It seems that people want to announce everything on Facebook, even their imminent demise.
30-year-old Eric L. Ramsey knew his time was up, so he took out his cell phone and posted on his Facebook wall: "Well folkes [sic] im about to get shot. Peace"
As NBC News reports, some of his friends thought he was joking.
However, shortly after his 3:15 a.m. post, he was fatally shot by a policeman.
More Technically Incorrect
The police were searching for Ramsey after he allegedly kidnapped and raped a woman at Central Michigan University, set a house ablaze, stole a sanitation truck, and rammed into the cars of two Michigan State troopers.
The victim of the alleged rape had managed to escape and had alerted the police.
The Isabella County Sheriff, Leo Mioduszewki, said in a press release (PDF): "A short while later, a Crawford County Deputy located the sanitation truck, and the suspect ended up hitting the deputy's car head on. The deputy then got out of the patrol car, ran up to the cab of the pickup, and fired shots, fatally wounding the suspect."
It's not clear what time Ramsey was shot or how he had time to make the Facebook post.
Ramsey isn't the first alleged criminal to have used Facebook during his activity. Two years ago, a man held a woman hostage in a Utah hotel and posted constant updates to his Facebook account.
In the case of Ramsey, Facebook seems to have been the only way he could offer a short goodbye.
BALTIMORE Earl Weaver, the fiery Hall of Fame manager who won 1,480 games with the Baltimore Orioles seemingly was engaged in nearly as many arguments with umpires, has died. He was 82.
Dick Gordon, Weaver's marketing agent, said Saturday that Weaver died while on a Caribbean cruise sponsored by the Orioles. Gordon said Weaver's wife told him that Weaver went back to his cabin after dinner and began choking between 10:30 and 11 Friday night. Gordon said a cause of death has not been determined.
The Duke of Earl, as he was affectionately known in Baltimore, took the Orioles into the World Series four times over 17 seasons but won only one title, in 1970. His .583 winning percentage ranks fifth among managers who served 10 or more seasons in the 20th century.
"Earl Weaver stands alone as the greatest manager in the history of the Orioles organization and one of the greatest in the history of baseball," Orioles owner Peter Angelos said. "This is a sad day for everyone who knew him and for all Orioles fans. Earl made his passion for the Orioles known both on and off the field. On behalf of the Orioles, I extend my condolences to his wife, Marianna, and to his family."
Weaver was a salty-tongued manager who preferred to wait for a three-run homer rather than manufacture a run with a stolen base or a bunt. While some baseball purists argued that strategy, no one could dispute the results.
"He was an intense competitor and smart as a whip when it comes to figuring out ways to beat you," said Davey Johnson, who played under Weaver in the minor leagues and with the Orioles from 1965 to 1972.
Weaver had a reputation as a winner, but umpires knew him as a hothead. Weaver would often turn his hat backward and yell directly into an umpire's face to argue a call or a rule, and after the inevitable ejection he would more often than not kick dirt on home plate or on the umpire's shoes.
He was ejected 91 times, including once in both games of a doubleheader.
Asked once if his reputation might have harmed his chances to gain entry into the Hall of Fame, Weaver admitted, "It probably hurt me."
Those 91 ejections were overshadowed by his five 100-win seasons, six AL East titles and four pennants. Weaver was inducted into the Hall in 1996, 10 years after he managed his final game with Baltimore at the end of an ill-advised comeback.
In 1985, the Orioles' owner at the time, Edward B. Williams, coaxed Weaver away from golf to take over a struggling squad. Weaver donned his uniform No. 4, which had already been retired by the team, and tried to breathe some life into the listless Orioles.
Baltimore went 53-52 over the last half of the 1985 season, but finished seventh in 1986 with a 73-89 record. It was Weaver's only losing season as a major-league manager, and he retired for good after that.
"If I hadn't come back," Weaver said after his final game, "I would be home thinking what it would have been like to manage again. I found out it's work."
Weaver finished with a 1,480-1,060 record. He won Manager of the Year three times.
"I had a successful career, not necessarily a Hall of Fame career, but a successful one," he said.
How much will all the inaugural events cost? It's hard to say.
While most events that occur in the capital have a hard-and-fast budget, the inauguration's many moving parts, safety concerns and large geographic reach make it hard to quantify – especially before the main event.
In 2009, ABC reported the total cost of Obama's first inauguration was $170 million. While incumbent presidents historically spend less on a second inauguration, it's unclear what the total bill will be this time around. Analysis of some of the known appropriations so far puts the total at $13.637 million, but it will no doubt be a much larger price tag when everything is accounted for.
RELATED: 12 Things You Didn't Know About the Inauguration
One of the main chunks missing from this year's tab is the budget for the Presidential Inaugural Committee – the group responsible for using donated money to put together this year's celebrations, including National Day of Service, the Kids' Inaugural Concert, the Parade and the Inaugural Balls.
In 2009, the PIC collected more than $53 million in donations, according to a report filed with the Federal Elections Commission 90 days after the inauguration.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Politically Dressed: Inauguration First Daughters Watch Video
While enthusiasm for the inauguration was running higher that year, it is possible the PIC will haul in more money this time around, as they have eliminated some of the self-imposed regulations on the kinds of donations they can accept. For his first inauguration, President Obama did not take money from corporations or gifts that exceeded $50,000.
In 2013, his committee did away with those rules. PIC spokesman Brent Colburn would not say why the change took place, insisting that each committee operates independently from the precedent set by the inaugurations before – even if staff like Colburn are repeats on the committee from 2009.
RELATED: Inauguration Weekend: A Star-Powered Lineup
The PIC also won't say how much they have already collected or even what their goal was. Colburn explained that these are "moving budgets," which won't stabilize until after the inauguration.
They have, however, released the names of donors on their website weekly. As of Friday afternoon, they were up to 993 donors.
Another leg of the costs is covered by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. They take care of the swearing-in ceremony and the Congressional luncheon. For those events they have a total budget of $1.237 million, down by about $163,000 from 2009. Whereas the PIC budget comes from donations, the American taxpayers foot the bill for the JCCIC.
Beyond those two inauguration-focused groups, there are a myriad of broader organizations that spend money on the inauguration as well.
RELATED: Plenty of Room at the Inns for 2013 Inauguration
A Congressional Research Service report from December says the government spent $22 million reimbursing local and state governments and the National Park Service for their participation in the 2009 inauguration, but that figure is low. The D.C. government alone received twice that amount, according to the mayor's office. Officials from D.C., Maryland and Virginia estimated their total need to be $75 million.
NPS got an appropriation from Congress of $1.2 million so far this year, according to communications officer Carol Johnson, and another $1.4 million went to the U.S. Park Police.
ALGIERS/IN AMENAS, Algeria (Reuters) - The Algerian army on Saturday carried out a final assault on al Qaeda-linked gunmen holed up in a desert gas plant, killing 11 of the Islamists after they took the lives of seven more foreign hostages, a local source and the state news agency said.
"It is over now, the assault is over, and the military are inside the plant clearing it of mines," a local source familiar with the operation told Reuters.
The state oil and gas company, Sonatrach, said the militants who attacked the plant on Wednesday and took a large number of hostages had booby-trapped the complex with explosives.
The exact death toll among the gunmen and the foreign and Algerian workers at the plant near the town of In Amenas close to the Libyan border remained unclear.
Earlier on Saturday, Algerian special forces found 15 burned bodies at the plant. Efforts were under way to identify the bodies, the source told Reuters, and it was not clear how they had died.
Sixteen foreign hostages were freed on Saturday, a source close to the crisis said. They included two Americans, two Germans and one Portuguese. Britain said fewer than 10 of its nationals at the plant were unaccounted for.
The attack on the plant swiftly turned into one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades, pushing Saharan militancy to the top of the global agenda.
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS
It marked a serious escalation of unrest in northwestern Africa, where French forces have been in Mali since last week fighting an Islamist takeover of Timbuktu and other towns.
The captors said their attack was a response to the French offensive. However, some U.S. and European officials say the elaborate raid probably required too much planning to have been organized from scratch in the week since France launched its strikes.
Scores of Westerners and hundreds of Algerian workers were inside the heavily fortified gas compound when it was seized before dawn on Wednesday by Islamist fighters who said they wanted a halt to the French intervention in neighboring Mali.
Hundreds escaped on Thursday when the army launched a rescue operation, but many hostages were killed.
Before the final assault, different sources had put the number of hostages killed at between 12 and 30, with many foreigners still unaccounted for, among them Norwegians, Japanese, Britons and Americans.
The figure of 30 came from an Algerian security source, who said eight Algerians and at least seven foreigners were among the victims, including two Japanese, two Britons and a French national. One British citizen was killed when the gunmen seized the hostages on Wednesday.
The U.S. State Department said on Friday one American, Frederick Buttaccio, had died but gave no further details.
Leaders of Britain, Japan and other countries have expressed frustration that the assault was ordered without consultation and officials have grumbled at the lack of information.
France's defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, declined to criticize the Algerian response to the crisis, however.
"The Algerian authorities are on their own soil and responding in the fashion they can. The overriding mission is to tackle the terrorists," he told France 3 television.
The base was home to foreign workers from Britain's BP, Norway's Statoil, Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp and others.
VETERAN JIHADIST
The apparent ease with which the fighters swooped in from the dunes to take control of an important energy facility, which produces some 10 percent of the natural gas on which Algeria depends for its export income, has raised questions over the value of outwardly tough Algerian security measures.
Algerian officials said the attackers may have had inside help from among the hundreds of Algerians employed at the site.
France says the incident proves its decision to fight Islamists in neighboring Mali was necessary.
The field commander of the Islamist group that attacked the plant is a veteran fighter from Niger called Abdul Rahman al-Nigeri, Mauritanian news agencies reported.
Security in the half-dozen countries around the Sahara desert has long been a preoccupation of the West. Smugglers and militants have earned millions in ransom from kidnappings.
The most powerful Islamist groups operating in the Sahara were severely weakened by Algeria's secularist military in a civil war in the 1990s. But in the past two years the regional wing of al Qaeda gained fighters and arms as a result of the civil war in Libya, when arsenals were looted from Muammar Gaddafi's army.
Al Qaeda-linked fighters, many with roots in Algeria and Libya, took control of northern Mali last year.
(Additional reporting by Balazs Koranyi in Oslo, Estelle Shirbon in London, Brian Love in Paris; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Mark Trevelyan)
SINGAPORE: Reform Party's candidate for the Punggol East by-election Kenneth Jeyaretnam has pledged to donate 10 per cent of his salary to community projects in the ward if he is elected as Member of Parliament.
Speaking to reporters at Rivervale Mall on Saturday evening, Mr Jeyaretnam said this will also go some way towards funding his five-year plan for the constituency.
Giving more details of the plan, the Secretary-General of the Reform Party said he hopes to set up at least one childcare centre in every precinct in Punggol East. The plan also includes starting daycare centres for the elderly.
These centres can be managed by the NTUC, and he is suggesting that subsidies be provided for all.
In addition, Mr Jeyaretnam is proposing to build a cinema at Rivervale Plaza. He also wants to establish a dedicated hotline for residents so that help on estate matters can be given quickly.
To address residents' car parking woes, Mr Jeyaretnam is proposing to allocate car park lots strictly on home ownership and allow only one lot per family.
Other ideas in the five-year plan include providing recycled laptops to needy students.
Trying to get into the SimCity beta is an exercise in patience, but at least the game looks beautiful.
(Credit: Maxis/EA)
Did you miss the last SimCity beta sign-up event? You're in luck, because EA and Maxis want to give you another chance to get in on the beta for the highly anticipated building game. There's a catch, though: beta builders only get to play a snapshot of game for up to one hour at any point between Friday, January 25 and the following Monday, January 28.
Amusingly, the actual process of signing up for the beta might be more difficult than playing the game itself, as the sign-up page seems to have some serious problems going on right now -- most likely due to a high influx of interested participants.
On 10 separate occasions, I was unable to sign up for the SimCity beta, experiencing several errors that would make any gamer with pre-hypertension smash his or her keyboard into smithereens. For example, after signing in with my Origin account, I then had to enter a simple Captcha verification code and was told I entered it incorrectly every time ("Your verification code was incorrect"). I know how to read a Captcha, so, no, you're incorrect EA.
Then, after somehow getting my Captcha code to actually work, the sign-up window disappeared and I was redirected back to the main SimCity Web page, only to see that refresh into a window displaying a Drupal error (the content management system EA uses for the Web site). How wonderful.
The SimCity Twitter account prescribed a remedy for those experiencing these errors: "Heads up, Mayors -- if you're having trouble viewing the #SimCitybeta page, try a hard refresh and clear your cache."
After clearing everything (and I mean absolutely everything, short of throwing my computer out the window) I kept encountering the same set of errors. In fact, I just tried it again, and after clicking on the beta page, it simply disappears into the void. Hopefully the actual game is easier than this horrid beta sign-up experience, which I'm sure will go back to normal after people stop trying to sign up. Good luck.
ALGIERS, Algeria About 30 foreign hostages are still unaccounted for three days into a bloody siege with Islamic militants at a gas plant deep in the Sahara, Algeria's state news service said Friday.
The militants, meanwhile, reportedly offered to trade two American hostages for terror figures jailed in the United States, according to a statement received by a Mauritanian news site that often reports news from North African extremists.
It was the latest development in a hostage drama that began Wednesday when militants seized hundreds of workers from 10 nations at Algeria's remote Ain Amenas natural gas plant. Algerian forces retaliated Thursday by storming the plant in an attempted rescue operation that killed at least four hostages and left leaders around the world expressing strong concerns about the hostages' safety.
Algerian special forces resumed negotiating Friday with the militants holed up in the refinery, according to the Algerian news service, which cited a security source.
The report said nearly 100 of the remaining 132 had been freed by Friday, but it could not account for the remainder.
Militants on Friday offered to trade two American hostages for two prominent terror figures jailed in the United States: Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as "the Blind Sheikh," who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
The offer, according to a Mauritanian news site that frequently broadcasts dispatches from groups linked to al Qaeda, came from Moktar Belmoktar, an extremist commander based in Mali who apparently masterminded the operation.
It could not be independently confirmed.
Algeria's government has kept a tight grip on information, but it was clear that the militant assault that began Wednesday with an attempted bus hijacking has killed at least six people from the plant — and perhaps many more.
Play Video
Deaths and survivors in Algerian hostage rescue
Workers kidnapped by the militants came from around the world — Americans, Britons, French, Norwegians, Romanians, Malaysians, Japanese, Algerians. Leaders on Friday expressed strong concerns about how Algeria was handing the situation and its apparent reluctance to communicate.
British Prime Minister David Cameron went before the House of Commons on Friday to provide an update, seeming frustrated that Britain was not told about the military operation despite having "urged we be consulted."
At least one American, Mark Cobb, who had hidden in a meeting room, is known to have gotten out of the gas plant, CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports.
One high-ranking source in the U.S. government told CBS News that four Americans had been freed, one of them injured, after the raid.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday the U.S. is working with the British and Algerian governments to assess what's happening on the ground. Speaking Friday at Kings College in London, Panetta said the U.S. is "working around the clock to ensure the safe return of our citizens."
Panetta said the terrorists should be on notice that they'll find no sanctuary in Algeria or North Africa.
He said anyone who looks to attack the U.S. will have "no place to hide."
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said President Obama was receiving regular updates from his national security team and was in constant contact with the Algerian government, stressing that "our first priority is the safety and security of the hostages. "
Terrorized hostages from Ireland and Norway trickled out of the Ain Amenas plant, 800 miles south of Algiers, the capital. BP, which jointly operates the plant, said it had begun to evacuate employees from Algeria.
On Friday, up to around 20 people, including some Americans, were being evacuated from the country, a spokesperson for the U.S. African Command said. AFRICOM said those with injuries would recieve medical treatment en route to Europe, but would not specify the extent of the injuries or the final destination within Europe for the evacuees.
"This is a large and complex site and they are still pursuing terrorists and possibly some of the hostages," Cameron said. He told lawmakers the situation remained fluid and dangerous, saying "part of the threat has been eliminated in one part of the site, a threat still remains in another part."
Algeria's army-dominated government, hardened by decades of fighting Islamist militants, shrugged aside foreign offers of help and drove ahead alone.
The U.S. government sent an unarmed surveillance drone to the BP-operated site, near the border with Libya, but it could do little more than watch Thursday's military intervention. British intelligence and security officials were on the ground in Algeria's capital but were not at the installation, said a British official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
A U.S. official said while some Americans escaped, other Americans were either still held or unaccounted for.
El Mokhtar Ould Sidi, editor of the Mauritanian news site ANI, said several calls on Thursday came from the kidnappers themselves giving their demands and describing the situation.
"They were clearly in a situation of war, the spokesman who contacted us was giving orders to his colleagues and you could hear the sounds of war in the background.... He threatened to kill all the hostages if the Algerian forces tried to liberate them," he said.
With the hostage drama entering its second day Thursday, Algerian security forces moved in, first with helicopter fire and then special forces, according to diplomats, a website close to the militants, and an Algerian security official. The government said it was forced to intervene because the militants were being stubborn and wanted to flee with the hostages.
Militants claimed 35 hostages died when the military helicopters opened fire as they were transporting hostages from the living quarters to the main factory area where other workers were being held.
The group — led by a Mali-based al Qaeda offshoot known as the Masked Brigade — suffered losses in Thursday's military assault — but garnered a global audience.
The militants made it clear that their attack was in revenge for the French intervention against Islamists who have taken over large parts of neighboring Mali. France has encountered fierce resistance from the extremist groups in Mali and failed to persuade many Western allies to join in the actual combat.
Even violence-scarred Algerians were stunned by the brazen hostage-taking Wednesday, the biggest in northern Africa in years and the first to include Americans as targets. Mass fighting in the 1990s had largely spared the lucrative oil and gas industry that gives Algeria its economic independence and regional weight.
The official Algerian news agency said four hostages were killed in Thursday's operation, two Britons and two Filipinos. Two others, a Briton and an Algerian, died Wednesday in the initial militant ambush on a bus ferrying foreign workers to an airport. Citing hospital officials, it said six Algerians and seven foreigners were injured.
APS said some 600 local workers were safely freed in the raid — but many of those were reportedly released the day before by the militants themselves.
One Irish hostage managed to escape: electrician Stephen McFaul, who'd worked in North Africa's oil and natural gas fields off and on for 15 years. His family said the militants let hostages call their families to press the kidnappers' demands.
"He phoned me at 9 o'clock to say al Qaeda were holding him, kidnapped, and to contact the Irish government, for they wanted publicity. Nightmare, so it was. Never want to do it again. He'll not be back! He'll take a job here in Belfast like the rest of us," said his mother, Marie.
Dylan, McFaul's 13-year-old son, started crying as he talked to Ulster Television. "I feel over the moon, just really excited. I just can't wait for him to get home," he said.
Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend "Lennay Kekua" may have hoaxed other unsuspecting suitors.
"Catfish" movie director and actor Ariel Schulman told "Good Morning America" today that he believes there may have been "a few other people duped by the fake Lennay character."
Schulman and his brother Nev Schulman have been looking into the elaborate scam and claim to be corresponding with various players involved. They have come to believe that there were "a lot of other people that she was corresponding with before and maybe even during her relationship [with Te'o]."
Nev Schulman was the subject of the 2010 movie "Catfish," which spawned the TV series, because he himself was sucked in by an Internet pretender -- or a "catfish" -- who built an elaborate fake life.
As questions mount about Te'o's possible role in the complex scam, the number one question is whether Te'o was unknowingly ensnared, as he says, or whether he was complicit in the scam.
"I stand by the guy. My heart goes out to him," Ariel Schulman said. His brother has reached out to Te'o, but has not heard back.
"He had his heart broken," Schulman said. "He was grieving for someone, whether she existed or not. Those were real feelings."
Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Manti Te'o Hoax: Was He Duped or Did He Know? Watch Video
Manti Te'o Hoax: Notre Dame Star Allegedly Scammed Watch Video
Tale of Notre Dame Football Star's Girlfriend and Her Death an Alleged Hoax Watch Video
Click here for a who's who in the Manti Te'o case
Te'o has kept a low-profile since the news of the scandal broke. He released a statement calling the situation "incredibly embarrassing" and maintaining that he was a victim of the hoax.
He was captured briefly by news cameras on Thursday at a Florida training facility, but has not spoken publicly.
As for the woman whose photo was used as the face of Lennay Kekua, "Inside Edition" has identified her as Diane O'Meara who is very much alive. The show caught up with her on Thursday, but she declined to comment.
ABC News' legal analyst Dan Abrams said that O'Meara may be the one person in the scandal with the power to sue since her likeness was taken and used without her permission.
As for Te'o, even if he knew about the deception, it appears that he did not do anything illegal.
"He's allowed to lie to the public. He's allowed to lie to the media. He's not allowed to lie to the authorities," Abrams said on "Good Morning America."
Questions also remain about the timeline of events and when Te'o discovered that the "love of his life," as he called her, was nothing more than a fake Internet persona.
According to Notre Dame's timeline of events, Te'o learned his girlfriend didn't exist on Dec. 6.
But in a Dec. 8 interview with South Bend, Ind., TV station WSBT, Te'o said, "I really got hit with cancer. I lost both my grandparents an my girlfriend to cancer." And on Dec. 11, he talked about his girlfriend in a newspaper interview.
Te'o alerted Notre Dame on Dec. 26 about the scam, the university said.
Click here for more scandalous public confessions.
Skeptics have also cited comments by Te'o's father Brian Te'o who told a newspaper how Kekua used to visit his son in Hawaii.
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the university launched their own investigation.
"Our investigators, through their work, were able to discover online chatter between the perpetrators," Swarbrick said at a Wednesday news conference. "That was sort of the ultimate proof."
ALGIERS (Reuters) - About 60 foreigners were still being held hostage or missing inside a gas plant on Friday after Algerian forces stormed the desert complex to free hundreds of captives taken by Islamist militants, who threatened to attack other energy installations.
The attack, which plunged capitals around the world into crisis mode, is a serious escalation of unrest in northwestern Africa, where French forces have been in Mali since last week fighting an Islamist takeover of Timbuktu and other towns.
"We are still dealing with a fluid and dangerous situation where a part of the terrorist threat has been eliminated in one part of the site, but there still remains a threat in another part," British Prime Minister David Cameron told his parliament.
A local Algerian source said 60 foreigners were still in the facility and some were being held hostage, but it was unclear how many and how many might be in hiding elsewhere in the sprawling compound. It was also not known whether some might have been killed and the bodies not found.
Those still unaccounted for included 10 from Japan, eight Norwegians and a number of Britons put by Cameron at "less than 30". Washington has said a number of Americans were among the hostages, without giving details, and the local source said a U.S. aircraft landed nearby on Friday.
As Western leaders clamored for news of their nationals, several expressed anger they had not been consulted by the Algerian government about its decision to storm the facility.
Algeria's state news agency said earlier more than half of 132 foreign hostages were freed and that the army had rescued 650 hostages, 573 of whom were Algerians.
"(The army) is still trying to achieve a ‘peaceful outcome' before neutralizing the terrorist group that is holed up in the (facility) and freeing a group of hostages that is still being held," it said, quoting a security source.
Thirty hostages, including several Westerners, were killed during Thursday's assault, the source said, along with at least 18 of their captors, who said they had taken the site as retaliation for French intervention against Islamists in neighboring Mali.
(Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, Eamonn Mallie in Belfast, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Mohammed Abbas in London and Padraic Halpin and Conor Humprhies in Dublin; Writing by Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
SINGAPORE : The sale of units in the Forestville executive condominium (EC) development was stopped because the developer had launched the project for sale based on a plan with unapproved changes, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
In an email reply to Channel NewsAsia on Friday, URA clarified that "the Forestville case should not be linked or confused with the release of the new measures".
The new measures cap the maximum strata floor area of new EC units at 160 square metres, restrict the sale of new dual-key EC units to multi-generational families and subject private enclosed spaces and private roof terraces to development charges.
URA said Forestville "had obtained provisional permission from URA before the policy changes", so it is not subject to the new measures as their designs had been finalised.
The other EC development that had obtained provisional permission as at 11 January 2013, before the policy change, is a project at Woodlands Ave 6/Woodlands Drive 16 that is developed by Opal Star and Binjai Holdings.
A fourth measure, which states that "developers of future EC sale sites from the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme will only be allowed to launch units for sale 15 months from the date of award of the sites or after the physical completion of foundation works", will only apply to new GLS sites awarded on or after 12 Jan 2013.
This will not affect the Forestville project as well as six other EC sites last year.
The OS X menu bar is a central location for accessing system resources in the Apple menu, application-specific menus, and also a number of system settings through menu extras that can be appended to the right side of the menu bar. Some extras that are on by default include the time and date, battery level, and volume control, but others can be added to the bar, including VPN status, keychain, the script menu, and Bluetooth status.
Though these menu extras are convenient, there may be times when problems occur with this part of the system menu, such as freezes and hangs. Typically, only the right-side of the menu bar will hang, so while you can still access the File, Edit, and Apple menus among others to the left of the bar, when you move your mouse to the right you will see it turn to the spinning color wheel or otherwise be nonfunctional.
This problem usually happens because of incompatibilities with third-party menu extras installed on your system. The menu extra feature in OS X is a convenient way for developers to give quick access to their programs' features, and is often used for malware scanners, firewalls and filters, input managers, and network monitors to give you quick updates on their activities.
So, if you are experiencing problems with the menu bar hanging, try first updating any program you have installed that uses the menu bar. A common one that has resulted in menu bar hangs is the popular iStats Menu system monitor, but others may cause issues as well and a quick update should make sure they are the version that's most compatible with your version of OS X.
Another source for menu bar hangs may be problems with the menu bar setup in OS X, so removing the preferences file that manages the menu bar may help. To do this, in the Finder choose "Library" from the Go menu (for Mountain Lion users hold the Option key to reveal the Library in this menu). Then go to the Preferences folder and remove the file called "com.apple.systemuiserver.plist." Then log out and back in to your system.
Do keep in mind that deleting the SystemUIServer preferences file will leave you with a default set of menu extras, so you will have to manually re-enable and rearrange them.
Finally, if a third-party menu extra is simply not compatible and despite being updated is still showing buggy behavior in OS X, then the best approach is to disable this program's menu extra or remove the program from the system. While menu extras are mostly intended to be quick-access options for program settings that can be enabled or disabled, some programs operate entirely through the menu extra or have one that is enabled at all times.
In addition, some programs use an older approach to programming menu extras and so they're treated slightly differently in the menu bar. These extras load after the default menu extras, and are usually appended to the left of the menu extras. A good way to identify these is to try moving them around the menu bar by holding the Command key and then clicking and dragging. If the modern approach to menu extras was used, then this action should allow you to move the menu extra around; if it's an older extra, it will stay put. (Granted, you can only apply this test when the menu bar is not currently hanging.)
This is often an easy way to identify third-party menu extras that may be the source of the problem, so you can then go about testing each by uninstalling, quitting, or otherwise disabling them to troubleshoot the menu hangs you are experiencing.
Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or ! Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.
Some children diagnosed with autism in early childhood may no longer have the disorder as they grow older, according to research funded by the National Institutes of Health.
"Although the diagnosis of autism is not usually lost over time, the findings suggest that there is a very wide range of possible outcomes," said Dr. Thomas R. Insel, NIMH director, said in a press release. "For an individual child, the outcome may be knowable only with time and after some years of intervention."
Autism spectrum disorders are a group of developmental disorders that cause behavioral, social and communication problems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate one in 88 children have an ASD.
Play Video
Headlines: Report says kids can grow out of autism
The new study looked at 34 children between 8 and 21 who had an "optimal outcome," meaning they were diagnosed with autism earlier in life but functioned normally compared to their peers later on. These subjects were matched by age, sex, and nonverbal IQ with 44 children with high-functioning autism and an additional 34 typically developing peers.
The researchers reviewed their initial diagnoses to make sure they were accurate and enlisted a second diagnostic expert, who didn't know the child's status, to review reports where the initial diagnosis had been removed.
What they discovered was the "optimal outcome" children had milder social problems than those in the high-functioning autism group in early childhood. Verbal IQ of "optimal outcome" children were slightly higher than high-functioning autism individuals. However when it came to communication and behavioral problems, there were similarities to the high-functioning subjects.
The researchers then examined all the subjects using standard cognitive tests and parent questionnaires. The "optimal outcome" children were all in regular education classes with no special education aimed at autism. The whole group showed no signs of problems with language, face recognition, communication, and social interaction.
Researchers cannot speculate which percentage of children will outgrow their ASD, but they are hoping that through the research they gathered they can see whether the diagnosis changed because brain function normalized or the brain was able to make up for autism-related deficiencies.
10 Photos
Is it autism? Facial features that show disorder
"All children with ASD are capable of making progress with intensive therapy, but with our current state of knowledge most do not achieve the kind of optimal outcome that we are studying," study author Deborah Fein, a professor at the Department of Psychology at University of Connecticut, said in a press release. "Our hope is that further research will help us better understand the mechanisms of change so that each child can have the best possible life."
The study published Jan. 16 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Researchers are also looking at which therapies led to the most success. Fein told HealthDay she believed behavioral treatments were the most likely to result in an "optimal outcome." However, even for children that lose the diagnosis, she said that parents should not stop therapy "prematurely" since these children are still at risk for attention problems and anxiety.
"But I want to point out that this is the result of years of hard work," she added. "This is not anything that happens overnight. I would say that at minimum we're talking about two to three years of intensive therapy to produce this outcome, but it could also be five years. It's variable.
"This is the first solid science to address this question of possible recovery, and I think it has big implications," added Dr. Sally Ozonoff of the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the study, to the New York Times. "I know many of us as would rather have had our tooth pulled than use the word 'recover,' it was so unscientific. Now we can use it, though I think we need to stress that it's rare."
But, other experts warned that parents shouldn't get their hopes up that their child will outgrow their diagnosis.
"This study is looking at a small sample of high functioning people with autism and we would urge people not to jump to conclusions about the nature and complexity of autism, as well its longevity," Dr. Judith Gould, director of the National Autistic Society's Lorna Wing Centre for Autism, told the BBC. "With intensive therapy and support, it's possible for a small sub-group of high functioning individuals with autism to learn coping behaviors and strategies which would 'mask' their underlying condition and change their scoring in the diagnostic tests used to determine their condition in this research."
Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick cited the documentary "Catfish" in trying to explain how he said star linebacker Manti Te'o became the victim of an elaborate hoax that duped him into believing that his online girlfriend died during the 2012 college football season.
"I would refer all of you, if you're not already familiar with it, with both the documentary called 'Catfish,' the MTV show which is a derivative of that documentary, and the sort of associated things you'll find online and otherwise about catfish, or catfishing," Swarbrick told reporters Wednesday.
The 2010 blockbuster film stars Nev Schulman, who was the real-life victim of a "catfish" scam. Schulman wanted to make the documentary to show how he was sucked in by an Internet pretender -- or a "catfish" -- who built an elaborate fake life.
Schulman made the documentary as he was falling for someone named "Megan," a gorgeous 20-something from Michigan. Their online relationship blossomed until Schulman confronted "Megan."
"Megan" turned out to be a middle-aged mom of two named Angela Wesselman, who later said she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Manti Te'o Hoax: Notre Dame Star Allegedly Scammed Watch Video
'Catfish' Star Nev Schulman's Red Flags for Spotting Online Fakers Watch Video
Tale of Notre Dame Football Star's Girlfriend and Her Death an Alleged Hoax Watch Video
Inside 'Catfish': A Tale of Twisted Cyber-Romance
"It was different. It was something new. It was a little mysterious," Schulman told ABC News in an earlier interview, describing his reaction before he discovered Megan's true identity.
Now, a much wiser Schulman is helping others catch the "catfish" in his new hit series on MTV inspired by the real-life documentary, "Catfish: The TV Show."
'Catfish' Stars Nev Schulman's Advice for Online Dating
In one episode, Schulman meets Sunny, who says she has been dating a medical student online named "Jameson" for eight months.
"He's going to be an anesthesiologist. He does online classes," Sunny says of "Jameson" in the episode.
Schulman convinces Sunny to take a road trip to meet "Jameson" face to face and and Sunny later finds out "Jameson" was really a woman who was pretending to be a man online for at least four years.
"I mean who does that," Sunny said in the episode.
For Te'o, 21, the scam was allegedly worse. The Hawaiian said during the season that his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, died of leukemia in September on the same day Te'o's grandmother died, triggering an outpouring of support for Te'o at Notre Dame and in the media.
"If the person you're talking to has a series of family incidents, this is something to watch out for," Schulman said.
As more become connected through various social media outlets, Schulman says these "catfish" hoaxes will continue.
"So long as we're not looking people in the eye face-to-face, there's always going be room, a lot of room for deception," he said.
WATCH: Deadspin Writer Who Uncovered Hoax Explains the Story
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Twenty-five foreign hostages escaped and six were killed on Thursday when Algerian forces launched an operation to free them at a remote desert gas plant, Algerian sources said, as one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades unfolded.
Fast-moving details of the military operation to free the hostages were difficult to confirm. Algeria's official APS news agency said that the military had freed four foreign hostages, giving no further information.
A local source told Reuters six foreign hostages were killed along with eight captors when the Algerian military fired on a vehicle being used by the gunmen. An Algerian security source said the 25 foreign hostages had escaped.
Mauritania's ANI news agency, which has been in constant contact with the kidnappers, said seven hostages were still being held: two Americans, three Belgians, one Japanese and one British citizen.
The standoff began when gunmen calling themselves the Battalion of Blood stormed the gas plant on Wednesday morning. They said they were holding 41 foreigners and demanded a halt to a French military operation against fellow al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants in neighboring Mali.
ANI and Qatar-based Al Jazeera reported that 34 of the captives and 15 of their captors had been killed when government forces fired from helicopters at a vehicle. Those death tolls, far higher than confirmed by the local source, would contradict the reports that large numbers of foreigners escaped alive.
Britain and Norway, whose oil firms BP and Statoil run the plant jointly with the Algerian state oil company, said they had been informed by the Algerian authorities that a military operation was under way but did not provide details.
As many as 180 Algerian hostages had also been held but managed to flee, the local source said.
The incident dramatically raises the stakes in the French military campaign in neighboring Mali, where hundreds of French paratroopers and marines are launching a ground offensive against rebels after air strikes began last week.
Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said the kidnappers were led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran Islamist guerrilla who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s and had set up his own group in the Sahara after falling out with other local al Qaeda leaders.
A holy warrior-cum-smuggler dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence and "Mister Marlboro" by some locals for his illicit cigarette-running business, Belmokhtar's links to those who seized towns across northern Mali last year are unclear.
The hostage takers earlier allowed some prisoners to speak to the media, apparently to put pressure on Algerian forces not to storm the compound. An unidentified hostage who spoke to France 24 television said prisoners were forced to wear explosive belts and captors had threatened to blow up the plant.
Two hostages, identified as British and Irish, spoke to Al Jazeera television and called on the Algerian army to withdraw from the area to avoid casualties.
"We are receiving care and good treatment from the kidnappers. The (Algerian) army did not withdraw and they are firing at the camp," the British man said. "There are around 150 Algerian hostages. We say to everybody that negotiations is a sign of strength and will spare many any loss of life."
NUMBERS UNCONFIRMED
The precise number and nationalities of foreign hostages could not be confirmed, with some countries reluctant to release information that could be useful to the captors.
Britain said one of its citizens was killed in the initial storming on Wednesday and "a number" of others were held.
The militants said seven Americans were among their hostages, a figure U.S. officials said they could not confirm.
Norwegian oil company Statoil said nine of its Norwegian staff and three Algerian employees were captive. Britain's BP, which operates the plant with Statoil and Algerian state oil company Sonatrach, said some of its staff were held but would not say how many or their nationalities.
Japanese media said five workers from Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp. were held, a number the company did not confirm. Paris has not said whether any hostages were French. Vienna said one hostage was Austrian, Dublin said one was Irish and Bucharest said an unspecified number were Romanian.
Spanish oil company Cepsa said it had begun to evacuate personnel from elsewhere in Algeria.
Paris said the Algeria attack demonstrated it was right to intervene in Mali: "We have the flagrant proof that this problem goes beyond just the north of Mali," French ambassador to Mali Christian Rouyer told France Inter radio.
President Francois Hollande has received public backing from Western and African allies who fear that al Qaeda, flush with men and arms from the defeated forces of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, is building a desert haven in Mali, a poor country helpless to combat fighters who seized its north last year.
However, there is also some concern in Washington and other capitals that the French action in Mali could provoke a backlash worse than the initial threat by militants in the remote Sahara.
The militants, communicating through established contacts with media in neighboring Mauritania, said they had dozens of men armed with mortars and anti-aircraft missiles in the compound and had rigged it with explosives.
"We hold the Algerian government and the French government and the countries of the hostages fully responsible if our demands are not met, and it is up to them to stop the brutal aggression against our people in Mali," read one statement carried by Mauritanian media.
They condemned Algeria's secularist government for letting French warplanes fly over its territory to Mali and shutting its border to Malian refugees.
PRESSING ON
The attack in Algeria did not stop France from pressing on with its campaign in Mali. It said on Thursday it now had 1,400 troops on the ground in Mali, and combat was underway against the rebels that it first began targeting from the air last week.
"There was combat yesterday, on the ground and in the air. It happened overnight and is under way now," said Le Drian. Residents said a column of about 30 French Sagaie armored vehicles set off on Wednesday toward rebel positions from the town of Niono, 300 km (190 miles) from the capital, Bamako.
The French action last week came as a surprise but received widespread international support in public. Neighboring African countries planning to provide ground troops for a U.N. force by September have said they will move faster to deploy them.
Nigeria, the strongest regional power, sent 162 soldiers on Thursday, the first of an anticipated 906.
"The whole world clearly needs to unite and do much more than is presently being done to contain terrorism, with its very negative impact on global peace and security," President Goodluck Jonathan said.
Germany, Britain and the Netherlands have offered transport aircraft to help ferry in African troops. Washington has said it is considering what support it can offer.
Many inhabitants of northern Mali have welcomed the French action, though some also fear being caught in the cross-fire. The Mali rebels who seized Timbuktu and other oasis towns in northern Mali last year imposed Islamic law, including public amputations and beheadings that angered many locals.
A day after launching the campaign in Mali, Hollande also ordered a failed rescue in Somalia on Saturday to free a French hostage held by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants since 2009. Al Shabaab said on Thursday it had executed hostage Denis Allex. France said it believed he died in the rescue.
(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Giles Elgood)
SINGAPORE: Sembcorp Industries has signed a 20-year water purchase agreement with the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Company (ADWEC).
In a statement, the mainboard-listed firm said the agreement was signed through its joint venture, Emirates Sembcorp Water & Power Company (ESC), in which it holds a 40 per cent stake.
It added that the expansion of the hybrid desalination plant, Fujairah 1 Independent Water and Power Plant (IWPP) in the UAE is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015.
Under the water purchase agreement, the water output from the expansion will be sold to ADWEC for a period of 20 years, starting from its operational date.
Sembcorp said the expansion is expected to cost about US$200 million and its equity investment of US$80 million will be funded through internal resources.
The company said the transaction is not expected to have a material impact on its earnings per share and net asset value per share for the current financial year.
The Panasonic ST60 is shipping this spring, and pre-order pricing has already been announced.
(Credit: Panasonic)
I can't tell you how many times last year I told people "just get the Panasonic ST50 plasma." A lot. More times than I shaved, surely.
Turns out I'll be saying it a lot at the beginning of this year too, at least until the TV sells out.
One of the most important products announced at CES 2013, at least as far as I'm concerned, is its direct successor, the Panasonic ST60 series. So with the ST50 still available for sale and the ST60 launching in March/April, the natural question is whether to wait. In this case my answer is a pretty solid "no."
The first reason is because I don't think, judging from Panasonic's spec sheets and conversations I had at CES with the product manager, that picture quality on the ST60 will be significantly better. Put another way, I think it will get the same "9" in my review as the ST50. That's not too shabby, and price-no-object the ST50 tied for the third-best TV available in 2012, but it's a strike against waiting for the ST60. I was told that the ST60 may be slightly better in bright rooms than the ST50, but then again it might not.
None of the step-up features of the ST60, namely an upgraded apps home screen, speech-to-text and an optional pen, seem worthwhile. Styling is a bit better but mostly a wash.
That leaves the other big reason, a large difference in pricing. Below you'll find the current best Amazon Prime price for the ST50 series compared to the pre-order pricing for the ST60 available on Panasonic.com
Size/price comparison
ST50 price (current at Amazon)
ST60 price (pre-order)
Difference
50-inch
$999
$1299
$300
55-inch
$1199
$1599
$400
60-inch
$1675
$1899
$224
65-inch
$2293
$2799
$506
Of course, prices change. While I believe prices on the ST50 are at rock bottom, Panasonic will undoubtedly lower the price on the ST60 sooner or later. That may happen as quickly as its launch date, but I'm guessing that Panasonic by taking pre-orders now, Panasonic is bound to this pricing for a couple months at least. I also expect the ST60 to be at least as inexpensive as the ST50 by the 2013 holiday season. So if you're willing to wait that long before you buy a new TV, you'll get the best price and the added benefit of a year's worth of reviews to compare.
But if you want a TV much sooner than that, it's still hard to beat the price/performance ratio of the Panasonic ST50.
ALGIERS, Algeria Islamist militants attacked and occupied a natural gas field partly operated by BP in southern Algeria early Wednesday, killing two people and holding an unknown number of foreigners hostage while surrounded by Algerian forces.
U.S. officials believe that Americans are among the hostages, but how many exactly was still unclear, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.
A militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in revenge for Algeria's support of France's operation against al Qaeda-linked Malian rebels groups far to the southeast. It said it was holding dozens of foreigners hostage.
In a statement BP said the site was "attacked and occupied by a group of unidentified armed people," and some of its personnel are believed to be "held by the occupiers."
Ireland announced that a 36-year-old married Irish man was among them, while Japan and Britain said their citizens were involved as well. A Norwegian woman said her husband called her saying he had been taken hostage.
A man who identified himself as Mokhtar bel Mokhtar told the al Jazeera television network in a phone interview that he was leader of the jihadist group which carried out the attack, and that the hostages included British and American nationals. His claim could not be independently verified, and he spoke only of six hostages.
The U.S. Embassy in Algiers said in a statement it wasn't "aware of any U.S. citizen casualties."
In addition to the two foreigners killed — one of them a Briton — six were wounded in the attack, including two foreigners, two police officers and two security agents, Algeria's state news agency reported.
Algerian forces surrounded the kidnappers and were negotiating for the release of the hostages, an Algerian security official based in the region said, adding that the militants had come from Mali. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
A group called the Katibat Moulathamine, or the Masked Brigade, called a Mauritanian news outlet to say one of its affiliates had carried out the operation on the Ain Amenas gas field, taking 41 hostages from nine or 10 different nationalities.
The group's claim could not be independently substantiated and there would be fewer than 20 foreign staff members on site on a typical day, along with hundreds of Algerian employees.
The caller to the Nouakchott Information Agency, which often carries announcements from extremist groups, did not give any further details, except to say that the kidnapping was carried out by "Those Who Signed in Blood," a group created to attack the countries participating in the offensive against Islamist groups in Mali.
He said the operation was to punish Algeria for allowing French jets attacking rebel groups in Mali to use its airspace.
French President Francois Hollande launched the surprise operation in its former West African colony on Friday, with hopes of stopping al Qaeda-linked and other Islamist extremists he believes pose a danger to the world.
Wednesday's attack began with the ambush of a bus carrying employees from the gas plant to the nearby airport but the attackers were driven off, according to the Algerian government, which said three vehicles of heavily armed men were involved.
"After their failed attempt, the terrorist group headed to the complex's living quarters and took a number of workers with foreign nationalities hostage," said the statement.
Attacks on oil-rich Algeria's hydrocarbon facilities are very rare, despite decades of fighting an Islamist insurgency, mostly in the north of the country.
In the last several years, however, al Qaeda's influence in the poorly patrolled desert wastes of southern Algeria and northern Mali and Niger has grown and it operates smuggling and kidnapping networks throughout the area. Militant groups that seized control of northern Mali already hold seven French hostages as well as four Algerian diplomats.
The natural gas field where the attack occurred, however, is more than 600 miles from the Mali border, though it is just 60 miles from Libya's deserts.
The British Foreign Office confirmed that "British nationals are caught up in the incident."
BP, together with Norwegian company Statoil and the Algerian state oil company, Sonatrach, operate the gas field. A Japanese company, JGC Corp, provides services for the facility as well.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the kidnapped foreigners possibly include Japanese employees of JGC.
"We are certain that JGC is the one affected," Suga said, adding that the government is now negotiating with local officials through diplomatic channels, asking to protect the lives of the Japanese nationals.
Statoil said that it has 20 employees in the facility. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm that any Norwegian citizens had been abducted. The Norwegian Newspaper Bergens Tidende, however, said a 55-year-old Norwegian working on the site called his wife to say he had been abducted.
Algeria had long warned against military intervention against the rebels in northern Mali, fearing the violence could spill over its own long and porous border. Though its position softened slightly after Hollande visited Algiers in December, Algerian authorities remain skeptical about the operation and worried about its consequences on the region.
Algeria is Africa's biggest country, and has been an ally of the U.S. and France in fighting terrorism for years. But its relationship with France has been fraught with lingering resentment over colonialism and the bloody war for independence that left Algeria a free country 50 years ago.
Algeria's strong security forces have struggled for years against Islamist extremists, and have in recent years managed to nearly snuff out violence by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb around its home base in northern Algeria. In the meantime, AQIM moved its focus southward.
AQIM has made tens of millions of dollars off kidnapping in the region, abducting Algerian businessmen or political figures, and sometimes foreigners, for ransom.
As the White House prepares to unveil a sweeping plan aimed at curbing gun violence, the National Rifle Association has launched a preemptive, personal attack on President Obama, calling him an “elitist hypocrite” who, the group claims, is putting American children at risk.
In 35-second video posted online Tuesday night, the NRA criticizes Obama for accepting armed Secret Service protection for his daughters, Sasha and Malia, at their private Washington, D.C., school while questioning the placement of similar security at other schools.
“Are the president’s kids more important than yours? Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools, when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?” the narrator says.
“Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, but he’s just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security,” it continues. “Protection for their kids and gun-free zones for ours.”
The immediate family members of U.S. presidents – generally considered potential targets – have long received Secret Service protection.
The ad appeared on a new website for a NRA advocacy campaign – “NRA Stand and Fight” — that the gun-rights group appears poised to launch in response to Obama’s package of gun control proposals that will be announced today.
An NRA spokesman said the video is airing on the Sportsman Channel and on the web for now but may appear in other broadcast markets at a later date.
The White House had no comment on the NRA ad.
In the wake of last month’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Obama administration has met with a cross-section of advocacy groups on all sides of the gun debate to formulate new policy proposals.
The NRA, which met with Vice President Joe Biden last week, has opposed any new legislative gun restrictions, including expanded background checks and limits on the sale of assault-style weapons, instead calling for armed guards at all American schools.
Obama publicly questioned that approach in an interview with “Meet the Press” earlier this month, saying, “I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. And I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem.”
Still, the White House has been considering a call for increased funding for police officers at public schools and the proposal could be part of a broader Obama gun policy package.
Fifty-five percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll say they support adding armed guards at schools across the country.
“The issue is, are there some sensible steps that we can take to make sure that somebody like the individual in Newtown can’t walk into a school and gun down a bunch of children in a shockingly rapid fashion. And surely, we can do something about that,” Obama said at a news conference on Monday.
“Responsible gun owners, people who have a gun for protection, for hunting, for sportsmanship, they don’t have anything to worry about,” he said.
ABC News’ Arlette Saenz, Mary Bruce and Jay Shaylor contributed reporting.
This post was updated at 9:32 am on Jan. 16 to reflect include comment from an NRA spokesman.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan will not bow to the demands of a Muslim cleric who has brought thousands of protesters to the heart of the capital Islamabad calling for the resignation of the government and electoral reforms, the information minister said on Wednesday.
The government has also been rocked by a Supreme Court order on Tuesday to arrest Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf within 24 hours on a corruption investigation. However Ashraf remained a free man since officials said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which would carry out the arrest, had not yet received direct orders.
The officials said the NAB chief would go the Supreme Court on Thursday to discuss the issue.
The cleric, Muhammad Tahirul Qadri, who played a role in backing a military coup in 1999, is calling for the immediate resignation of the government and the installation of a caretaker administration to oversee electoral reforms.
His sudden appearance at the forefront of Pakistan's political scene has fueled speculation that the army, which has a long history of meddling in politics, has tacitly endorsed his campaign in an effort to pile more pressure on a government it sees as inept and corrupt.
Qadri and the military deny this.
The ruling Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) shows no sign of caving in to Qadri's demands and hopes the protests will disperse over the next few days, easing pressure on a government faced with an abundance of challenges, from a Taliban insurgency to a weak economy.
At a press conference near the federal parliament, where many of the protesters are gathered, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said general elections will take place as scheduled sometime between May 5 and 15, and suggested action would be taken if the protests drag on.
"All political parties are happy with the Election Commission and elections will happen on time," he said.
"There is nothing wrong with raising your concerns and protesting. But if you try to hold the capital hostage and disrupt the lives of its people, the law will take its course."
The main opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has also rejected Qadri's call for the military to play a role in the formation of a caretaker government to oversee the run-up to elections.
"Tahirul Qadri is working on somebody's agenda to derail democracy in Pakistan and we reject all of his demands." Sharif told a news conference, in an apparent reference to the military.
The ruling coalition led by the PPP has a majority in parliament and, to continue to hold office, lawmakers can simply elect another prime minister if Ashraf is ousted.
In June, Ashraf replaced Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was disqualified by the Supreme Court in a previous showdown between the government and the judiciary.
But Qadri's appeal to thousands of supporters has injected fresh uncertainty into the governments' s bid to cement Pakistan's transition to democracy by becoming the first civilian administration to complete a full term.
The military has ruled Pakistan for over half of its 65 years since independence. But current chief General Ashfaq Kayani has vowed to keep the military out of politics.
(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
SINGAPORE - The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) announced on Wednesday it plans to release more spectrum bandwidth for telcos to utilise for 4G networks.
Some 270MHz (megahertz) of additional spectrum space will be up for grabs in an auction set for some time in the middle of this year. 4G is the next generation of data networking, allowing for data transfer rates that would potentially be several times faster than existing 3G data plans.
Mr Leong Keng Thai, IDA's deputy chief executive and director-general (telecoms and post), said the auction "will pave the way for nationwide deployment of 4G and for consumers to enjoy higher speeds in accessing mobile services across Singapore."
This just needs some "Star Wars" action figures to complete the look.
(Credit: Barry Shields)
If Luke Skywalker had a living room with a big-screen TV, he would also have a hand-carved X-Wing Fighter coffee table made of wood and glass. The detailed model looks like it's in mid-flight, except instead of blasting the forces of the Dark Side, it's calmly guarding your coffee.
The table is designed so that half of the spaceship is above the glass and half is below. That means it takes up quite a bit of space that could otherwise hold mugs, half-eaten bags of Doritos, and vintage issues of "Starlog" magazine. Still, the design is so cool, you won't miss having the extra room.
As an important item of geek furniture, the X-Wing Fighter coffee table has been getting a lot of attention in the geek world. Some people have attributed its creation to the mysterious team of Sean Regan and Aubrey Cohen. Others have placed its origin with Barry Shields, the man who created the similar U.S.S. Enterprise coffee table.
I'm subscribing to the Barry Shields version. After some high-tech sleuthing, I noticed the same couch pillow appears in photos of both the "Star Trek" coffee table and the "Star Wars" coffee table. The rug is suspiciously similar, as well.
There's no word on pricing or availability for this unique item, but Shields' Enterprise table was up for $3,100 early last year. That's less than a spare Yoda head from the "Star Wars" movies.
ELMONT, N.Y. Children at Elmont Memorial High School remain in lockdown mode after a report of a suspicious person, possibly with a weapon, in the area, CBS Station WCBS reports.
The lockdown was put into effect shortly after 8 a.m., in response to a 911 call from a woman who said she saw a male teenager with a backpack and a lime green gun.
No injuries have been reported.
Nassau County Police were still guarding the entrance of school more than three hours later. SWAT teams were also seen in front of the school building.
Radio Station WINS reports students were kept in classrooms with locked doors and the lights turned out. Some students were turned away because they were arriving at school as the lockdown was beginning, but worried parents have began congregating around the school because their kids are still inside.
A search of the school and the area is ongoing.
WINS correspondent Glenn Schuck reports police helicopters also searched the surrounding area by air.
Parents received "robo-calls" notifying them of the situation.
One parent who showed up at the school told Schuck she has been in touch with her child, who told her the students are huddled in corners of their rooms with the lights out.
Oprah Winfrey said today that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong came well prepared for their highly anticipated interview, although he "did not come clean in the manner [she] expected."
Winfrey, who discussed the interview on "CBS This Morning" today, said, "We were mesmerized and riveted by some of his answers. I feel that he answered the questions in a way that he was ready. … He certainly had prepared himself for this moment. … He brought it. He really did."
Armstrong had apologized to staffers at the Livestrong Foundation before the Monday interview with Winfrey at a hotel in Austin, Texas, and reportedly admitted to them that he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his storied career.
Armstrong also confessed to Winfrey to using the drugs, sources have told ABC News. Winfrey said this morning that the entire interview, for which she had prepared 112 questions, was difficult.
"I would say there were a couple of times where he was emotional," she said. "But that doesn't describe the intensity at times."
As for the cyclist's sense of remorse, Winfrey said that will be for viewers to decide. "I would rather people make their own decisions about whether he was contrite or not," she said.
The interview will air on the OWN network for two nights, starting at 9 p.m. ET Thursday and continuing Friday.
Meanwhile, the federal government is likely to join a whistle-blower lawsuit against Armstrong, originally filed by his former cycling teammate Floyd Landis, sources told ABC News.
The government is seeking to recoup millions of dollars from Armstrong after years of his denying that he used performance-enhancing drugs, the sources said. The U.S. Postal Service, which is an independent agency of the federal government, was a longtime sponsor of Armstrong's racing career.
George Burns/Harpo Studios, Inc.
Lance Armstrong Doping Confession: Why Now? Watch Video
Cyclist Lance Armstrong Apologizes to Livestrong Staff for Doping Scandal Watch Video
Lance Armstrong Stripped of Tour de France Titles Watch Video
The deadline for the government's potentially joining in the matter was a likely motivation for Armstrong's interview with Winfrey, sources told ABC News.
The lawsuit remains sealed in federal court.
Armstrong is now talking with authorities about possibly paying back some of the Postal Service sponsorship money, a government source told ABC News Monday.
The deadline for the department to join the case is Thursday, the same day Armstrong's much-anticipated interview with Winfrey is set to air.
Armstrong is also talking to authorities about confessing and naming names, giving up others involved in illegal doping. This could result in a reduction of his lifetime ban, according to a source, if Armstrong provides substantial and meaningful information.
As for the Winfrey interview, it was Armstrong's first since officials stripped him of his world cycling titles in response to doping allegations.
Word of Armstrong's admission comes after a Livestrong official said that Armstrong apologized Monday to the foundation's staff ahead of his interview.
The disgraced cyclist gathered with about 100 Livestrong Foundation staffers at their Austin headquarters for a meeting that included social workers who deal directly with patients as part of the group's mission to support cancer victims.
Armstrong's "sincere and heartfelt apology" generated lots of tears, spokeswoman Katherine McLane said, adding that he "took responsibility" for the trouble he has caused the foundation.
McLane declined to say whether Armstrong's comments included an admission of doping, just that the cyclist wanted the staff to hear from him in person rather than rely on second-hand accounts.
Armstrong then took questions from the staff.
Armstrong's story has never changed. In front of cameras, microphones, fans, sponsors, cancer survivors -- even under oath -- Lance Armstrong hasn't just denied ever using performance enhancing drugs, he has done so in an indignant, even threatening way.
Armstrong, 41, was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in October 2012, after allegations that he benefited from years of systematic doping, using banned substances and receiving illicit blood transfusions.
"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," Pat McQuaid, the president of the International Cycling Union, said at a news conference in Switzerland announcing the decision. "This is a landmark day for cycling."
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the prime minister on Tuesday on corruption allegations, ratcheting up pressure on a government that is also facing a massive street protest led by a cleric who has a history of ties to the army.
The combination of the arrest order and the mass protest in the capital Islamabad led by Muslim cleric Muhammad Tahirul Qadri raised fears among politicians that the military was working with the judiciary to force out a civilian leader.
"There is no doubt that Qadri's march and the Supreme Court's verdict were masterminded by the military establishment of Pakistan," Fawad Chaudhry, an aide to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, told Reuters.
"The military can intervene at this moment as the Supreme Court has opened a way for it."
However, the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) has a majority in parliament and lawmakers can simply elect another prime minister if Ashraf is ousted. In June, Ashraf replaced Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was disqualified by the Supreme Court in a previous showdown between the government and the judiciary.
Also, elections are due in a few months and President Asif Ali Zardari hopes to lead the first civilian government in Pakistan's 65 years as an independent nation that will complete its full term.
But power struggles will distract the unpopular government from tackling an array of problems - a Taliban insurgency, economic stagnation and growing sectarian tensions triggered by bomb attacks and tit-for-tat shootings.
The military, which sees itself as the guarantor of Pakistan's stability, has long regarded the PPP-led government as corrupt, incompetent and unable to prevent the nuclear-armed country from falling apart.
Pakistan's powerful army has a long history of coups and intervening in politics. These days generals seem to have little appetite for a coup but many believe they still try to exert behind-the-scenes influence.
Some politicians believe the military will try to dominate the caretaker administration that will oversee the run-up to the polls after parliament is dissolved, which is due to happen in March. An election date has yet to be announced.
The protest by Qadri and his followers has also been seen by commentators as being orchestrated by the military to add to the pressure on Zardari's government, although the military has denied any involvement.
Thousands of followers of the populist cleric camped near the federal parliament cheered and waved Pakistani flags as television channels broadcast news of the Supreme Court's order to arrest Ashraf on charges of corruption.
"We don't want any of those old politicians. They just take all the people's money," said 19-year-old student Mohammed Wasim. "We congratulate the whole nation (on the Supreme Court's order). Now we have to take the rest of the thieves to court."
BAFFLED
Government officials said they were baffled by the arrest order, which came hours after Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said elections should go ahead as scheduled.
"This was totally unexpected," an official in Ashraf's office told Reuters. "The prime minister and two or three of his friends were watching Qadri speak on television and this suddenly happened."
Pakistan's stock exchange fell by more than 500 points, or nearly three percent, on news of the court order, due to fears over fresh political turmoil, which comes against a backdrop of militant bombings and tension on the border with India.
Qadri, who played a role in backing a military coup in 1999, threatened to remain camped out near the federal parliament with thousands of supporters until his demands for the resignation of the government were met.
The fiery orator returned home from Canada less than a month ago to lead a call for electoral reforms to bar corrupt politicians from office that has made him an instant hit among Pakistanis disillusioned with the state.
In a speech from behind a bullet-proof shield in front of parliament, Qadri praised the military and the judiciary, the country's two other power centers.
"(The government) has wasted and brought a bad end to our armed forces, those armed forces who are highly sincere, highly competent and highly capable and highly professional," he said, alternating between Urdu and English.
"Even they can't do anything because the political government isn't able to deliver anything from this land. Judgments are being passed by our great, independent judiciary but the government is not ready to implement them."
Qadri is demanding that the government dissolve the legislature and announce the formation of a caretaker government to oversee the run-up to elections.
He told Reuters on Friday that the military could play a possible role in the selection of the interim administration, a stance which has sharpened fears he may be working at the army's behest. The military denies any ties to him.
One senior military officer, who said he was speaking in a purely personal capacity, said there was no appetite in the military to repeat the coups seen in Pakistan's past, but added the stand-off could be resolved if the army played a role in the formation of a caretaker government as a "moderator".
"We should try as far as possible to abide by the constitution and law in looking for change. The army chief has made this clear," the officer told Reuters.
"But things seem to be moving beyond control," the officer added. "It is totally incorrect to say the army is behind Qadri. But if he brings thousands of people to the streets and things get worse, there may be very few options."
(Additional reporting by Matthew Green and Mubasher Bukhari in ISLAMABAD and Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
VASCO DA GAMA, India: Thousands protested in the holiday state of Goa on Tuesday after a seven-year-old girl was raped in a school toilet, sparking fresh outrage in India following a deadly gang-rape on a bus.
Crowds began gathering outside the Deepvihar High School in the city of Vasco da Gama on Monday night after news of the attack emerged, prompting police to arrest the headmistress on charges of neglect as well as appeal for calm.
A massive manhunt has been launched to trace the attacker, thought to be in his early 20s, who managed to get into the premises despite security guards posted at the school gate.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the youngster was raped after being dragged inside the toilet situated next to the headmistress' office during a break in classes.
Police were alerted after the girl complained of pain and was given a medical examination.
The girl was taken to hospital and has since been discharged, a charity worker accompanying her told AFP. "She is fine now and recuperating at home," she said.
The victim's identity has been protected in line with Indian law.
Thousands of people surrounded the school on Monday night, shouting to demand the arrest of the headmistress and the perpetrator.
Demonstrations then spread to other parts of the city on Tuesday, with shops and businesses closing in protest. Police were due to hold a press conference on the incident in the late afternoon.
Goa's Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the spot to try and calm the tense gathering.
"We will not spare the accused and anyone involved in this crime," he told the crowds, after which the headmistress was detained. She was later arrested for alleged negligence of duty, the police official said.
The case has been transferred from local police to the state crime branch, which has taken up the help of a teacher to draw a sketch of the accused, seen loitering in the school compound.
The attack comes after the gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi last month sparked nationwide protests and fuelled anger across India over the alarming incidence of sexual assault.
Five men and a teenager have been charged with the rape and murder of the 23-year-old woman, who died 13 days later in a Singapore hospital from horrific injuries.
Police say the suspects lured the woman and her male companion onto a private bus in the capital when the pair were returning home from the cinema.
The group allegedly beat the man and raped the young woman in the back of the bus while driving around the city for about 45 minutes.
They also sexually assaulted the woman with a metal bar, leaving her with severe intestinal injuries, before throwing her out of the vehicle.
Protesters across the country have called for tougher laws to punish rapists, including the introduction of capital punishment in the most extreme cases.
Also in Goa on Monday, a policeman was arrested after being accused of sexually abusing sex workers, who said he and two other policemen -- all now suspended -- had been exploiting them in return for protection of their trade.
