4 Firefighters Shot, 2 Killed Responding to NY Blaze

Two firefighters were shot and killed and two others taken to a nearby hospital after a gunman opened fire on them as they responded to a house fire in Webster, N.Y., this morning, according to authorities and local media.

Officials at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., told ABCNews.com that two men were taken there this morning and were in "guarded condition" after suffering gunshot wounds.

"The responding firefighters, when they pulled up on the scene, were ... fired upon by one or more shooters," Webster Police Chief Gerald L. Pickering told reporters this morning.

There is "no active shooter, or shooters" at this time, Pickering said.

The fire spread to three homes on Lake Road, according to officials.

The fire department is back to fighting the blaze after waiting for police to safely evacuate nearby residents and secure the scene.

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Senators slam movie's torture scenes

In the new film "Zero Dark Thirty," Jessica Chastain plays a CIA analyst who is part of the team hunting Osama bin Laden.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Sens. Feinstein, McCain, Levin send letter calling new film "grossly inaccurate"


• Letter adds to controversy over depiction of torture as a key to finding bin Laden, Bergen says


• Senate committee has approved 6,000-page classified report on CIA interrogations program


• Bergen says as much as possible of that report should be released to the public

Editor's note: Peter Bergen is a CNN national security analyst and author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden, from 9/11 to Abbottabad."

(CNN) -- On Wednesday, three senior U.S. senators sent Michael Lynton, the CEO of Sony Pictures, a letter about "Zero Dark Thirty," the much-discussed new movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, which described the film as "grossly inaccurate and misleading."

In the letter, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-California, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Michigan, and Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, expressed their "deep disappointment" in the movie's depiction of CIA officers torturing prisoners, which "credits these detainees with providing critical lead information" about the courier who led the CIA to bin Laden's hiding place in northern Pakistan.

The senators point out that the filmmakers of "Zero Dark Thirty" open the movie with the words that it is "based on first-hand accounts of actual events." The film then goes on, the senators say, to give the clear implication "that the CIA's coercive interrogation techniques were effective in eliciting important information related to a courier for Usama Bin Laden."

Review: 'Zero Dark Thirty' is utterly gripping

Peter Bergen

The senators write that this is not supported by the facts: "We have reviewed CIA records and know that this is incorrect."

Last week, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to sign off on the findings of its three-year study of the CIA's detention and interrogation program, during the course of which the committee's staff reviewed more than 6 million pages of records about the program.

Based on the findings of that review, Sens. Feinstein and Levin had released a statement eight months ago that said, "The CIA did not first learn about the existence of the Usama Bin Laden courier from CIA detainees subjected to coercive interrogation techniques. Nor did the CIA discover the courier's identity from detainees subjected to coercive techniques. ... Instead, the CIA learned of the existence of the courier, his true name and location through means unrelated to the CIA detention and interrogation program."

In their letter to Sony, the three senators write, "(W)ith the release of Zero Dark Thirty, the filmmakers and your production studio are perpetuating the myth that torture is effective. ... We believe that you have an obligation to state that the role of torture in the hunt for Usama Bin Laden is not based on the facts."

Requests from Sony Pictures for comment on the senators' letter yielded a response referring to a statement that the film's director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal had released last week:

"This was a 10-year intelligence operation brought to the screen in a two-and-a-half-hour film. We depicted a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods that were used in the name of finding bin Laden. The film shows that no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt, nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film dramatizes. One thing is clear: the single greatest factor in finding the world's most dangerous man was the hard work and dedication of the intelligence professionals who spent years working on this global effort. We encourage people to see the film before characterizing it."

'Zero Dark Thirty' puts U.S. interrogation back in the spotlight

"Zero Dark Thirty" does indeed show many scenes of the various forms of sleuthing at the CIA that were necessary to track down al Qaeda's leader.

But the statement from the filmmakers does not address the fact that eight months ago, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee had publicly said that based on an exhaustive investigation, there was no evidence that coercive interrogations helped lead to bin Laden's courier -- which is clearly what the film suggests, no matter what retrospective gloss the filmmakers now wish to apply to the issue.

Nor does the statement indicate if Sony plans to put a disclaimer at the beginning of "Zero Dark Thirty" explaining that the role of coercive interrogations in tracking down bin Laden that is shown in the film is not supported by the facts.

As I outlined in a piece on CNN.com 10 days ago assessing the role that coercive interrogations might have played in the hunt for bin Laden, about half an hour of the start of "Zero Dark Thirty" consists of scenes of a bloodied al Qaeda detainee strung to the ceiling with ropes who is beaten; forced to wear a dog collar while crawling around attached to a leash; stripped naked in the presence of a female CIA officer; blasted with heavy metal music so he is deprived of sleep; forced to endure multiple crude waterboardings; and locked into a coffin-like wooden crate.

These are the scenes that will linger with filmgoers, far more than the scene in the movie where two CIA analysts discuss what will prove to be a key lead to bin Laden that surfaces in an old file. Brutal interrogations, of course, make for a better movie than a discussion at the office.

It is only after systematic abuse by his CIA interrogators in "Zero Dark Thirty" that the al Qaeda detainee is tricked into believing that he has already given up key information, and he starts cooperating and tells them about a man known as Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, who ultimately proves to be bin Laden's courier.

Acting CIA director Michael Morell, in a letter to CIA employees on Friday, took strong exception to this portrayal of how bin Laden was found:

"The film creates the strong impression that the enhanced interrogation techniques that were part of our former detention and interrogation program were the key to finding Bin Ladin. That impression is false. As we have said before, the truth is that multiple streams of intelligence led CIA analysts to conclude that Bin Ladin was hiding in Abbottabad. Some came from detainees subjected to enhanced techniques, but there were many other sources as well. "

"Zero Dark Thirty" opened Wednesday in New York and Los Angeles and will open nationwide in the second week in January.

Let's hope that the attention that "Zero Dark Thirty" has directed to the issue of what kind of intelligence was derived from the CIA's coercive interrogations will help to put pressure on the White House and the CIA to release to the public as much as possible of the presently classified 6,000-page report by the Senate Intelligence Committee that examines this issue.

_____________

Full disclosure: Along with other national security experts, as an unpaid adviser I screened an early cut of "Zero Dark Thirty." We advised that al Qaeda detainees held at secret CIA prison sites overseas were certainly abused, but they were not beaten to a pulp, as was presented in this early cut. Screenwriter Mark Boal told CNN as a result of this critique, some of the bloodier scenes were "toned down" in the final cut. I also saw this final cut of the film. Finally, HBO is making a theatrical release documentary which will be out in 2013 based on my book about the hunt for bin Laden entitled "Manhunt."

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Petitioners ask Obama to retaliate for Russia adoption ban

WASHINGTON: Tens of thousands of petitioners are calling for US President Barack Obama to escalate the diplomatic feud that led Moscow to propose a law barring Americans from adopting Russian children.

Two petitions on the White House web site are asking for US sanctions on the Russian lawmakers who help pass the law that one of the petitions says will "jeopardize lives and well-being of thousands of Russian orphans."

Moscow sees the ban on adoptions as retaliation for a US human rights law that allows the seizure of assets from Russian officials implicated in the 2009 death of a Russian lawyer who blew the whistle on a US$235 million police embezzlement scheme.

Under the US law -- dubbed the Magnitsky Act in tribute to the late lawyer -- those same officials would also be barred from entering the United States.

More than 37,000 people have signed one of the petitions saying they are "outraged with the actions of Russian law-makers."

According to the White House rules, there will be an official response if the petition reaches 25,000 signatures within 30 days.

These lawmakers "breached all imaginable boundaries of humanity, responsibility, or common sense and chose to jeopardize lives and well-being of thousands of Russian orphans, some of whom, the ill and the disabled ones, now might not have a chance of survival if the ban on international adoption is to be put in place," the petition continues.

The petitioners "urge this Administration to identify those involved in adopting such legislature responsible under 'Magnitsky Act' and thus included to the relevant list."

Likewise, a second petition, signed by more than 5,000 people, asks that the Magnitsky Act "be extended to supporters of this law in (the) Russian Duma."

The Duma passed the adoption ban without debate in a quick 420-7 vote on Friday as protesters picketed the building demanding the measure be voted down.

The Kremlin-dominated upper house is now expected to approve the bill next Wednesday before passing it on to President Vladimir Putin for his signature.

The Russian leader has indicated he is ready to put his name on the measure so that it could enter law on January 1.

The measure, which underscores the severity of the recent strain in Russia-US ties, would end about 1,000 adoptions a year.

Caregivers in particular fear the new rules will hit the most disadvantaged children because foreign adoptive parents are often ready to adopt kids rejected by Russian families.

- AFP/xq

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NRA leader doubles down: New gun laws won't work

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: NRA's LaPierre: If this idea is crazy, "then call me crazy"


• NEW: Sen. Lieberman says NRA is willing to deal with every possible cause "except guns"


• The gun control debate was reignited by the mass shooting at Connecticut elementary school


• Hutchinson tells CNN his panel will give educators instructions on placing guards in schools

(CNN) -- The National Rifle Association made clear Sunday it will not budge on its opposition to any new gun laws, despite heated criticism of the organization's response to the Connecticut school massacre.

"I know this town wants to argue about gun control," the group's CEO, Wayne LaPierre, told NBC's "Meet the Press" in Washington. "I don't think it will work."

LaPierre stood by remarks he made at an event Friday billed as a news conference -- though he took no questions -- in which he argued for armed guards in schools.

"If it's crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," he said on Sunday.

He added that in Friday's news conference, "I said what I honestly thought and what millions, and hundreds of millions, of people all over this country believe will actually make a difference."

"We're going to support an immediate appropriation before Congress to put police officers in every school," he vowed.

Legislation being pushed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, to restore an assault weapons ban is not going to make kids any safer, LaPierre insisted.

Read more: Gun owners fear new laws

Pressed on whether high-capacity magazines should be banned, limiting the number of bullets that can be fired from a single weapon without reloading, LaPierre said no. "There are so many different ways" that a "monster" could carry out a massacre, as Adam Lanza did in Newtown, Connecticut, LaPierre argued.

He would not express support for any new gun restrictions, saying most gun laws on the books are currently rarely enforced.

"I know there's a media machine in this country that wants to blame guns every time something happens," he said, adding, "I know there's an anti-Second Amendment industry in this town."

The NRA supports efforts to improve mental health care in the country in hopes of avoiding such nightmare scenarios, LaPierre said.

Meanwhile, Asa Hutchinson, the man charged with developing the NRA's program to place armed guards in schools, told CNN his "high-level panel of experts" will present educators with safety options and detailed instructions.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, told CNN, "I have found the statements by the NRA over the last couple of days to be really disheartening, because the statements seem to not reflect any understanding about the slaughter of children that happened in Newtown. ...

"The NRA spokespeople have been willing to deal with every possible cause of gun violence, except guns. They're right that there's a problem for our society -- how do you spot a child or a person who is troubled before they become a killer? What's the influence of violence in our entertainment culture on people? But it's obviously also true that the easy availability of guns, including military-style assault weapons, is a contributing factor, and you can't keep that off the table. I had hoped they'd come to the table and say, everything is on the table."

Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown and killed 20 children -- none of them older than 7 -- and six adults. He used a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle to mow down his victims before killing himself with one of the two handguns he was carrying.

On Friday, a week after the shooting, LaPierre spoke out for the first time on the massacre, blaming video games and the media, while also proposing an armed guard in every U.S. school. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," he said.

Some gun owners and mostly Republican officials rallied around LaPierre, and some -- such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry -- have indicated they support putting armed guards, or even teachers with concealed weapons, in schools.

Read more: NRA breaks silence after shootings

CNN iReporter Jason Asselin applauded the NRA's stance, proposing that U.S. troops returning from war zones could serve as armed guards. "Right now, our schools remain unprotected," he said. "Action is needed. Our children deserve to be protected."

But most of the reaction to LaPierre was negative.

Democratic Sen.-elect and U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, whose district includes Newtown, called LaPierre's words "the most revolting, tone-deaf statement I've ever seen." New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, blasted them as "a shameful evasion of the crisis facing the country." And former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said he found the remarks "very haunting and very disturbing."

This wave of criticism continued into the weekend.

Would your gun fall under the '94 weapons ban?

New York's tabloids, normally political polar opposites, offered the same take: The Daily News' headline called LaPierre the "Craziest Man on Earth," while Rupert Murdoch's New York Post ran with, "Gun Nut! NRA loon in bizarre rant over Newtown."

Rick Huffman, another CNN iReporter and a retired police officer, cut up his NRA membership card in the wake of the mass shooting, which he said changed his views on gun control.

"There's got to be a limit to what they let citizens have at their disposal," the Michigan resident said.

Both sides, at least, appear to agree something needs to be done to prevent more mass shootings like what happened December 14 in the once quiet Connecticut town. President Barack Obama used his speech at a prayer service for the massacre's victims to call for action and subsequently tapped Vice President Joe Biden to lead a group charged with coming up with solutions.

Polls suggest that, after Newtown, the American public is increasingly open to measures such as a ban on assault weapons, which was in effect in the 1990s until it lapsed in 2004.

A CNN/ORC poll conducted after the shooting shows that a slight majority of Americans favor restrictions on guns. Conservative Democrats and some Republicans who have supported gun rights have said they are open to discussing gun control.

In a speech last Sunday night, Obama insisted inaction was not an option, especially when it comes to protecting children.

"We can't tolerate this anymore," the president said, alluding not only to Newtown but three other mass shootings over the past two years. "These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change."

Opinion: Don't let this moment pass without acting on gun control

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Reliving the holiday favorite "A Christmas Story"

(CBS News) 'Tis the Season for "A Christmas Story," the 1983 film whose memorable story is being re-told on Broadway. Mo Rocca sets the stage:

If "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life" are the frankinscense and myrrh of Christmas movies, then the gold may very well be 1983's "A Christmas Story."

If you haven't seen "A Christmas Story," well, it's the tale of 12-year-old Ralphie Parker. Set in 1940s Indiana, it's something of a cockeyed look at Christmas.

Peter Billingsley, as Ralphie, can't get a break in expressing his Christmas wish for a Red Ryder BB gun - not even from Santa! - in the 1983 movie "A Christmas Story."

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MGM/UA

Ralphie's dad obsesses over a leg lamp he won in a contest. ("It reminds me of the Fourth of July!") A pack of dogs makes off with Christmas dinner. And Santa is anything but jolly.

"I've read where you've called it the 'Seinfeld' of Christmas movies - what do you mean by that?" asked Rocca.

"Well, in some ways it's the commitment to the mundane," said 41-year-old Peter Billingsley. If he looks familiar, that's because he played Ralphie.

"It's those simple little things that drive you crazy around Christmas. It's not the big ideas. It's, you know, trying to get the tree and trying to get your little brother to eat, trying to cook a turkey, all those things."

Now Billingsley is one of the producers of "A Christmas Story" - the Broadway musical.

Twelve-year-old Johnny Rabe plays Ralphie, and 10-year old Zac Ballard is Ralphie's younger brother Randy - the one who memorably pigged out on mashed potatoes.

"I never want a stunt man to do that," Ballard said.

"What's your motivation?" Rocca asked.

"What do you mean by 'motivation'?"

"I don't even know what I'm asking," he replied. "Whatever you're doing, it's great."

This family favorite was originally a series of stories by radio commentator Jean Shepherd in, of all places, Playboy magazine.

The stories became a book, which then became a movie.

When asked what the number one thing is people say when they come up, Billingsley said, "'That's my family' or 'You were me' or 'That's my mom,' 'That was my dad.' And it seems like that Midwest area is relatable to everyone in the country. It feels kind of like everyone's street."

The movie wasn't a box office hit, but then cable TV turned it into one of the greatest comeback stories ever told. A 24-hour marathon on TBS, watched by almost 50 million people last year, has been playing since 1997 - making it the yule log of Christmas movies.

Fans of the film, known as "Ralphies," include Brian Jones.

In 2004 he found on eBay the Cleveland house used as Ralphie's home. He bought it sight unseen. He did not tell his wife.

The "Christmas Story House & Museum" in Cleveland Ohio, where the 1983 movie was filmed.

/

CBS News

"How long did it take for your wife to forgive you?" Rocca asked.

"The day I opened it" as a museum, Jones said. "When she saw we had a line down the block, like four or five people wide. Then she realized I wasn't as crazy as I seemed."

Open to the public since 2006, the home is a shrine to Ralphie, with pilgrims lining up around the block to visit.

There's a leg lamp in the window, and a kitchen sink visitors can hide under, just like Randy did.

"People will try and squeeze there. I can fit under there. I'm 6'3", about 200 pounds. So I still fit."

That is what you call a super fan.

Jones helped pay for the house by selling - you guessed it - leg lamps.

Of course, the leg lamp also made it into the Broadway musical, along with a show-stopping tap-dance number.

And if the young cast of the musical is any indication, "A Christmas Story" still has legs.

When asked who had seen the movie before they appeared in the musical,many members of the kids' ensemble raised their hands.

Mo Rocca meets members of the cast of "A Christmas Story" on Broadway.

/

CBS News

"Tell the truth - was there anyone here who really wasn't a fan of the movie?" Rocca asked.

Jeremy raised his hand: "I'm Jewish!"

When asked what he thought the message of the movie was, Luke said, "It's one big family that's crazy and then at the end, and they all say it's crazy, but it comes to one thing called love."

Zach offered another take: "It's also a heartwarming story. I think it's the best Christmas story ever!"

For more info:

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Norquist: Obama, Democrats Using Newtown for 'Political Purposes'

Dec 23, 2012 11:23am

(ABC News)

National Rifle Association board member and president of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist said on Sunday that President Obama and Democrats are politicizing the Newtown tragedy by pushing for gun control.

“We ought to calm down and not take tragedies like this, crimes like this, and use them for political purposes,” Norquist told me on “This Week.” “President Obama has been president for four years. If he thought some gun control could solve this problem, he should have been pushing it years ago.”

“Democrats had a majority in the House and a supermajority in the House and the Senate for the first two years that they were in office. If they thought that this was really an important issue they might have done something then. They didn’t,” he added.

Read a full transcript of this week’s show HERE. 

On Wednesday, Obama announced that Vice President Joe Biden would head a task force of leaders from across the country to evaluate solutions to reduce gun violence.

Norquist endorsed the recommendation made by NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre at a press conference on Friday to place armed guards in schools across the country.

Other members of the political roundtable pushed for what they called “common sense” gun laws.

Like “This Week” on Facebook here. You can also follow the show on Twitter here.

Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker, who is a member of the pro-gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said that there is more agreement than disagreement on measures to stop the mentally ill and criminals from acquiring weapons.

“I don’t think anyone has seen someone shot—I have,” Booker said. “I don’t know if anybody here has had to put their hand in somebody’s chest, and try to stop the bleeding so that person doesn’t die—I have. What frustrates me about this debate is that it is a false debate.”

“Most of us in America including gun owners agree on things that would stop the kind of carnage that is going on in cities all across America,” Booker said, adding that loopholes that allow criminals to buy guns in “secondary markets” should be closed.

Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com.

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan said that LaPierre’s suggestion that the effect of a violent culture on the mentally ill has contributed to increased gun violence, but she believes that Congress should pursue some gun control measures.

“I am for the banning of the extended magazines and extended clips,” Noonan said.

Editor and Publisher of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel said that focusing on the mentally ill is a distraction from the issue of gun violence.

“The mental illness argument has been used to evade action,” vanden Huevel said. “More guns and bullets, more dead children.”

SHOWS: This Week

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Will media stay on gun story?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Howard Kurtz: Conventional wisdom is that media will lose interest in guns


• He says that's been the pattern of media behavior after Columbine, other shootings


• This time seems like it might be different, he says


• Kurtz: Reporters profoundly shaken by story, should stay on it

Editor's note: Howard Kurtz is the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" and is Newsweek's Washington bureau chief. He is also a contributor to the website Daily Download.

(CNN) -- The conventional wisdom is that Newtown has just a few more days to run as a major media story.

The reporters are pulling out of the grief-stricken Connecticut town, which means no more live shots every hour. The White House press corps responded to President Obama's announcement Wednesday of a task force on gun control with the first three reporters asking about the impending fiscal cliff. And after every previous mass shooting, from Columbine to Aurora, the media's attention has soon drifted away.

But I believe this time will be different.

Howard Kurtz

I believe the horror of 20 young children being gunned down has pricked the conscience of those in the news business, along with the rest of America.

I could be wrong, of course. The press is notorious for suffering from ADD.

But every conversation I've had with journalists has quickly drifted to this subject and just as quickly turned intense. Most have talked about how their thoughts have centered on their children, and grandchildren, and the unspeakable fear of anything happening to them. All have spoken about how hard it is to watch the coverage, and many have recalled crying as they watch interviews with the victims' families, or even when Obama teared up while addressing the nation.

Watch: Blaming Jon Stewart for the Newtown Shootings?

I've watched Fox's Megyn Kelly choke back tears on the air after watching an interview from Newtown. I've heard CNN's Don Lemon admit that he is on the verge of crying all the time. I've seen MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, say that day in Connecticut "changed everything" and prompted him to rethink his longstanding opposition to gun control, which earned him top ratings from the NRA.

Maybe Newtown will be the 9/11 of school safety.

Watch: Media Fantasy: Touting Ben Affleck (Uh Huh) for the Senate

The media paid scant attention to gun control in the past, in part because of a conviction that the NRA would block any reform on Capitol Hill. At the same time, they took their cue from the fact that officeholders in both parties were avoiding the issue at all costs—Republicans because they mainly support the status quo, Democrats because they mostly deem it political poison.

But since when is it our job solely to take dictation from pols? When it comes to subjects like climate change and same-sex marriage, the press has been out ahead of the political establishment. Given the carnage in Newtown as the latest example, journalists should demand whether we can do better. The fact that Obama now promises to submit gun legislation to Congress will help the narrative, but it shouldn't be a mandatory requirement for coverage.

Watch: From Joe Scarborough to Rush Limbaugh, the conservative media meltdown

This is not a plea for a press-driven crusade for gun control. In fact, it's imperative that journalists be seen as honest brokers who are fair to all sides. MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts, in an interview with Republican Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, who opposes gun restrictions, said: "So we need to just be complacent in the fact that we can send our children to school to be assassinated." That is demonization, just as some conservative pundits are unfairly accusing liberal commentators who push for gun control of "politicizing" a tragedy or of pushing God out of the public schools.

The question of school safety extends beyond guns to mental illness and societal influences. With even some NRA supporters asking why law-abiding hunters need automatic rifles with high-capacity magazines, it's time for a nuanced debate that goes beyond the usual finger-pointing. Bob Costas got hammered for using an NFL murder-suicide to raise the gun issue during a halftime commentary, but he was right to broach the subject.

Here is where the media have not just an opportunity but a responsibility. The news business has no problem giving saturation coverage to such salacious stories as David Petraeus' dalliance with Paula Broadwell. Isn't keeping our children safe from lunatics far more important by an order of magnitude?

I think the press is up to the challenge. Based on what I've heard in the voices of people in the profession, they will not soon forget what happened in Newtown. And they shouldn't let the rest of us forget either.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Howard Kurtz.

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S'pore students set for workforce & world: global quiz host

SINGAPORE: Singapore students have a hunger for knowledge and are ready to face the workforce and the world, observed a key partner of the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz.

Mr Giri Balasubramaniam, more popularly known as "Pickbrain", is the host of the global business quiz.

He said the world looks up to Singapore in many ways, and one of them is quality education.

The Tata Crucible Campus Quiz has been held in India, Singapore and the UK.

The defending team from Singapore Management University (SMU) won the challenge in Singapore this year.

This is SMU's fourth win, and its third consecutive one since it was held in Singapore five years ago.

The team from the National University of Singapore took second place, and the Nanyang Technological University took third spot.

The quiz tests students' knowledge on business-related topics as well as their lateral-thinking abilities.

The SMU team is set to represent Singapore in April next year at the International Finals in India.

The quiz covers a wide range of subjects from the world of business and economy, including business houses, personalities, brands, and markets.

Organiser Tata group aims to encourage lateral association, speed of thought and out-of-the-box thinking, among youth.

Tata group is made up of more than 100 firms in various sectors, and has operations in over 80 countries globally.

- CNA/xq

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Pope pardons ex-butler jailed over leaks

By Laura Smith-Spark and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN

updated 11:46 AM EST, Sat December 22, 2012

Pope Benedict's former butler Paolo Gabriele leaves after the verdict in his trial at the Vatican in October.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Vatican spokesman: Pope Benedict XVI pardons his former butler, Paolo Gabriele


• Gabriele was given an 18-month prison term in October for aggravated theft


• He was convicted after leaking private papers from the pope's apartment


• The papers informed a book that revealed corruption claims within the Church hierarchy

(CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI has pardoned his former butler, Paolo Gabriele, weeks after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for leaking the pope's private papers, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.

The pope visited Gabriele in prison "in order to confirm his forgiveness and communicate in person his decision to grant Mr. Gabriele's request for pardon, thereby remitting the sentence passed against the latter," said a Vatican statement.

"This constitutes a paternal gesture toward a person with whom the Pope shared a relationship of daily familiarity for many years."

Gabriele was immediately released and has returned home, the statement said.

"Since he cannot resume his previous occupation or continue to live in Vatican City, the Holy See, trusting in his sincere repentance, wishes to offer him the possibility of returning to a serene family life," it said.

Gabriele, one of the pope's closest personal assistants, was convicted in October of aggravated theft for leaking secret papers from the pontiff's personal apartment to an author who included them in a best-selling book.

During the high-profile trial, Gabriele declared himself not guilty, but said he had abused the pope's trust. He asked forgiveness of the pontiff for his actions, which he said were intended to expose wrongdoing.

The Holy See media office had previously indicated that Gabriele could be pardoned. He has been held in a cell in Vatican City since October.

Gabriele was arrested in May, following a Vatican investigation into how the pope's private documents appeared in the book "Sua Santita" ("His Holiness"), by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.

The book, based on the papers, revealed claims of corruption in the church's hierarchy.

At his trial, police told how they found more than 1,000 important documents among a stash of hundreds of thousands of papers in Gabriele's apartments in Vatican City and Castel Gondolfo, a town near Rome.

Among them were original papers signed by Pope Benedict XVI, some of them stamped with an order for destruction, according to the journalists allowed to attend the trial.

Also found in his possession were a gold nugget belonging to the pope, a signed check made out to Pope Benedict XVI for 100,000 euros and an original version of Virgil's Aeneid from 1581.

Computer expert sentenced over Vatican leaks

CNN's Mitra Mobasherat contributed to this report.

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If the world's about to end, what would be your last meal on Earth? Feast your eyes on the most popular choices.

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People in a tiny French village are hoping to profit from the end of the world predicted for later this month. Jim Bittermann reports.

Bushmaster corporation: If you buy one of their semi-automatic rifles -- like the kind Adam Lanza used -- "Consider your Man Card reissued."

updated 4:49 PM EST, Thu December 20, 2012

The evolving face and story of Aesha, disfigured by the Taliban and featured on the Time magazine's August 2010 cover, captivated the world.

updated 5:51 AM EST, Fri December 21, 2012

ITN's Alex Thomson gains rare access to accompany the Syrian army in Daraya.

updated 7:18 AM EST, Thu December 20, 2012

India's rape cases, one every 22 minutes, betray what's wrong with society where millions believe women invite trouble by being careless.

updated 11:08 AM EST, Fri December 21, 2012

A recent Gallup report shows that Singapore's wealthy population is the unhappiest -- less happy than the populations of Syria and Haiti.

updated 6:59 AM EST, Fri December 21, 2012

Sudanese government has been bombing and spreading terror in the South Kordofan state, surgically cleansing the land of the Nuba people.

updated 5:16 AM EST, Fri December 21, 2012

CNN's Fred Pleitgen on the first museum exhibit on the biblical ruler of Judea.

updated 9:39 AM EST, Sat December 22, 2012

Crazy golf on an insane scale -- a putting green swimming in a giant bowl of noodles and chopsticks and the Great Wall of China for a hazard.

2012 is a big year in horse racing as 6 million people head to the track. The rise of celebrity horses Frankel and Black Caviar creates a buzz.

Share a message of hope for the victims, your thoughts about gun control, or sound off on another related topic.

updated 10:49 AM EST, Wed December 19, 2012

With a death-defying leap, a hot novel and the U.S. election -- 2012 has been an incredible year. Watch the highlights in CNN's video mash-up.

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New details emerge on Newtown gunman

NEWTOWN, Conn. He was the awkward, peculiar kid who wore the same clothes to school every day.

He rarely spoke and even gave a school presentation entirely by computer, never uttering a word.

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He liked tinkering with computers and other gadgets, and seemed to enjoy playing a violent video game, choosing a military-style assault rifle as one of his weapons.

New details about Adam Lanza emerged Friday, as the nation paused to mark one week since he slaughtered 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

Multiple funerals and visitations were held Friday, and at the hour of the attack, 9:30 a.m., a bell tolled 26 times, once for each victim killed at the school.

Lanza also fatally shot his mother before blasting his way into Sandy Hook, and killed himself after the school massacre.

In high school, Lanza would slither through the hallways, awkwardly pressing himself against the wall while wearing the same green shirt and khaki pants every day. He hardly ever talked to his classmates.

"As long as I knew him, he never really spoke," said Daniel Frost, who took a computer class with Lanza and remembered his skill with electronics. Lanza could take apart and reassemble a computer in a matter of minutes

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Newtown moment of silence

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Victims of Conn. school shooting

Lanza seemed to spend most of his time in the basement of the home he shared with his mother, who kept a collection of guns there, said Russell Ford, a friend of Nancy Lanza's who had done chimney and pipe work on the house.

Nancy Lanza was often seen around town and regularly met friends at a local restaurant. But her 20-year-old son was seldom spotted around town, Ford and other townspeople said.

The basement of the Lanza home had a computer, flat-screen TV, couches and an elaborate setup for video games. Nancy Lanza kept her guns in what appeared to be a secure case in another part of the basement, said Ford, who often met her and other friends at a regular Tuesday gathering at My Place, a local restaurant.

During the past year and a half, Ford said, Nancy Lanza had told him that she planned to move out West and enroll Adam in a "school or a center." The plan started unfolding after Adam turned 18.

"She knew she needed to be near him," Ford said. "She was trying to do what was positive for him."

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