KUALA LUMPUR: World number 20 Sergio Garcia of Spain charged up the leaderboard to hold the second-round lead at nine-under through 12 holes at the weather-interrupted $2 million Iskandar Johor Open on Friday.

Almost three hours of play was lost to bad weather and play was suspended as darkness began falling, leaving 117 players to return at 7.30 am on Saturday to resume their round.

Opening round leader David Lipsky of the United States, who has yet to start his second round, shared the lead with Garcia after signing for a 63 in the morning.

Three-time Asian Tour Order of Merit winner Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand is six-under through 13 holes. He is among the five players who are three shots behind Garcia and Lipsky at the event, which ends the Asian Tour season.

Singapore's Lam Chih Bing returned with a four-under-par 68 and was one of only three players who managed to complete their round.

Garcia, who starred in Europe's Ryder Cup win in September, could only play three holes on the opening day. But he returned with a vengeance by snaring 10 birdies against one bogey over 33 holes.

"It was good. It has been a long day but it has been quite positive," the event's highest ranked player said in comments released by the organisers.

"I just hope I can keep going in the right direction and see what happens. Hopefully we will get lucky and can get all four rounds in."

Lipsky, who returned to complete two holes, did not manage to start his round but will head into the weekend atop the leaderboard with Garcia

Thongchai hopes to shake off fatigue when he resumes his title charge on Saturday.

"I'm happy with the way I played but I felt tired because of the suspensions. It was quite difficult to play on the course because the fairways are a bit wet. The greens are okay," he said.

"I played very solid. I think I played about 30 holes. I woke up at 5.15am and it will be the same tomorrow."

- AFP/de



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Rehman Malik in Delhi, says 'we have no love lost for Hafiz Saeed'

NEW DELHI: The India-Pakistan "journey to peace" is progressing "very well", Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik said on Friday.

Speaking to the media soon after his arrival on a three-day visit, Malik also promised to arrest Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed if New Delhi provided credible evidence about his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

"Pakistan and India have to be friends," Malik said, adding that this would only be possible when there was deeper people-to-people interaction among the two peoples.

He said because of the meetings between the leaders of India and Pakistan, the "journey to peace is progressing very well".

"For this, I must give full credit to my leader, President (Asif Ali) Zardari, the prime minister, and equal credit to the Indian Prime Minister and (now finance minister) Chidambaram".

He said he would discuss with Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde ways to facilitate the entry of Indians and Pakistanis into each other's territory once the new visa regime became operational.

"When they (Indians) enter Pakistan, they should feel they are coming to their own home," he said. "Similar should be the case when people of Pakistan enter India.

"We are all here to take the peace process forward," he added.

Malik recalled how the India-Pakistan relationship had soured in the immediate aftermath of the November 2008 terror attack on Mumbai that was blamed on Pakistani terrorists.

Asked about Indian demands for Hafiz Saeed's arrest and deportation, he said: "Just a statement from (hanged Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir) Kasab is not enough.

"We have to follow the law of the land. And of course (satisfy) the court ... There has been a lot of propaganda about Hafiz Saeed.

"I assure you that we are still investigating the (Indian) evidence. And if that evidence can stand the test of courts of international standards, I will order his arrest even before returning home.

"We have no love lost for Hafiz Saeed," he added. "Our intentions are clear. Whoever does a crime, should be punished."

"I come with a message of love and peace from the people of Pakistan," he said.

Malik said Pakistan had always condemned terrorism.

"We have lost 40,000 innocent people (to terrorism), 42,000 have become handicapped (in terror attacks)... We all want peace ... India has also suffered (because of terrorism)."

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Global Checkup: Most People Living Longer, But Sicker


If the world's entire population went in for a collective checkup, would the doctor's prognosis be good or bad? Both, according to new studies published in The Lancet medical journal.

The vast collaborative effort, called the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010, includes papers by nearly 500 authors in 50 countries. Spanning four decades of data, it represents the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of health problems around the world.

It reveals that, globally, we're living longer but coping with more illness as adults. In 1990, "childhood underweight"—a condition associated with malnutrition, measles, malaria, and other infectious diseases—was the world's biggest health problem. Now the top causes of global disease are adult ailments: high blood pressure (associated with 9.4 million deaths in 2010), tobacco smoking (6.2 million), and alcohol use (4.9 million).

First, the good news:

We're living longer. Average life expectancy has risen globally since 1970 and has increased in all but eight of the world's countries within the past decade.

Both men and women are gaining years. From 1970 to 2010, the average lifespan rose from 56.4 years to 67.5 years for men, and from 61.2 years to 73.3 years for women.

Efforts to combat childhood diseases and malnutrition have been very successful. Deaths in children under five years old declined almost 60 percent in the past four decades.

Developing countries have made huge strides in public health. In the Maldives, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, and Peru, life expectancy has increased by more than 20 years since 1970. Within the past two decades, gains of 12 to 15 years have occurred in Angola, Ethiopia, Niger, and Rwanda, an indication of successful strategies for curbing HIV, malaria, and nutritional deficiencies.

We're beating many communicable diseases. Thanks to improvements in sanitation and vaccination, the death rate for diarrheal diseases, lower respiratory infections, meningitis, and other common infectious diseases has dropped by 42 percent since 1990.

And the bad:

Non-infectious diseases are on the rise, accounting for two of every three deaths globally in 2010. Heart disease and stroke are the primary culprits.

Young adults aren't doing as well as others. Deaths in the 15 to 49 age bracket have increased globally in the past 20 years. The reasons vary by region, but diabetes, smoking, alcohol, HIV/AIDS, and malaria all play a role.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic is taking a toll in sub-Saharan Africa. Life expectancy has declined overall by one to seven years in Zimbabwe and Lesotho, and young adult deaths have surged by more than 500 percent since 1970 in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

We drink too much. Alcohol overconsumption is a growing problem in the developed world, especially in Eastern Europe, where it accounts for almost a quarter of the total disease burden. Worldwide, it has become the top risk factor for people ages 15 to 49.

We eat too much, and not the right things. Deaths attributable to obesity are on the rise, with 3.4 million in 2010 compared to 2 million in 1990. Similarly, deaths attributable to dietary risk factors and physical inactivity have increased by 50 percent (4 million) in the past 20 years. Overall, we're consuming too much sodium, trans fat, processed meat, and sugar-sweetened beverages, and not enough fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, fiber, calcium, and omega-3 fatty acids.

Smoking is a lingering problem. Tobacco smoking, including second-hand smoke, is still the top risk factor for disease in North America and Western Europe, just as it was in 1990. Globally, it's risen in rank from the third to second leading cause of disease.

To find out more and see related charts and graphics, see the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which led the collaboration.


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