Hundreds pack Conn. church for vigil after rampage

Updated 11:39 PM ET

NEWTOWN, Conn. Twenty-six candles — one for each of the victims — flickered on the altar Friday as hundreds of grief-stricken residents gathered for a vigil in memory of the children and staff killed in a shooting rampage at a school in this Connecticut town.

With the church filled to capacity, hundreds spilled outside, holding hands in circles in the cold night air and saying prayers. Others sang "Silent Night" or huddled near the windows of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic church.

"Many of us today and in the coming days will rely on what we have been taught and what we believe, that there is faith for a reason," Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said at the vigil Mass.

The residents were gathered to mourn those whose lives were lost when a 20-year-old man killed his mother at their home, then descended on Sandy Hook Elementary School, opening fire as youngsters cowered in fear amid the sounds of gunshots and screams. Twenty children were among the 26 dead at the school.

The shooter, Adam Lanza, armed with at least two handguns, committed suicide, authorities said.

Even though there were 26 candles on the altar, Monsignor Robert Weiss said it was important to remember everyone who died, including Lanza and his mother.

"Ours is not to judge or to question," he told reporters after the service. "But we are really holding in our hearts especially the children and the staff of the school."

"These 20 children were just beautiful, beautiful children," Weiss said. "These 20 children lit up this community better than all these Christmas lights we have. ... There are a lot brighter stars up there tonight because of these kids."

Weiss said he spent much of the day trying to console those who had lost a child or other family member, adding that he had no answers for their questions of how something so horrible could happen.

But through their sorrow, some parents found solace in remembering their loved ones, he said. One father whose son was killed recalled how his boy had made his first soccer goal this year.

Some parents said they struggled with mixed emotions after their own children survived the massacre that took so many young lives.

After receiving word of the shooting, Tracy Hoekenga said she was paralyzed with fear for her two boys, fourth-grader C.J. and second-grader Matthew.

"I couldn't breathe. It's indescribable. For a half an hour, 45 minutes, I had no idea if my kids were OK," she said.

Matthew said a teacher ordered him and other students to their cubbies, and a police officer came and told them to line up and close their eyes.

"They said there could be bad stuff. So we closed our eyes and we went out. When we opened our eyes, we saw a lot of broken glass and blood on the ground," he said.

David Connors, whose triplets attend the school, said his children were told to hide in a closet during the lockdown.

"My son said he did hear some gunshots, as many as 10," he said. "The questions are starting to come out: `Are we safe? Is the bad guy gone?"'

At the vigil, Newtown High School freshman Claudia Morris, 14, said students had gathered in the school hallways after the massacre, asking each other, "Are you all right? Are you all right?"

"No one has answers to why this happened," she said. "It just seems so unreal."

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School Shooting: Officials Seek Details on Gunman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Newtown Teacher Kept 1st Graders Calm During Massacre Watch Video

Newtown School Shooting: What to Tell Your Kids Watch Video

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

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

CLICK HERE for more photos from the scene.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Zebrafish made to grow pre-hands instead of fins

PERHAPS the little fish embryo shown here is dancing a jig because it has just discovered that it has legs instead of fins. Fossils show that limbs evolved from fins, but a new study shows how it may have happened, live in the lab.

Fernando Casares of the Spanish National Research Council and his colleagues injected zebrafish with the hoxd13 gene from a mouse. The protein that the gene codes for controls the development of autopods, a precursor to hands, feet and paws.

Zebrafish naturally carry hoxd13 but produce less of the protein than tetrapods - all four-limbed vertebrates and birds - do. Casares and his colleagues hoped that by injecting extra copies of the gene into the zebrafish embryos, some of their cells would make more of the protein.

One full day later, all of those fish whose cells had taken up the gene began to develop autopods instead of fins. They carried on growing for four days but then died (Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2012.10.015).

"Of course, we haven't been able to grow hands," says Casares. He speculates that hundreds of millions of years ago, the ancestors of tetrapods began expressing more hoxd13 for some reason and that this could have allowed them to evolve autopods.

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2,500 needy families to get help with childcare costs

SINGAPORE: Some 2,500 low-income families will benefit from a S$250,000 initiative to help their children.

The five Commmunity Development Councils will help identify eligible families with monthly household incomes of less than S$3,500.

OCBC Bank will also contribute S$100 when a low-income family deposits the first S$50 into their Child Development Account (CDA).

Under the existing Baby Bonus scheme, the government will match the contributions to the CDA dollar for dollar.

The money in the account can then be used at approved institutions for the child's development and healthcare needs.

Acting Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing said: "This year, we have also expanded the kinds of things that you can spend the CDA money (on). For example, it will also include early intervention programmes, visits to the doctor, medical insurance and purchase of healthcare-related products. We hope that in this small way, we can help families to defray the cost of bringing up the children, especially for the needy families."

Under the initiative, parents can also attend financial literary talks by OCBC Bank staff volunteers to learn more about money management.

- CNA/xq

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Pearlman: I think Bobby Petrino is slime

Bobby Petrino was named head coach at Western Kentucky, months after being embroiled in scandal at University of Arkansas

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Bobby Petrino was named the new football coach at Western Kentucky this week


• Hiring came just months after he was fired from Arkansas amid scandal


• Jeff Pearlman says, sadly, this is no surprise in big-time college sports


• He says the vast majority of players are ultimately hurt by the behavior of coaches and administrators

Editor's note: Jeff Pearlman is the author of 'Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton.' He blogs at jeffpearlman.com. Follow him on Twitter.

(CNN) -- I have a dog named Norma.

She is a small beige cockapoo who barks at the mailman.

I would not trust Bobby Petrino to watch her.

Jeff Pearlman

I also would not trust Bobby Petrino to take my car in for a tire change. I would not trust Bobby Petrino to deposit my Aunt Ruth's Social Security check. I wouldn't trust him to clean my bowling ball, shop for a Christmas ham, change a twenty for two tens, tell me the time or recite the proper lyrics to Blind Melon's "No Rain."

This is not because I am a particularly untrusting person.

No, it's because I think Bobby Petrino is slime.

In case you missed the news, two days ago Western Kentucky University held a press conference to announce that Petrino, undeniably one of the nation's elite football minds, had agreed to a four-year, $850,000 per year deal to take over the Hilltoppers.

With nearly 400 giddy sports fanatics in attendance, Petrino, standing alongside Todd Stewart, the school's athletic director, spoke of honor and loyalty and love and redemption. The ensuing press release, issued by Western Kentucky's sports information department, was straight out of Disney: 101. It made Petrino sound like a cross between Vince Lombardi, Martin Luther King and Gandhi; God's gift to young men seeking to better themselves.

Petrino fired as Arkansas head football coach

What it failed to mention—and what the school desperately wants everyone to fail to mention—is that Petrino may well be the least ethically whole man in the, ahem, ethically whole-deprived world of Division I collegiate sports.

Why, it was only seven months ago that Petrino, at the time the University of Arkansas' head coach, was riding his motorcycle when he crashed along Highway 16 near Crosses, Arkansas.

When asked by school officials to explain what had happened, he failed to mention that, eh, also on the bike was Jessica Dorrell, a 26-year-old former Razorbacks volleyball player who worked as the student-athlete development coordinator for the football program. It turned out that Petrino, a married father of four, was not only having an affair with Dorrell (who was engaged at the time), but was a key voice on the board that hired her for the position when she wasn't even remotely qualified.

During an ensuing university investigation, it was determined that Petrino made a previously undisclosed $20,000 cash gift to Dorrell as a Christmas present.

Ho, ho, ho.

To his credit, Jeff Long, the school's athletic director, defied the wishes of every pigskin-blinded Razorback fan and fired Petrino. In a statement, he rightly wrote that, "all of these facts, individually and collectively, are clearly contrary to character and responsibilities of the person occupying the position of the Head Football Coach—an individual who should serve as a role model and a leader for our student-athlete."

Now, ethics and morals and character be damned, Bobby Petrino has returned, spewing off nonsense about second chances (Ever notice how garbage men and bus drivers rarely get the second chances we are all—according to fallen athletic figures—rightly afforded as Americans?) and learning from mistakes and making things right.

Western Kentucky, a school with mediocre athletics and apparently, sub-mediocre standards, has turned to a person who lied to his last employer about the nature of an accident involving the mistress he allegedly hired to a university position she was unqualified to hold. Please, if you must, take a second to read that again. And again. And again.

Bobby Petrino, holder of a Ph.D. in the Deceptive Arts (he also ditched the University of Louisville shortly after signing a long-term extension in 2007, and quit as coach of the Atlanta Falcons 13 game into his first season later that year. He informed his players via a note atop their lockers), will be the one charged with teaching the 17- and 18-year-old boys who decide to come to Bowling Green about not merely football, but life. He will be their guide. Their compass. Their role model.

Bobby Petrino and social media prove a bad mix

Sadly, in the world of Division I sports, such is far from surprising. This has been a year unlike any other; one where the virtues of greed and the color of green don't merely cloak big-time college athletics, but control them. In case you haven't noticed, we are in the midst of a dizzying, nauseating game of Conference Jump, where colleges and universities—once determined to maintain geographic rivals in order to limit student travel—have lost their collective minds.

The University of Maryland, a charter member of the ACC, is headed for the Big Ten. The Big East—formerly a power conference featuring the likes of Syracuse, Georgetown, St. John's and Connecticut—has added Boise State, San Diego State, Memphis, Houston, Southern Methodist and Navy. Idaho moved from the WAC to the Big Sky, Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic went to Conference USA, the University of Denver—a member of the WAC for approximately 27 minutes—joined the Summit League. Which, to be honest, I didn't even know existed.

Rest assured, none of these moves (literally, nary a one) were conducted with the best interests of so-called student-athletes in mind. New conferences tend to offer increased payouts, increased merchandising opportunities, increased exposure and increased opportunities to build a new stadium—one with 80,000 seats, 100 luxury boxes, $20 million naming rights, $9 hot dogs and the perfect spot for ESPN to broadcast its Home Depot pregame show.

Why, within 24 hours of quarterback Johnny Manziel winning the Heisman Trophy, Texas A&M was hawking Heisman T-shirts for $24 on its website (Or, for a mere $54.98, one can purchase his No. 2 jersey).

Percentage of the dough that winds up in Manziel's pocket? Zero.

After another spectacular exit, Petrino eyes football return

That, really, is the rub of it all; of Petrino's crabgrass-like revival; of coaches bounding from one job for another (even as players can only do so after sitting out a year); of Rutgers moving west and San Diego State moving east and athletic department officials moving on up (to a penthouse apartment in the sky); of $54.98 jerseys.

It's the athletes ultimately getting screwed.

Sure, for the 0.5% of Division I football players who wind up in the NFL, the deal is a sweet one. The other 99.5%, however, are mere pawns, sold a dizzying narrative of glory and fame and lifelong achievement, but, more often than not, left uneducated, unfulfilled and physically battered.

They are told a coach will be with them for four years—then watch as said figure takes a $2 million gig elsewhere but, hey, only because it was right for him and his family.

They are told they will receive a great education, then find themselves stuck on a six-hour flight from California to Newark, New Jersey. They are told that these will be the greatest years of their life, that the college experience is a special one, that only the highest of standards exist.

Then they meet their new coach: Bobby Petrino.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jeff Pearlman.

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As "fiscal cliff" looms, health reform questions linger

Washington lawmakers this month are squarely focused on deficit reduction as they attempt to scramble off the so-called "fiscal cliff." All the while, however, the government is proceeding with the costly and ambitious rollout of the Affordable Care Act.

Key components of President Obama's health care law won't go into effect for about another year, but federal and state lawmakers are obligated to start building up those health care systems now. Many Republicans, however, argue the Obama administration hasn't said with certainty what the programs will ultimately cost or how they'll be governed. Democrats largely chalk up the complaints to the latest chapter in Republican-led obstruction against the Affordable Care Act, pointing to Democratic-led states that are making progress implementing the law.

The "fiscal cliff," meanwhile -- the series of tax hikes and deep spending cuts set to kick in next year -- has cast a shadow over the entire health care debate. While lawmakers spar over the details of large new health care systems, Congress could be forced in the coming weeks to make spending cuts and policy changes to programs like Medicaid.

At a congressional hearing Thursday on the subject of the health care law, Louisiana's secretary of the Health and Hospitals Department Bruce Greenstein told Congress it felt as if they were operating in a "parallel universe."

"It feels somewhat awkward to be here testifying on the implementation of one of the largest expansions of entitlement programs in nearly 50 years," he said, "at the same time as ongoing discussions about federal spending reductions to avert the 'fiscal cliff' and raising the debt ceiling take place."

In spite of those concerns, states face one deadline today: Deciding whether or not they will establish and operate their own health care exchange system -- a state-based online marketplace where consumers should be able to compare health insurance plans and purchase one. If they don't want to build or operate their own exchanges, they can hand the responsibility to the federal government or enter into a state-federal partnership.

At the same time, state leaders are deciding whether to expand Medicaid, the joint federal-state program currently open to disabled and certain low-income people. The Affordable Care Act calls for states to open up Medicaid to anyone below 138 percent of the poverty line -- the Supreme Court, however, ruled over the summer that the Medicaid expansion shouldn't be mandatory. There's no deadline for states to say whether or not they will expand Medicaid.

Through these two components -- the exchanges and the Medicaid expansion -- roughly 36 million people are predicted to obtain health insurance by 2022.

1/4

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Critics Faulted Rice's Work on Benghazi, Africa

United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice removed herself from possible consideration as secretary of state after becoming yet another player in the divide between the left and right.

Rice, who withdrew her name Thursday, has faced months of criticism over how she characterized the Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. She also has come under fire for her approach to dealing with African strongmen.

Rice became a target for conservatives when she went on Sunday morning current affairs shows such as ABC News' "This Week" following the Benghazi attack and failed to characterize it as a pre-meditated act of terror. Instead, she said it was a spontaneous response to an anti-Islam film produced in the United States and cited in the region as an example of anti-Islamicism in the West.

After it became clear that Rice's assertions were untrue and elements of the Obama administration may have known that to be the case, Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Kelly Ayotte said they would do whatever they could to block Rice's possible nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

GOP Senators 'Troubled' After Meeting With Ambassador Rice Watch Video

President Obama to Senator McCain: 'Go After Me' Watch Video

Susan Rice: U.S. Not 'Impotent' in Muslim World Watch Video

"This is about the role she played around four dead Americans when it seems to be that the story coming out of the administration -- and she's the point person -- is so disconnected to reality, I don't trust her," Graham said. "And the reason I don't trust her is because I think she knew better. And if she didn't know better, she shouldn't be the voice of America."

Members of the administration defended Rice. At his testimony before Congress, Gen. David Petraeus, the former CIA director, said Rice was speaking from unclassified talking points given to her by the CIA.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., reiterated what Petraeus said outside his closed-door hearing before the Senate.

"The key is that they were unclassified talking points at a very early stage. And I don't think she should be pilloried for this. She did what I would have done or anyone else would have done that was going on a weekend show," Feinstein said. "To say that she is unqualified to be secretary of state, I think, is a mistake. And the way it keeps going, it's almost as if the intent is to assassinate her character."

Minutes after she announced her withdrawal from the process, Graham tweeted, "I respect Ambassador Rice's decision."

McCain's office released a paper statement saying, "Senator McCain thanks Ambassador Rice for her service to the country and wishes her well. He will continue to seek all the facts surrounding the attack on our consulate in Benghazi that killed four brave Americans."

Over the last few weeks, criticism of Rice had grown beyond her response to Benghazi to include a closer scrutiny of her work in Africa, where she had influence over U.S. policy during the Clinton administration.

Critics of her Africa dealings were not partisan -- but included human rights workers, journalists and some Africans themselves.

Among the most serious critiques was the accusation that she actively protected Rwandan President Paul Kagame and senior members of his government from being sanctioned for funding and supporting the rebels that caused Eastern Congo's recent violence.

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Bell tolls for Beijing's Drum Tower homes

BEIJING - China's capital is to destroy swathes of ancient courtyard homes surrounding a 13th-century landmark in what is being called an effort to preserve Beijing's historical legacy, residents said Friday.

Large numbers of hutong homes, some of them dating back to the Qing dynasty, will be demolished around the Drum and Bell Towers -- a tourist hotspot in Beijing's historic centre -- to make way for a large plaza, they said.

Notices for the "destroy and evict" project are plastered throughout the quarter, dated Wednesday and saying the work was due to be completed by February 24.

Besides protecting the historic legacy of the capital, the project is also aimed at restoring and repairing old and dilapidated buildings, the notices said.

Forced evictions are a major source of unrest in China. Ordinary citizens routinely accuse local officials and developers of cashing in on a property boom by clearing away longstanding residents to pave the way for new projects.

Destroying old homes in central Beijing has particular sensitivity. Critics say new development projects rob the capital of its cultural legacy.

"We have been hearing this was going to happen for years, but now that the notices are up there is not much you can do but leave," said souvenir shop seller Ma Yong.

"When I first saw the notices I felt nothing but despair."

Besides having her rented shop torn down, Ma's small home nearby, where she lives with her retired husband, will also be flattened.

Residents must negotiate compensation with the newly set up "destroy and evict" office near the Bell Tower, with compensation beginning at around 40,000 yuan (US$5,800) per square metre.

Between 130 and 500 homes are to be destroyed, state press reports said.

Officials refused to answer questions when approached by AFP.

"A lot of people are opposed to the campaign, 40,000 yuan per square metre is too cheap, especially with the price of housing in Beijing sky-rocketing," said the manager of a coffee shop near the Drum Tower, who gave her surname only as Wang.

"People are already asking for 150,000 yuan per square metre," she said.

Others said they were happy with the compensation.

"We took the money," said Zhou Li, 51, who was to move out to the suburbs with his elderly parents this weekend after living most of his life near the Bell Tower.

- AFP/ir

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Nuke watchdog close to deal with Iran

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at an October press conference that Iran will not back down on its nuclear program.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: IAEA and Iran close to an agreement, nuclear watchdog chief says


• Iran calls the talks "constructive" but does not address access to Parchin


• Prof. Fereydoun Abbasi Davani is among those being slapped with sanctions


• Abbasi Davani, the head of Iran atomic agency, survived a bomb that Iran blamed on Israel

(CNN) -- The head of a U.N. nuclear watchdog group said Friday a deal with Iran over its nuclear program is likely in January, an agreement that will also allow inspectors to gain access to a military complex where Tehran is believed to be testing nuclear materials.

The news followed reports that the International Atomic Energy Agency wrapped one-day talks in Iran over its nuclear program, widely suspected by the United States and other Western nations as a front for the country's development of nuclear weapons -- a charge Iran has repeatedly denied.

"We have agreed to meet again on 16 January next year, where we expect to finalize the structured approach and start implementing it then shortly after that," IAEA chief inspector Herman Nackaerts told reporters after returning to Vienna, Austria.

Read more: CNN Fact Check: Iran and the Bomb

The talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were aimed at jump-starting negotiations, while allowing agency inspectors to gain access to a military complex where Tehran is suspected of testing nuclear materials.

Access to the Parchin military complex, just outside Tehran, is a key element in the negotiations.

"We have not been given access to Parchin this time. But as you know access to Parchin is part of the structured approach, and we hope as I said that we will implement that shortly," Nackaerts said.

Read more: U.N. watchdog: Iran makes significant nuclear steps

Iran's liaison to IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, characterized the talks as constructive, according to state-run news agency IRNA. The report stopped short of saying whether the talks included discussion about investigators getting access to Parchin, which was requested at a meeting in November in Vienna, Austria.

The next round of talks were scheduled for January 16, Soltanieh told IRNA. The IAEA also confirmed the talks would continue on that day.

The United States, meanwhile, slapped new sanctions on Iran on Thursday, targeting a handful of companies and individuals it says are providing materials and technology to Tehran's nuclear program.

The sanctions, announced by the U.S. State and Treasury departments, are the latest to target Iran's economy as well as its ability to develop nuclear material.

Read more: U.N. nuclear agency expresses 'serious concern' about Iran nuke activity

The sanctions were essential "given Iran's continued intransigence on its nuclear program," said Victoria Nuland, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman.

Among the targets of the latest sanctions is Prof. Fereydoun Abbasi Davani, the head of the Iran Atomic Energy Organization.

Abbasi Davani and his wife survived a car bomb two years ago that Tehran has blamed on Israel. At least four scientists associated with Iran's nuclear program have been killed since 2010.

The companies being targeted with sanctions: FaraTech, the Neda Industrial Group, Aria Nikan Marine Industry, Towled Abzar Boreshi, Iran Pouya, Terjerat Gostar and Tarh O Palayesh.

Read more: Inspection at Iran nuclear facility finds higher-level traces of uranium, U.N. says

The sanctions freeze the companies' assets and prohibit business dealings in or with the United States. Companies and banks that defy the U.S. sanctions could be cut off from the U.S. financial system, the State and Treasury departments said.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes only. But the IAEA has said it cannot verify whether the intent of the program is for peaceful means.

A number of Western nations have placed economic and arms-related sanctions on Iran since November 2010 when the IAEA said Tehran was pursuing technology that could be used to build nuclear weapons.

Since then, Iran has been hit by the United States and the European Union with an oil embargo as well as sanctions targeting its banks and number of its businesses.

CNN's Saskya Vandoorne reported from London and Chelsea J. Carter from Atlanta.

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Etan Patz suspect: He was alive when I left him

NEW YORK Pedro Hernandez told New York City Detectives that, when he left Etan Patz's body in a doorway, he believed the little boy was still alive.

The 1979 disappearance of the six year old became the most symbolic kidnapping case since the murder of the Lindberg baby, stirring the movement that put missing children on milk cartons and billboards.

The stunning revelation and other new details come in documents filed with the court just after Hernandez entered a not guilty plea to the very crimes he confessed to last May in a marathon session with police. In that session, he detailed the killing of the boy, during questioning and again on video.

According to the new documents, Hernandez was picked up at his home at 7 a.m. on May 23 and taken to the Camden County (N.J.) Prosecutor's Office. It was two days before the 33rd anniversary of the Patz disappearance.

Play Video

Confession flips Etan Patz murder case upside down

According to court documents filed by Hernandez's lawyer Wednesday, Hernandez had been questioned for eight hours when he told police, "He was at work that morning, that he saw the boy at the bus stop, asked him if he would like a soda, led him to the basement of the bodega where he was employed, and for no apparent reason immediately choked the boy until the boy went limp. The defendant said he then placed the boy in a plastic bag, placed the bag in a cardboard box, and tossed the boy's book bag behind a freezer in the basement. He then carried the box to the entranceway of a basement approximately one-and-a-half blocks away, where he placed the box on the ground just inside the open entranceway. According to the video-recorded statement by Mr. Hernandez, when he left the box, Etan Patz was still alive."

Later, Hernandez told prosecutors he believed his actions may have led to the boy's death.

Police said after his arrest, Hernandez took them to the location where he believed he'd left the body and told them he went back the next day to check on the box, but it was gone.

Hernandez's lawyers say his confession is false and part of more than 20 years of delusional behavior. His lawyer has supplied the district attorney with medical records documenting Hernandez's psychiatric history and an expert's opinion on false confessions.

The new details of Hernandez's statements to police and prosecutors give some indications of questions that may be raised at trial. Questions such as, when police searched the basements in the blocks around the boy's home, why was the book bag behind the freezer not discovered? Why did no witness remember seeing a man carrying a box big enough to contain the body of a 50 pound boy? And why, in the massive dragnet on the streets of the Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo that began the night of Patz's disappearance was the box with his body not found?

26 Photos

Decades later, new developments in Etan Patz case

For each question, there are possible explanations. Police might not have looked behind the freezer. A stock boy carrying a large box might not have struck passersby as unusual. The private carting company that served the streets where Hernandez says he left the box may have picked it up before the boy was reported missing.

In a motion to dismiss the indictment against Hernandez, his lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, argues that Hernandez's confession alone is unreliable because of his long psychiatric history. The document also states, "In the six months since Hernandez's arrest, the NYPD (New York Police Department) and the New York County District Attorney's Office have conducted an intensive investigation attempting to corroborate Mr. Hernandez's statements. However, I am told by the District Attorney's Office they have found nothing."

Play Video

Sister of Etan Patz murder suspect reported confession in 1980s

Hernandez emerged suddenly as a suspect last May when a family member reported to New York police that Hernandez had made statements over the years saying that "he had done a bad thing" and that "he had killed a child in New York."

In May of 1979, Hernandez worked as a stock boy in a small grocery store located just a block from the Patz's SoHo loft and on the same corner the six year old was to board a school bus.

For years before Hernandez's confession, another man, Jose Ramos was the prime suspect in the kidnapping. Ramos, who has a long history of arrests for sexually abusing young boys, had been the boyfriend of a woman who had been hired to walk Etan to school during a strike by school bus drivers. The day Patz vanished was the first time his parents had yielded to the boy's requests to walk the one block to the bus stop by himself. Young Etan was excited that day over his new independence, and because he had a dollar to buy a soda.

Reached at his office late Wednesday, Fishbein wouldn't not comment beyond what was contained in the motion to the court.

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McAfee Returns to US, Admits Playing 'Crazy Card'

John McAfee's month-long international run from police through two Central American nations ended with a flight to Miami, where the businessman who says he abandoned his fortune admitted to playing the "crazy card."

As a gaggle of media waited near several exit doors at the airport Wednesday night, federal authorities whisked the founder of McAfee anti-virus software off the plane and into a van.

"They said, 'Mr. McAfee, please step forward,'" McAfee, 67, later told ABC News exclusively overnight at a Miami Beach hotel. "I was met by a dozen or maybe fewer officers. I said, 'Am I arrested?' They said, 'No, sir, I am here to help you.' That felt the best of all."

He eventually snuck out of the airport in a cab and headed to South Beach. After walking down famed Ocean Drive to the bewilderment of tourists and eating sushi, his first meal in three days, he sat down with ABC News and admitted to playing the "crazy card" and says he is broke.

"I have nothing now," McAfee said. He claims he left everything behind in Belize, including $20 million in investments and about 15 properties. "I've got a pair of clothes and shoes, my friend dropped off some cash."

Just hours earlier, the self-made millionaire was deported by Guatemalan police who forced him aboard his U.S.-bound flight away from the home and the two women he said he loves. After he arrived on South Beach, he said, a mysterious "Canadian friend" ordered another man he'd never met to drop off a wad of fresh $5 bills that McAfee later displayed to ABC News, pulling them from his coat pocket.

John McAfee Arrested in Guatemala Overnight Watch Video

Software Founder Breaks Silence: McAfee Speaks on Murder Allegations Watch Video

He says he left his fortune, including a beachfront compound, behind after his neighbor Greg Faull was found shot to death in Belize on Nov. 10.

Belize officials said he isn't a suspect, but when they asked to question him, McAfee disguised himself and ran.

After three weeks ducking authorities in Belize, by hiding in attics, in the jungle and in dingy hotels, he turned up in Guatemala Dec. 3.

Barely a day later he was detained for entering the country illegally. As Guatemala officials grappled with how to handle his request for asylum and the Belize government's demand for his deportation, McAfee fell ill. The mysterious illness, described by his attorney alternately as a heart ailment or a nervous breakdown, led to a scene with reporters chasing his ambulance down the narrow streets of Guatemala City and right into the emergency room, where McAfee appeared unresponsive.

He now says it was all a ruse:
"It was a deception but who did it hurt? I look pretty healthy, don't I?"

He says he faked the illness in order to buy some time for a judge to hear his case and stay his deportation to Belize, a government he believes wants him dead. When asked whether he believes Belize officials where inept, he didn't mince words.

"I was on the run with a 20-year-old girl for three and a half weeks inside their borders and everyone was looking for me, and they did not catch me," he said. "I escaped, was captured and they tried to send me back. Now I'm sitting in Miami. There had to be some ineptness."

The man who many believe only wants attention answered critics who called his month-long odyssey and blog posts a publicity stunt by simply saying, "What's a better story, millionaire mad man on the run. You [the media] saved my ass. Because you paid attention to the story. As long as you are reporting, it is hard to whack somebody that the world is watching."

He denies any involvement in his neighbor's death but adds that he is not particularly concerned about clearing his name. He is focused on getting his 20-year-old and 17-year-old girlfriends out of Belize and says he has no idea what he'll do next, where he'll live or how he'll support himself.

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Search for aliens poses game theory dilemma

SENDING messages into deep space could be the best way for Earthlings to find extraterrestrial intelligence, but it carries a grave risk: alerting hostile aliens to our presence. Game theory may provide a way to navigate this dilemma.

So far the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has mostly been restricted to listening for signs of technology elsewhere. Only a few attempts have been made to broadcast messages towards distant stars. Many scientists are against such "active" SETI for fear of revealing our presence. If all aliens feel the same way then no one will be broadcasting, and the chance of detecting each other is limited.

To weigh up the potential losses and gains, Harold de Vladar of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria in Klosterneuburg turned to the prisoner's dilemma, a game-theory problem in which two prisoners choose between admitting their shared crime or keeping quiet, with different sentences depending on what they say. An individual prisoner gets off scot free if they rat on a partner who remains silent, with the silent partner getting a maximum sentence. If they both rat on each other, each gets a medium sentence. By contrast, if both stay silent, both get token sentences - the best overall result.

De Vladar reasoned that the SETI dilemma is essentially the same, but reversed. Mutual silence for prisoners is equivalent to mutual broadcasting for aliens, giving the best results for both civilisations. And while a selfish prisoner rats, a selfish civilisation is silent, waiting for someone else to take the risk of waving "Over here!" at the rest of the universe.

This led de Vladar to apply the mathematics of the prisoner's dilemma to SETI (International Journal of Astrobiology (IJA), doi.org/jx7). In the classic version of the prisoner's dilemma, each selfishly rats on the other. But as we do not know the character of any aliens out there, and as it is difficult to put a value on the benefits to science, culture and technology of finding an advanced civilisation, de Vladar varied the reward of finding aliens and the cost of hostile aliens finding us. The result was a range of optimal broadcasting strategies. "It's not about whether to do it or not, but how often," says de Vladar.

One intriguing insight was that as you scale up the rewards placed on finding aliens, you can scale down the frequency of broadcasts, while keeping the expected benefit to Earthlings the same. Being able to keep broadcasts to a minimum is good news, because they come with costs - rigging our planet with transmitters won't come cheap - and risk catastrophic penalties, such as interstellar war.

Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, says that game theory is a good approach but that there are too many unknowns. Perhaps aliens are not actively broadcasting because they don't need to. Shostak has recently shown that a civilisation even slightly more advanced than ours could use its sun as a "gravitational lens". Such a lens could detect the lights of New York City from up to 500 light years away, once the light has had time to travel that far (IJA, doi.org/jx8). And there are certainly alien star systems that are closer to us than that.

Earth has also been accidently leaking radio and TV signals for the past century, which may have already been picked up. "Any society at least a few centuries beyond the invention of radio will recognise that deliberate transmissions are not the way they will be found," says Shostak. Quick, turn off those lights!

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Cricket: Clarke vows no complacency against Sri Lanka

HOBART, Australia: Skipper Michael Clarke has vowed there will be no complacency in the Test series with Sri Lanka, insisting Australia will improve on their recent performances against South Africa.

The Australians had the better of the opening two Tests against the world number one Proteas only to be crushed by 309 runs in the series decider in Perth last week.

Sri Lanka are ranked sixth in the world, have not won in 10 Tests in Australia over 25 years and are rated outsiders to upset Clarke's team in the three-Test series, beginning in Hobart on Friday.

Former Australian quick Rodney Hogg has rubbished the Sri Lankan attack as the "worst ever" to come to Australia, with Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga and Chanaka Welegedara only having 38 Tests and 99 wickets between them.

Clarke said the third-ranked Australia were focused only on beating Sri Lanka in the first Test since 168-Test great Ricky Ponting's retirement.

"The opposition is irrelevant to how you judge yourself as players," he said.

"Our goal is not to come out and play the same way against Sri Lanka as we did against South Africa.

"We have to learn from that series, take the positives - and I thought there were a lot of positives - and the areas where we need to get better, we need to make sure we do that.

"I'm sure that if we improve on the series against South Africa, we'll continue to have success."

Mitchell Johnson has been left out for the Hobart Test with Australia opting for the pace attack of Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and left-armer Mitchell Starc, supplemented by swing bowler Shane Watson and spinner Nathan Lyon.

Recalled Phil Hughes will bat at number three with Watson at four while Clarke and veteran Mike Hussey stay at five and six in the Australian line-up now missing Ponting.

"The strength and advantage we now have in our top four is that all four have opened the batting for Australia," Clarke said.

"So against the new ball they will be very well suited and if we lose early wickets we're still very capable against the new ball which is a real positive."

Clarke also defended the daredevil batting style of opener David Warner, whose second innings dismissal for 29 against South Africa in Perth triggered criticism.

"The one thing we have to understand about Davey, is that the same ball that got him out in Perth, we were all applauding in Adelaide when it went over slips for four. That's the way he plays," he said.

"The only thing I continue to say to Davey is to make sure his intent is there. When the intent is there, his defence is better, his shot selection is better.

"Sometimes it's not going to look great when he gets out, but on the other hand he has the X-factor. He takes the game away from the opposition in the first session of a Test match ... there's not many players in the world that have that talent."

Clarke rated Warner's unbeaten 123 in last year's Hobart Test against New Zealand as among the dashing left-hander's finest.

"I think one of Davey's greatest innings was the hundred he scored here against New Zealand in really tough batting conditions. He still had that intent, even though the wicket was doing a lot. His shot selection was perfect. "In a perfect world, you'd love to bottle that, but you have to have a bit of give and take with Davey."

- AFP/de

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Court: Prank call nurse found hanging by co-workers

An undated family photograph of Jacintha Saldanha who died after being hoaxed by an Australian radio on December 8, 2012.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The nurse's body was formally identified by her husband, the inquest hears


• Australia's media watchdog opens an investigation into the prank call by 2Day FM


• Court: Jacintha Saldanha was found by co-workers hanging from a scarf


• The nurse left three notes, two of them at the scene, a police officer says

London (CNN) -- A nurse who took a prank call from an Australian radio station apparently hanged herself using a scarf, but her reasons for pursuing that tragic course remain unclear.

Jacintha Saldanha was found last Friday by work colleagues hanging from a wardrobe door at her hospital living quarters, a coroner's court in London heard Thursday.

The nurse, who was married with two teenaged children, left three notes, two at the scene and a third with her belongings, Westminster Coroner's Court heard.

The content of the notes was not disclosed.

Read more: Who was Jacintha Saldanha?

There were also "some injuries to her wrist," Detective Chief Inspector James Harman said.

The nurse put through the prank call December 4 to a nurse on the ward where Prince William's wife, Catherine, was being treated for acute morning sickness.

Some details of her condition were given to the radio DJs, who impersonated Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II.

The details around the circumstances of Saldanha's death emerged as an inquest -- a proceeding usually held in Britain when a death is sudden, unexplained or violent -- was opened.

The coroner's court was told that Saldanha's body was formally identified Tuesday by her husband, Benedict Barboza.

Police are looking at e-mails and telephone records, Harman said, and will speak to Saldanha's friends and co-workers about what could have led to her death.

Opinion: Prank call pitted 'the great' against the powerless

At this time there are no suspicious circumstances, he said.

Police will also be in touch with Australian police to find out what would be the best way of gathering evidence, Harman said. This could involve either going to Australia or collecting evidence remotely.

Saldanha, whose tragic death triggered wide public anger against the radio station involved, Sydney-based 2Day FM, was represented at the coroner's court by co-workers from the hospital.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority, the country's media watchdog, on Thursday opened a formal investigation into 2Day FM's broadcast of the prank call.

"The ACMA will be examining whether the licensee has complied with its broadcasting obligations," said chairman Chris Chapman.

The station's owner, media network Southern Cross Austereo, pledged Tuesday to donate at least 500,000 Australian dollars (US$524,000) to a fund for the nurse's family.

It lifted a moratorium on advertising Thursday, with all profits to the end of the year to go to the fund.

The 46-year-old nurse, who moved to the UK from India a decade ago, had worked at King Edward VII's Hospital, where Catherine was being treated, for the past four years

The coroner adjourned the inquest until a provisional date of March 26.

Radio personalities apologize for prank call

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Motive unclear in Oregon mall shooting that left three dead

PORTLAND, Ore. A masked gunman wearing camouflage opened fire Tuesday in a busy Portland mall, leaving the gunman and two others dead and one person injured, and forcing the mall's Santa Claus and hundreds of Christmas shoppers and employees to flee or hide among store displays.

Austin Patty, 20, who works at Macy's, said he saw a man in a white mask carrying a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest. He heard the gunman say, "I am the shooter," as if announcing himself. A series of rapid-fire shots in short succession followed as Christmas music played. Patty said he ducked to the ground and then ran.

His Macy's co-worker, Pam Moore, told The Associated Press the gunman was short, with dark hair. Witnesses said he started firing just outside Macy's in the food court of Clackamas Town Center.

Play Video

Cell phone video: Ore. mall evacuated after shooting

Brance Wilson, the mall Santa, said he heard gunshots and dove for the floor. By the time he looked up, seconds later, everyone around him had cleared out. Merchandise was scattered in some stores as he made his way to the door.

"Santa will be back," Wilson said. "It's not going to keep Santa away from the mall."

Workers and shoppers rushed out of the mall and into stores'backrooms for safety as teams of police officers came inside to find the shooter. Authorities went store-to-store to confirm that there was only one shooter and to escort hiding shoppers outside.

Police said they have tentatively identified the gunman but would not release his name or give any information on a possible motive. They said he apparently killed himself, adding that they did not fire any shots.

Officials said a female teenager was also shot and was in serious condition at a Portland hospital.

"We have a young lady in the hospital fighting for her life right now," Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts at a news conference late Tuesday.

Earlier, Roberts told reporters, "There was about 10,000 people at the mall, so there were a huge amount of people running in different directions, and it was chaos for a lot of citizens."

Witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots, anywhere from 15 to 20, or even more.

"At first no one really knew what was going down," Mario, a kiosk worker inside the mall, told CBS affiliate KOIN in Portland. "We heard six shots at first, and then people scattered like crazy, everybody left."

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Adam Phillips said the victims were shot in an "open area" of the mall.

Clackamas Town Center is one of the Portland area's biggest and busiest malls, with 185 stores and a 20-screen movie theater. It would remain closed at least through Wednesday, Roberts said.

Shaun Wik, 20, from Fairview, said he was Christmas shopping with his girlfriend and opened a fortune cookie at the food court. Inside was written: "Live for today. Remember yesterday. Think of tomorrow."

As he read it, he heard three shots. He heard a man he believes was the gunman shout, "Get down!" but Wik and his girlfriend ran. He heard seven or eight more shots. He didn't turn around.

"If I had looked back, I might not be standing here," Wik said. "I might have been one of the ones who got hit."

Holli Bautista, 28, said she was shopping at Macy's for a Christmas dress for her daughter when she heard pops that sounded like firecrackers.

"I heard people running and screaming and saying `Get out, there's somebody shooting,"' she told the AP.

She said hundreds of shoppers and mall employees started running, and she and dozens of other people were trying to escape through a department store exit.

Tiffany Turgetto and her husband were leaving Macy's through the first floor when they heard gunshots coming from the second floor of the mall. They were able to quickly leave through a Barnes & Noble bookstore before the police arrived and locked down the mall.

"I had left my phone at home. I was telling people to call 911. Surprisingly, people are around me, no one was calling 911. I think people were in shock."

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Cops Have Identity of Gunman in Oregon Shooting

A masked gunman who opened fire in the crowded Clackamas Town Center mall in suburban Portland, Ore., killing two individuals and seriously injuring a third before killing himself, has been identified by police, though they have not yet released his name.

The shooter, wearing a white hockey mask, black clothing, and a bullet proof vest, tore through the mall around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, entering through a Macy's store and proceeding to the food court and public areas spraying bullets, according to witness reports.

"We have been able to identify the shooter over last night," Sheriff Craig Roberts told "Good Morning America" today.
"At this point in time, because of the investigation, we're actually doing supplemental search warrants, we're not able to release the name of the individual at point in time for the reason being that we don't want to jeopardize the investigation."

Police have not released the names of the two deceased. Clackamas County Sheriff's Department Lt. James Rhodes said authorities are in the process of notifying victims' families.

The injured victim has been transported to a local hospital, according to Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts.

PHOTOS: Oregon Mall Shooting

Nadia Telguz, who said she was a friend of the injured victim, told ABC News affiliate KATU-TV in Portland that the woman was expected to recover.

"My friend's sister got shot," Teleguz told KATU. "She's on her way to (Oregon Health and Science University hospital). They're saying she got shot in her side and so it's not life-threatening, so she'll be OK."

Christopher Onstott/Pamplen Media Group/Portland Tribune

911 Calls From New Jersey Supermarket Shooting Watch Video

Witnesses from the shooting rampage said that a young man who appeared to be a teenager ran through the upper level of Macy's to the mall food court, firing multiple shots, one right after the other, with what is believed to be a black, semi-automatic rifle.

More than 10,000 shoppers were at the mall during the day, police said. Roberts said that officers responded to the scene of the shooting within minutes, and four SWAT teams swept the 1.4 million-square-foot building searching for the shooter. He was eventually found dead, an apparent suicide.

"I can confirm the shooter is dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound," Rhodes said. "By all accounts there were no rounds fired by law enforcement today in the mall."

Roberts said more than 100 law enforcement officers responded to the shooting, and at least four local agencies were working on the investigation, including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which is working to trace the shooter's weapon.

READ: Guns in America: A Statistical Look

"For all of us, the mall is supposed to be a place where we can take our families, especially during the holiday season," Roberts said. "Things like this are not supposed to happen."

Roberts also said that shoppers, including two emergency room nurses and one physician who happened to be at the mall, provided medical assistance to victims who had been shot. Other shoppers helped escort individuals out of the mall and out of harm's way, he said.

"There were a huge amount of people running in different directions, and it was chaos for a lot of citizens, but true heroes were stepping up in this time of high stress," Roberts said. "E.R. nurses on the scene were providing medical care to those injured, a physician on the scene was helping provide care to the wounded."

Mall shopper Daniel Martinez told KATU that he had just sat down at a Jamba Juice inside the mall when he heard rapid gunfire. He turned and saw the masked gunman, dressed in all black, about 10 feet away from him.

"I just saw him (the gunman) and thought, 'I need to go somewhere,'" Martinez said. "It was so fast, and at that time, everyone was moving around."

Martinez said he ran to the nearest clothing store. As he ran, he motioned for another woman to follow; several others ran to the store as well, hiding in a fitting room. They stayed there for an hour and a half until SWAT teams told them it was safe to leave the mall.

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A deliberate language barrier

THE United States and Britain are two countries "divided by a common language", George Bernard Shaw allegedly quipped.

This statement, amusingly paradoxical on the face of it, might be more accurate than it seems. On "War of words: The language paradox explained", evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel argues that languages proliferate to differentiate competing groups.

If so, a shared tongue is not what the transatlantic rivals would have wanted. Sure enough, they quickly diverged; some of the differences between US and British spellings seem to have arisen as part of a knowing attempt to widen the gulf.

So perhaps it was Shaw's fellow wit Oscar Wilde who got closer to the mark when he observed in his 1887 story The Canterville Ghost that "we have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language".

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

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Asia shares gain, unmoved by North Korea rocket launch

HONG KONG: Asian markets rose on Wednesday as dealers welcomed signs of progress in US fiscal cliff talks and upbeat data from Germany and Spain, while shrugging off news of North Korea's rocket launch.

With investors becoming more confident the safe-haven yen came back under pressure ahead of a general election in Japan on Sunday and expectations of more monetary easing by the country's central bank.

Tokyo rose 0.59 percent, adding 56.14 points to 9,581.46, Seoul was up 0.55 percent, gaining 10.82 points to 1,975,44, and Sydney climbed 0.17 percent to a 17-month high, adding 7.8 points to 4,583.8.

Hong Kong ended up 0.80 percent, adding 179.41 points to close at 22,503.35, while Shanghai was 0.39 percent, or 8.03 points, higher at 2,082.73

US President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner have swapped new offers to avoid the fiscal cliff of huge tax hikes and spending cuts due to come into effect on January 1, according to sources on both sides.

It fuelled hopes that the two, who have been at loggerheads over plans to increase taxes on the rich and slashing aid to Medicare, could come to an agreement.

If a deal is not reached by the New Year, the package currently in place is widely expected to send the economy into recession.

Markets are also eyeing a meeting of the Federal Reserve policy committee, which is to decide on what action to take as the end approaches of its "Operation Twist" -- selling short-term debt to buy longer-term debt.

There are expectations that policymakers will replace it with more outright bond purchases, or "quantitative easing", aimed at lowering interest rates to encourage businesses to invest and hire.

Buying support was also provided by positive numbers from Germany, where investor sentiment in Europe's key economic machine hit a seven-month high on hopes it will dodge recession.

The confidence index from the ZEW economic institute surged to 6.9 points in December from minus 15.7 in November. Forecasts had been for a reading of minus 11.3.

It was the highest reading since May and the first time since then that the index has been in positive territory.

Spain also enjoyed a successful Treasury bond auction, easing fears over its ability to raise cash to pay its bills.

Traders on Wall Street ended on a positive note. The Dow rose 0.60 percent, a fifth straight day of gains, while the S&P 500 added 0.65 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 1.18 percent.

Confidence in "riskier" assets hit the yen, usually the go-to unit in times of uncertainty, in US trade on Tuesday and it remained under pressure in Asia Wednesday.

The dollar rose to 82.77 yen, compared with 82.51 yen in New York, while the euro was at 107.70 yen from 107.28 yen. That compares with 82.36 yen and 106.68 yen in Asia Tuesday.

The euro bought $1.3010 Wednesday, from $1.3003 in New York.

The yen has come under pressure in recent weeks ahead of Sunday's polls widely expected to see Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Democratic Party of Japan beaten by the Liberal Democratic Party, which is headed by Shinzo Abe.

Abe, a former prime minister, has promised to push a more aggressive monetary easing policy to jumpstart the economy.

Investors shrugged off news that North Korea had fired its rocket, which critics insist was being used as a disguised ballistic missile test.

Previous launches and nuclear tests have led to an initial asset sell-off owing to geopolitical fears, but regional markets remained up in early trade.

"Frankly, it was almost a non-event," Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

On oil markets New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in January, edged up 23 cents to $86.02, and Brent North Sea crude for January added 44 cents at $108.45.

Gold was at $1,713.23 at 0805 GMT compared with $1,709.35 late on Tuesday.

In other markets:

-- Taipei rose 1.0 percent, or 76.5 points, to 7,690.19.

HTC rose 4.05 percent to Tw$282.5 while TSMC was 0.1 percent higher at Tw$98.4.

-- Manila closed 0.20 percent lower, dipping 11.71 points to 5,819.79.

Ayala Corp. fell 3.22 percent to 510 pesos while Philippine Long Distance Telephone slipped 1.29 percent to 2,596 pesos.

-- Wellington ended 0.77 percent, or 30.92 points, lower at 3,995.26.

Telecom fell 2.0 percent to NZ$2.19, Fletcher Building also lost 2.0 percent to NZ$8.28 and Contact Energy was down 2.1 percent at NZ$5.10.

- AFP/lp

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Shopper: We 'felt like sitting ducks'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The gunman was believed to be in his early 20s, a sheriff's official says


• The victims and the deceased gunman have not been identified


• One woman says she saw a rifle-wielding man wearing a hockey mask inside Macy's


• "Kids were crying. Parents were crying, too," a mall employee says

Follow continuing local coverage on CNN affiliates KPTV, KATU, KGW and KOIN.

(CNN) -- The masked gunman worked his way across the mall, terrifying holiday shoppers who had no clue where he'd fire next.

Entire swaths of Clackamas Town Center turned silent, except for the blasts from the man's rifle and the ensuing screams. Even the mall's Santa dropped to the ground.

"I thought I was going to die," mall employee David Moran said. "The gunshots were so loud, it was very scary. ... Kids were crying. Parents were crying, too."

Kira Rowland was holding her 6-month-old baby in Macy's when the shots rang out.

Gunman opens fire in Oregon mall

HIDE CAPTION

"I threw my baby into the stroller and just started running because everybody was screaming and everybody just started to run," she said.

Inside Clackamas Town Center Mall

Witnesses say at least 20 shots were fired Tuesday inside the mall, about 11 miles southeast of Portland, Oregon.

By the end of the rampage, three people lay dead, including the gunman from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. One young woman remains hospitalized, Clackamas County Undersheriff Matt Ellington said Wednesday morning.

Authorities have not identified the victims, pending notification of relatives. Investigators have tentatively identified the shooter, believed to be in his early 20s, but are not releasing his name until they get confirmation.

The gunman wore a hockey mask and jogged through Macy's wielding a rifle, a woman told CNN affiliate KOIN.

As some panicked customers bolted for the exits, others ducked under store counters or hid behind racks of clothing.

Erin Quackenbush-Baker was in a more vulnerable position -- in the middle of the mall, at a kiosk with her grandmother and three young children.

"My 5-year-old was covering her ears and crying. I was frantic to find a place to run, and I looked back (at) my son in my stroller and glass is falling over us," she said. "The shots were getting closer, and it sounded like he was getting closer."

"I felt like sitting ducks, where we were."

Timeline: Worst mass shootings in U.S.

During a brief halt in the gunfire, a man in black fleece helped rush the family into a nearby Sephora store. That's where Quackenbush-Baker and her children hid for an hour, "waiting to see if we were going to be shot or not."

As word spread that the shooter was moving from store to store, customers at Sears burst into tears, Christina Fisher told KOIN.

"We were told to stand in a group by the top of the escalators and stay away from the windows out of the aisle. ... We stood there for probably a good 20 minutes," she said. "All of the sudden, somebody came through with a radio, yelling, 'Get down!' "

As the melee unfolded, some customers watched television news reports about the shooting from inside the Sears entertainment center, Tylor Pedersen told affiliate KGW.

Antonio Charro spotted a wounded woman near a cell phone store and tried to help, but to no avail.

"She had apparently been shot in the chest, and I couldn't get her turned over to help her," said Charro, who had been shopping at the mall with his daughters. "There was no one around. She wasn't breathing."

Authorities are poring through surveillance footage from the mall to try to determine what exactly happened.

Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said about 10,000 people were in the mall at the time.

No law enforcement officers fired any shots when they arrived, sheriff's Sgt. Adam Phillips said.

The 1.4 million-square-foot mall will remain closed Wednesday as investigators look for clues about the attack. But the motive might never be known.

Rowland said she's grateful she got distracted while shopping and didn't venture further into the mall.

"I think if I hadn't stopped to smell that perfume, that maybe me and my baby wouldn't be here today."

CNN's Cristy Lenz, Chandler Friedman, Michael Martinez, Tom Watkins and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report.

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Obama recognises Syrian opposition

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the Syrian opposition was now "the legitimate representative" of the Syrian people, in the most significant US intervention yet in the brutal civil war.

"We have made a decision that the Syrian opposition coalition is now inclusive enough, is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population, that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people," Obama told ABC News in an interview.

France last month became the first Western nation to formally recognise the Syrian National Coalition group as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people, as it fights beleaguered President Bashar al-Assad.

Britain, Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council followed suit, but the coalition did not win immediate universal backing because of doubts about whether it is genuinely representative of all sectors of Syrian society.

Earlier, Washington blacklisted an Al-Qaeda-linked rebel group in Syria, warning extremists could play no role in building the nation's future as the US readied to recognise the new Syrian alliance.

"There is a small element of those that oppose the Assad regime, that in fact are affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Iraq and we have designated them, Al-Nusra, as a terrorist organization," Obama said in the interview.

Though a minority, Al-Nusra has been one of the most effective rebel groups fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, raising concerns that hardline extremists are hijacking the 21-month-old revolt.

Senior officials however said that despite the move on recognising the opposition, Washington sticks by its policy of not directly arming the rebels.

-AFP/ac

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MLK Memorial inscription to be nixed

By CNN Staff

updated 6:22 PM EST, Tue December 11, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Critics were unhappy with 'drum major' quote abbreviation, saying it made King sound arrogant


• Plans originally called for King line to be corrected, but artist said removal was best


• Removal will begin in February or March, after the King birthday celebrations

Washington (CNN) -- The controversial "drum major" inscription on the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington will be removed rather than replaced under a plan announced Tuesday by federal officials.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a news release that the move followed consultation with a "range of stakeholders" who concurred with the decision.

Initially, plans called for the quote to be corrected. But the original sculptor, Lei Yixin, said removal was the best way to ensure the structural integrity of the memorial, the National Park Service said.

The site features a commanding 30-foot statue of King, arms folded across his chest, emerging from a "Stone of Hope."

The quote in question -- one of more than a dozen on the site -- is inscribed on one side of the stone. The abbreviated and paraphrased version of the line sparked controversy in 2011 when acclaimed poet and author Maya Angelou said it made the civil rights leader appear to be arrogant.

The line reads: "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."

In fact, King's original words, from a 1968 sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, were: "If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."

Angelou said that leaving out the "if" changes the meaning.

The plan announced Tuesday will be submitted to the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission in January for their review, according to the Interior Department.

The news release included a comment from Bernice A. King, King's youngest daughter and CEO of the King Center in Atlanta.

"We are grateful that Secretary Salazar's office and the National Park Service has taken such care to maintain the spirit and appearance of such an important monument to our country's history and my father's memory," she said.

The memorial will remain open to visitors during the work, but some of the statue will be covered at certain times. The project will begin in February or March, after the annual King birthday observance.

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