Male model sentenced in NY murder

Renato Seabra was convicted of the 2011 murder of a Portuguese news anchor in New York City.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Male model Renato Seabra killed, mutilated Carlos Antonio De Castro, jury finds


• Both men were from Portugal visiting New York City in late 2010, early 2011


• Castro, 65, a TV journalist, broke off the relationship with Seabra, then 20


• Castro was found bludgeoned and castrated on the floor of their hotel room

(CNN) -- He was a 20-year-old male model. His lover was a 65-year-old man who was a television journalist. They were from Portugal, visiting New York City. The older partner broke off the relationship and ended up mutilated and dead.

Now, almost two years later, a New York judge has sentenced model Renato Seabra to 25 years to life in prison -- the maximum sentence -- for the grisly second-degree murder of Carlos Antonio De Castro in their InterContinental Hotel room in Times Square.

"This was a brutal and sadistic crime, where Renato Seabra bludgeoned, choked, and mutilated his victim before murdering him," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said following the jury's guilty verdict this month.

"But the jury's verdict now, finally, holds Seabra accountable. It is particularly tragic that Carlos Castro was not only ... betrayed by his spurned lover, but met a very painful and violent end far from his home," Vance said.

Castro was found bludgeoned and castrated in the hotel room in January 2011, a law enforcement source told CNN at the time.

Seabra, now 23, attacked Castro because he was angry that Castro had ended their relationship, prosecutors said.

Court document: Model confessed to choking and castrating victim

Following the prolonged attack, Seabra showered, took about $1,600 from Castro's wallet, and hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, prosecutors said.

On his way out of the hotel, Seabra bumped into a friend of Castro's in the lobby, who later testified that Seabra said Castro "won't be leaving the room," prosecutors said.

Castro's body was found shortly after an acquaintance appeared at the hotel asking to see him, saying she had been in contact with him earlier in the day, but was unable to reach him for some time, officials said.

A hotel employee found Castro's unclothed body on the room floor on January 7, 2011, and the cause of death was later determined to be blunt injuries to the head and neck compression, prosecutors said.

Seabra was taken into custody after he was spotted leaving a New York hospital where he received treatment for lacerations to his wrists, authorities said. He underwent a psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue, the source said at the time.

The day after the murder, Seabra confessed to the crime at Bellevue Hospital, prosecutors said.

Previously on CNN.com: Model indicted in killing of Portuguese journalist

A television journalist, Castro had also been a recent gossip columnist for the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha. Seabra was a recent finalist on a Portuguese model-search television show called "A Procura de um Sonho."

The two men departed from Portugal on December 29, 2010, prosecutors said.

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Newtown swamped by charity for victims, families

NEWTOWN, Conn. Peter Leone was busy making deli sandwiches and working the register at his Newtown General Store when he got a phone call from Alaska. It was a woman who wanted to give him her credit card number.

"She said, 'I'm paying for the next $500 of food that goes out your door,'" Leone said. "About a half hour later another gentleman called, I think from the West Coast, and he did the same thing for $2,000."

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Funerals and tributes for Newtown victims

Money, toys, food and other gifts have poured in from around the world as Newtown mourns the loss of 20 children and six school employees at Sandy Hook Elementary School a little over a week ago. The 20-year-old shooter, Adam Lanza, killed his mother before attacking the school then killing himself. Police don't know what caused him to massacre first-graders, teachers, school staff or his mother.

Saturday, all the town's children were invited to town hall to choose from among hundreds of toys donated by individuals, organizations and toy stores.

The basement of the building resembled a toy store, with piles of stuffed penguins, Barbie dolls, board games, soccer balls and other fun gifts. All the toys were inspected and examined by bomb-sniffing dogs before being sorted and put on card tables. The children could choose whatever they wanted.

"But we're not checking IDs at the door," said Tom Mahoney, the building administrator, who's in charge of handling gifts. "If there is a child from another town who comes in need of a toy, we're not going to turn them away."

The United Way of Western Connecticut said the official fund for donations had $2.6 million in it Saturday morning. Others sent envelopes stuffed with cash to pay for coffee, and a shipment of cupcakes arrived from a gourmet bakery in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The Postal Service reported a six-fold increase in mail in town and set up a unique post office box to handle it. The parcels come decorated with rainbows and hearts drawn by school children.

Some letters arrive in packs of 26 identical envelopes — one for each family of the children and staff killed or addressed to the "First Responders" or just "The People of Newtown." One card arrived from Georgia addressed to "The families of 6 amazing women and 20 beloved angels." Many contain checks.

Postal worker Christine Dugas sorts letters at the post office in Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, including a letter addressed to "The families of 6 Amazing Women and 20 Beloved Angels.

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AP Photo/Julio Cortez

"This is just the proof of the love that's in this country," said Postmaster Cathy Zieff.

Many people have placed flowers, candles and stuffed animals at makeshift memorials that have popped up all over town. Others are stopping by the Edmond Town Hall on Main Street to drop off food, or toys, or cash.

"There's so much stuff coming in," Mahoney, of Newtown, said. "To be honest, it's a bit overwhelming; you just want to close the doors and turn the phone off."

Mahoney said the town of some 27,000 with a median household income of more than $111,000 plans to donate whatever is left over to shelters or other charities.

Sean Gillespie of Colchester, who attended Sandy Hook Elementary, and Lauren Minor, who works at U.S. Foodservice in Norwich, came from Calvary Chapel in Uncasville with a car filled with food donated by U.S. Foodservice. But they were sent elsewhere because the refrigerators in Newtown were overflowing with donations.

"We'll find someplace," Gillespie said. "It won't go to waste."

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'Fiscal Cliff' Leaves Boehner a Wounded Speaker

John Boehner is a bloodied House speaker following the startling setback that his own fractious Republican troops dealt him in their "fiscal cliff" struggle against President Barack Obama.

There's plenty of internal grumbling about the Ohio Republican, especially among conservatives, and lots of buzzing about whether his leadership post is in jeopardy. But it's uncertain whether any other House Republican has the broad appeal to seize the job from Boehner or whether his embarrassing inability to pass his own bill preventing tax increases on everyone but millionaires is enough to topple him.

"No one will be challenging John Boehner as speaker," predicted John Feehery, a consultant and former aide to House GOP leaders. "No one else can right now do the job of bringing everyone together" and unifying House Republicans.

The morning after he yanked the tax-cutting bill from the House floor to prevent certain defeat, Boehner told reporters he wasn't worried about losing his job when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3.

"They weren't taking that out on me," he said Friday of rank-and-file GOP lawmakers, who despite pleading from Boehner and his lieutenants were shy of providing the 217 votes needed for passage. "They were dealing with the perception that somebody might accuse them of raising taxes."

Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

Cliffhanger: Congress Heads Home after 'Plan B' Vote Pulled from House Floor Watch Video

President Obama on Fiscal Cliff: 'Nobody Gets 100 Percent of What They Want' Watch Video

Next Steps for Fiscal Cliff? 'God Only Knows,' Says Boehner Watch Video

That "somebody" was a number of outside conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America, which openly pressured lawmakers to reject Boehner's bill. Such organizations often oppose GOP lawmakers they consider too moderate and have been headaches for Boehner in the past.

This time, his retreat on the tax measure was an unmistakable blow to the clout of the 22-year House veteran known for an amiable style, a willingness to make deals and a perpetual tan.

Congressional leaders amass power partly by their ability to command votes, especially in showdowns. His failure to do so Thursday stands to weaken his muscle with Obama and among House Republicans.

"It's very hard for him to negotiate now," said Sarah Binder, a George Washington University political scientist, adding that it's premature to judge if Boehner's hold on the speakership is in peril. "No one can trust him because it's very hard for him to produce votes."

She said the loss weakens his ability to summon support in the future because "you know the last time he came to you like this, others didn't step in line."

Boehner, 63, faces unvarnished hostility from some conservatives.

"We clearly can't have a speaker operate well outside" what Republicans want to do, said freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan.

Huelskamp is one of four GOP lawmakers who lost prized committee assignments following previous clashes with party leaders. That punishment was an anomaly for Boehner, who is known more for friendly persuasion than arm-twisting.

He said Boehner's job would depend on whether the speaker is "willing to sit and listen to Republicans first, or march off" and negotiate with Obama.

Conservative Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said one of the tea party's lasting impacts would be if Boehner struggled to retain his speakership due to the fight over the fiscal cliff, which is the combination of deep tax increases and spending cuts that start in early January without a bipartisan deal to avert them.

"If there's a major defeat delivered here, it could make it tough on him," King said. "He's in a tough spot."

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Today on New Scientist: 21 December 2012

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US politicians trade blame over 'fiscal cliff' talks

WASHINGTON: Democratic and Republican leaders traded blame as they left for the Christmas holiday amid fading hope of an agreement to avert a year-end fiscal crisis that could lead to stiff tax hikes and drastic budget cuts.

In the weekly Republican Party radio address on Saturday, House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said that President Barack Obama's proposal to solve the crisis by raising taxes "would still leave red ink as far as the eye can see."

"What the president has offered so far simply won't do anything to solve our spending problem and begin to address our nation's crippling debt," Boehner said.

"Instead, he wants more spending and more tax hikes that will hurt our economy. And he refuses to challenge the members of his party to deal honestly with entitlement reform and the big issues facing our nation. That is why we find ourselves here today."

Boehner has made an offer to Obama that would raise US$1 trillion in tax revenue -- mostly through closing loopholes and ending certain deductions -- and another US$1 trillion in spending cuts, including in some social programs like Medicare.

"I told the president on Monday these were my bottom lines," Boehner said earlier.

The White House has described its own offer as US$1.2 trillion in tax revenues and nearly US$1 trillion in spending cuts, although Republicans dispute whether all of the austerity measures are real.

On Friday, president Obama seemed frustrated that Republicans were not willing to offer him a compromise after, in his eyes, he made major concessions to his opponents.

"Nobody gets 100 per cent of what they want," he said.

With just over a week to go before automatic and massive spending cuts and tax increases due to kick in for all Americans on January 1, Obama urged lawmakers to pass a scaled-down tax package to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

Obama said he still wanted a comprehensive and large deficit-cutting bill to put the US economy on the path to long-term prosperity, but in the meantime, he called for a stop-gap bill to protect middle-class taxpayers.

"There is absolutely no reason, none, not to protect these Americans from a tax hike. At the very least, let's agree right now on what we already agree on. Let's get that done."

Obama said he met Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid and spoke to Republican House Speaker John Boehner on the phone to discuss a fall-back plan, while stressing he still believed a big compromise was possible.

He asked Congress to next week produce a package that at a minimum prevents a tax hike on the middle class, would extend unemployment insurance and lays the groundwork for further deficit reduction next year.

The move would still satisfy his demand to raise taxes on the richest Americans, as all Bush-era taxes will go up on January 1, and Obama only envisions extending the lower rates for middle class earners.

"Everybody can cool off, everybody can drink some eggnog, have some Christmas cookies, sing some Christmas carols," Obama said.

"Call me a hopeless optimist, but I actually still think that we can get it done," said Obama, who will spend Christmas in his native Hawaii, but told reporters he would be back in Washington next week.

Obama's suggestion would extend tax breaks to 98 per cent of Americans -- those earning below US$250,000 a year. In talks with Boehner on a larger compromise, the president had offered to raise that threshold to US$400,000.

On Thursday, Republicans rejected a bid by Boehner to pass a backup bill to solve the crisis, leaving Washington in turmoil, markets spooked and renewing fears that America's political gridlock could spark a recession.

Obama's aides privately say they doubt that conservative deficit hawks, who oppose raising taxes as a matter of principle, will ever back a deal agreed with the president.

In that case, Boehner could opt to pass a compromise in the House with the help of votes from minority Democrats -- a move that could undermine his position as speaker with his own party.

Experts, however, say one way to make a tax hike on the wealthy more palatable for Republicans is to not make them vote for one at all.

Should the new year arrive with no deal, taxes will automatically rise for everyone. Congress could then technically vote to lower taxes on the middle class, something conservatives might be more willing to do.

- AFP/jc

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Miss anything in 2012?

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Boehner's Take on Fiscal Cliff Deal: 'God Only Knows'

Dec 21, 2012 11:00am

Speaker of the House John Boehner bluntly acknowledged Friday morning he did not have the votes to pass his “Plan B” and said the only real solution is a broad agreement to cut spending and reform the tax code. Then he added these words:

“How we get there, God only knows.”

That about sums up the whole “fiscal cliff” situation after a chaotic Thursday night when Republicans had to abandon “Plan B” – their proposal to raise taxes only on people making more than $1 million.

Boehner said he is not giving up on talks to pursue a bipartisan agreement with the President, who wants taxes to be raised on people making more than $250,000. But Boehner made it clear nothing is going on right now.  Instead he said it was up to Senate Democrats and the White House to make the next move.

Read more  about “Plan B” and the dramatic action in the House on Thursday.

SHOWS: Nightline This Week World News

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Today on New Scientist: 21 December 2012

Cadaver stem cells offer new hope of life after death

Stem cells can be extracted from bone marrow five days after death to be used in life-saving treatments

Apple's patents under fire at US patent office

The tech firm is skating on thin ice with some of the patents that won it a $1 billion settlement against Samsung

Himalayan dam-building threatens endemic species

The world's highest mountains look set to become home to a huge number of dams - good news for clean energy but bad news for biodiversity

Astrophile: Black hole exposed as a dwarf in disguise

A white dwarf star caught mimicking a black hole's X-ray flashes may be the first in a new class of binary star systems

Blind juggling robot keeps a ball in the air for hours

The robot, which has no visual sensors, can juggle a ball flawlessly by analysing its trajectory

Studio sessions show how Bengalese finch stays in tune

This songbird doesn't need technological aids to stay in tune - and it's smart enough to not worry when it hears notes that are too far off to be true

Giant tooth hints at truly monumental dinosaur

A lone tooth found in Argentina may have belonged to a dinosaur even larger than those we know of, but what to call it?

Avian flu virus learns to fly without wings

A strain of bird flu that hit the Netherlands in 2003 travelled by air, a hitherto suspected by unproven route of transmission

Feedback: Are wind turbines really fans?

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Our feelings about other animals have important consequences for how we treat humans, say prejudice researchers Gordon Hodson and Kimberly Costello

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Watch twins fight for space in the womb, as we reach number 6 in our countdown of the top videos of the year

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They were supposed to live on an ascetic diet of mainly bread and water, but the monks in 6th-century Jerusalem were tucking into animal products

The pregnant promise of fetal medicine

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Read More..

Psy's 'Gangnam Style' reaches one billion views

SEOUL: Psy's "Gangnam Style" became the first video to hit a billion views on YouTube on Friday, marking a fresh milestone in the global craze for the South Korean rapper and his horse-riding dance.

The view counter attached to "Gangnam Style," which was only posted on the video-sharing site July 15, clicked over into 10 figures, confirming its status as the most viewed video in the site's history.

"One billion views is an incredible number," said Kevin Allocca, YouTube trends manager, who attributed Psy's success "to the universal appeal of catchy music -- and er, great equine dance moves."

Psy has swept all before him in the past five months, hoovering up awards and scoring guest appearances with everyone from Madonna to the head of the United Nations.

The video and its singer have been given walk-on roles in major world events like the US presidential election and major maybe-events like the Mayan calendar-inspired speculation about looming global armageddon.

The timing of the one-billion views breakthrough dovetailed with a viral social network hoax that had the 16th century French seer Nostradamus apparently referencing Psy as a harbinger of the December 21 apocalypse.

And it came less than a month after the video took the all-time "most-viewed" title away from "Baby" by Canadian heartthrob Justin Bieber.

Bieber's effort was still in second place Friday with more than 812 million views.

"Perhaps what's most impressive about this feat is that it took just over five months to happen," Allocca said in a blog post.

"Congratulations to Psy, the flash mobbers, K-Pop fans and people who love fun across the globe," he added.

Although its imminent demise has been predicted many times, the Psy phenomenon has simply refused to die.

Every time it has looked like fading, another parody, another celebrity or even another world leader has popped up to administer some publicity CPR and restore it to health.

Rolling Stone put "Gangnam Style" at number 25 on its top 50 list of best songs for 2012 and labelled Psy as "Seoul Brother Number One." On the Billboard Hot 100 chart it peaked at number two.

The song -- which refers to a trendy Seoul district -- has spawned a mini tribute video industry and has been co-opted by an impressive roster of big names, including Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei.

It earned Psy a contract with Bieber's management agency and a number of assessments and projections have been posted claiming "Gangnam Style" has generated over US$8.1 million in advertising deals.

And the public has joined in, with tens of thousands turning out for giant flashmob performances of Psy's horse-riding dance in cities like Paris and Rome -- even beauty spots like South America's majestic Iguazu waterfalls.

The quirky star, whose real name is Park Jae-Sang, has won adulation in his homeland for the global hit and was awarded one of South Korea's highest cultural honours this month, the Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit.

Psy hit a speedbump in the United States when anti-American views he voiced a decade ago caught up with him last month -- but he apologised and went on to perform at a "Christmas in Washington" gala attended by Obama and his family.

South Korea sees popular culture as a potent export force, providing international exposure for a country that still feels overlooked in comparison to neighbours China and Japan.

The government has spent substantial time and money supporting the so-called Hallyu, or Korean Wave, of TV shows and pop music that has swept across Asia in the past decade.

- AFP/jc

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Mayans don't buy it

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Some believe a major calamity will occur Friday based on the Mayan calendar


• The Mayans don't think that's true


• The end of the winter solstice marks the end of a 394-year period on the calendar


• Predictions mention a deity but not the end of the world, an archeologist says

Merida, Mexico (CNN) -- There may be no one left on Earth to say TGIF this week.

Some believe the world is coming to an end Friday -- on 12/21/12 -- which is when an important phase on the ancient calendar of the Mayan people terminates.

Mayans don't buy it.

At least the ones living in the city of Merida, Mexico, don't. Neither does anyone in the Mayan village of Yaxuna. They know the calendar their ancestors left them is about to absolve a key phase -- the end of an era and the heralding of a new one -- but they don't think we're all gonna die.

Read more: Be honest, apocalypse seems kind of exciting

"It's an era. We are lucky to see how it ends," said wood carver Santos Esteban in Yaxuna, a sleepy village of fewer than 700 Mayans, located in a territory that once belonged to the ancient kingdom founded around 2000 B.C.

He feels it is a momentous occasion and is looking forward to the start of the new age. He is not afraid.

"Lots of people say it's the end of the world, but we don't believe that," he said.

Read more: China cracks down on 'Doomsday cult'

People in his village will keep living much as they have, preferring hand-built, palm-thatch huts to concrete buildings, and baking tortillas on an open flame.

For those less optimistic than the Mayans, an "official" website in the United States has collected links to all the doom articles and videos Internet users can consume.

December212012.com also offers tips on survival and advertisements for the needed gear -- from gas masks to first aid kits and hand-crank radios. Comments are welcome on its Facebook page, which has over 14,000 likes, and website owner "John" from near Louisville, Kentucky, sends out tweets under the handle @December212012.

On the doomsday Facebook page -- in between gloomy superstitious links and user comments -- John has confessed that he does not really believe the world will end on Friday, but thinks that a new era could dawn that may include some improvements for the world. That new era, however, might require a good bit of destruction as well.

John asked posters not to take the whole thing too seriously.

"PLEASE PEOPLE. . . I'm begging you. Do not overreact or make any rash decisions regarding Dec 21st. Anyone who knows anything about the 2012 prophecies, including myself, does not believes that the world is going to end," the Facebook page says.

Opinion: The Maya collapsed - could we?

Gunmaker Ryan Croft in Asheville, North Carolina, does take the prediction seriously. He is building a special assault rifle to deal with any signs of doom lurking around the corner.

He doesn't think life on Earth will come to a complete end Friday. "I'm not planning for the world to go away," Croft told CNN affiliate WHNS.

However, he thinks the day could mark the beginning of cataclysmic times introduced by a disaster. That may call for drastic measures, Croft said.

His new rifle, a hybrid of an AR-15 and an AK-47, is designed to handle it and be easy to use at the same time, the Gulf War veteran said. Trouble in the United States could ensue in the wake of an economic catastrophe, he thinks.

"I taught about economic collapse and how it actually looks on the ground," he said. "People want to act like it can't happen or doesn't happen, and it happens around the world. There are places on fire right now."

In true survivor manner, Croft also teaches his family how to subsist on alternative sources of nourishment, such as algae, roasted mice and live earthworms.

Though 12/21/12 marks a somewhat congruent date on the western calendar, the Mayan version enumerates the event in a different way.

The ancient people measured time in cycles called "baktuns" of 394 years each, and the winter solstice coming Friday marks the end of the 13th baktun. Some who study the calendar say the date for the end of the period is not Friday, but Sunday.

The Mayan calendar is based on the position of the heavenly bodies -- the sun, the moon and the stars -- and was meant to tell the Mayan people about agricultural and economic trends, said archeologist Alfredo Barrera.

NASA is also weighing in on the matter, with a post on its website declaring that the world will not end on Friday.

"It will be another winter solstice," NASA said. "The claims behind the end of the world quickly unravel when pinned down to the 2012 timeline."

Read more: Hotels ready for the end of the world

The hubbub about a calamity occurring comes from a Mayan stone carving called monument 6, made in 700 A.D., which predicts a major event at the end of this baktun, Barrera said. But half of the broken tablet is missing, so one may only speculate on what the complete message may be.

Whatever it is, it's not about the end of the world, he said.

"We don't have a prophecy or inscription related to the finish of the world. It just mentioned a deity."

Barrera believes the hullabaloo about the end of the world has been whipped up by online speculation -- and he finds it a bit ignorant.

In Merida, Mayan priest Valerio Canche carries out an ancient ritual to honor the dead in light of the upcoming end of the 13th baktun.

"It is considered the closure of the great cycle of Mayan time," he said. "But, of course, the cycle (14th baktun) begins the following day. For the Mayans, it's not the end of the world."

If you're reading this on Thursday, keep in mind, it's already Friday in New Zealand, and it's still on the map. If it's Friday, a look out the window may be reassuring.

If it's Saturday, and no major calamity has occurred, then relax and go celebrate the beginning of the 14th baktun with the Mayans.

Debunking doomsday: 6 rumors dispelled

CNN's Ben Brumfield reported from Atlanta, and Nick Parker from Mexico

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House GOP: We have the votes for "Plan B"

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Cantor: "We're going to have the votes" to pass "Plan B"

Updated 1:45 p.m. ET

As the House readies for an expected vote on an alternate plan, dubbed "Plan B," to avoid massive tax hikes on all income earners, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said he is confident he will have enough support to pass their plan.

"We're going to have the votes," Cantor told reporters this morning.

"Plan B," a scaled-back measure that extends tax rates for everyone except those making $1 million, comes to the House floor at the unilateral direction of Republican leadership just days after it seemed talks between House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and President Obama were progressing to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff." Both sides offered major concessions to move toward compromise, but aides tell CBS News White House correspondent Major Garrett that Boehner didn't have enough support in his party to pass his proposal that included $1 trillion worth of revenue increases.

While "Plan B" would raise taxes on millionaires, which is something Democrats support, it does not go far enough for Democrats who want higher tax rates for more income earners. The president's latest "fiscal cliff" offer would raise the marginal tax rate to 39.6 percent on those making more than $400,000, a concession from his previous demand that taxes go up for households making more than $250,000.

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Boehner: Dems' "Plan B" is "slow walk" over "fiscal cliff"

Boehner said he is doing his part by offering "Plan B"  to ensure taxes don't increase on millions of Americans in the New Year. "It will be up to Senate Democrats and the White House to act," he told reporters today.

While Cantor says they have the votes to pass the alternative, some Republicans expressed reservations because it would raise taxes on about 400,000 families, or about 0.2 percent of Americans.

Boehner's proposal doesn't abide by "clear conservative, clear Republican principles," Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan, told CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

Perhaps offering Republicans an out, in an about-face, anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist said Boehner's proposal does not raise taxes. Other outside conservative groups, however, including the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks, are urging Republicans to vote against "Plan B", saying it does raise taxes.

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Reid: "Boehner's plans are nonstarters in the Senate"

Generally opposed to raising any taxes at all, Republicans are also reluctant to vote for a plan that has already been declared dead in the Senate by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., if it passes the House. "Speaker Boehner's plans are non-starters in the Senate," Reid reiterated today. 

Even if it somehow cleared both houses of Congress, the White House announced Wednesday that it would veto "Plan B."

Another reason some Republicans also objected to Boehner's "Plan B" because it doesn't include spending cuts. Republican leadership addressed that concern Thursday morning, however, by offering a second piece of legislation that cuts $200 billion from the federal budget.

House Republicans "are taking concrete actions" to avert the "fiscal cliff" and reduce spending, Cantor said. "Absent a balanced offer from the president, this is our nation's best option."

During a news conference Wednesday, the president said Republicans "keep on finding ways to say no as opposed to finding ways to say yes" on agreeing to a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff."

He added that it's time for the Republicans to step up and compromise because its' "what the country needs."

The president pointed out their proposals are only "a few hundred billion dollars" apart. "The idea that we would put our economy at risk because you can't bridge that cap doesn't make a lot of sense," he said.

The president's latest proposal includes about $1.2 trillion dollars of revenue increases and $800 billion in spending cuts. Boehner said it's not balanced. His latest offer is, which is not what the House is voting on today, includes about $1 trillion in spending cuts and $1 trillion in tax increases.

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Merry 'Cliffmas'! Chances for a Deficit Deal Dim

The outlook for a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" by Christmas is increasingly grim, though lawmakers and the White House still have hope for a deficit-reduction compromise by the end of the year.

Republicans will move forward tonight with a vote to pass House Speaker John Boehner's so-called "Plan B option" – an extension of current tax rates for Americans making up to $1 million a year while replacing some pending automatic cuts to defense and domestic programs with other measures.

The step seeks to show Republicans acting to avoid an income tax hike on 99 percent of Americans in 2013, and leverage new pressure on President Obama in the ongoing talks for a broader "cliff" deal.

"Absent a balanced offer from the president, this is our nation's best option and Senate Democrats should take up both of these measures immediately," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said today.

Obama has threatened to veto the legislation, calling it counterproductive and the cuts burdensome for the middle class. If the Senate were to consider the bill to stave off a looming tax hike, Democrats would surely amend it to enact more amicable terms.

"'Plan B'... is a multiday exercise in futility at a time when we do not have the luxury of exercises in futility," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

Outgoing Sen. Joe Lieberman Criticizes Colleagues for Putting Party Above Country Watch Video

President Obama Promises Action to Reduce Gun Violence Watch Video

The posturing on "plan B" has drawn focus away from a broader bargain on taxes, spending, entitlement reforms and other measures that had begun coming into focus earlier this week.

Obama and Boehner have not spoken since Monday, though staff-level talks have continued behind the scenes.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said lawmakers would break for the Christmas holiday but return to Washington one week from today.

"If you look at Speaker Boehner's proposal and you look at my proposal, they're actually pretty close," Obama said Wednesday, appealing for a big "fair deal."

"It is a deal that can get done," he said. "But it cannot be done if every side wants 100 percent. And part of what voters were looking for is some compromise up here."

The latest offers exchanged by Obama and Boehner are roughly $450 billion apart, largely differing on where to draw the line for an income tax hike at the end of the year.

Obama wants to see rates rise on incomes above $400,000 a year, a concession from his earlier insistence on a $250,000 threshold. Boehner, who had opposed any tax rate increase, now says he could agree to a rate hike on earners of $1 million or more.

Both sides also disagree about the size of spending cuts and changes to entitlement programs.

Obama's plan would trim spending by $800 billion over a decade with half coming from Medicare and Medicaid. He has also agreed to limits on future cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries, something anathema to many Democrats.

But Boehner has said the cuts are insufficient. He seeks $1 trillion or more in spending reductions, citing entitlement programs as the primary drivers of U.S. deficits and debt.

"For weeks the White House said that if I moved on [tax] rates that they would make substantial concessions on spending cuts and entitlement reforms. I did my part. They've done nothing," Boehner said today.

"The real issue here, as we all know, is spending," he said. "I don't think that the White House has gotten serious about the big spending problem that our country faces."

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Van-sized space rock is a cosmic oddball

The shattered remains of a high-profile space rock are oddly low in organic materials, the raw ingredients for life. The discovery adds a slight wrinkle to the theory that early Earth was seeded with organics by meteorite impacts.

In April a van-sized meteor was seen streaking over northern California and Nevada in broad daylight. The fireball exploded with a sonic boom and sprayed the region with fragments. Videos, photographs and weather radar data allowed the meteor's trajectory to be reconstructed, and teams quickly mobilised to search for pieces in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in northern California.

Researchers readily identified the meteorites as rare CM chondrites, thought to be one of the oldest types of rock in the universe. "Because the meteorites were discovered so freshly, for the first time we had a chance to study this type of meteorite in a pristine form," says Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, who led the search effort and the subsequent study of the space rocks.

Jenniskens personally found a fragment in a parking lot, where it remained relatively free of soil contaminants. "That's the best you could hope for, other than landing in a freezer," says Daniel Glavin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Battered past

CM chondrites make up only about 1 per cent of known meteorites. Most of them contain plenty of organic materials, including amino acids, the building blocks of life on Earth.

Jenniskens and colleagues found that the California fragments also have amino acids, including some not found naturally on Earth. But in three rocks collected before a heavy rainstorm, which bathed the other pieces in earthly contaminants, organics are less abundant by a factor of 1000 than in previously studied CM chondrites.

These three rocks could not have lost organics due to space "weathering": analysis of the meteorites' exposure to cosmic rays suggests the original meteor was flying through space for only about 50,000 years before hitting Earth.

Based on its trajectory and its relatively short flight time, Jenniskens thinks the meteor can be traced back to a family of asteroids dominated by 495 Eulalia, a group known as a possible source of CM chondrites. It is probably a piece that broke off during an impact, revealing the relatively pristine material inside.

So what happened to its organics? Jenniskens' team found that the meteorites are breccia – smaller rocks cemented together – which suggests that the asteroid from which they came took a series of beatings. Those impacts, or possibly other processes inside the asteroid, could have heated it enough to destroy most organic material.

Limited delivery

The result might have implications for the organics delivery theory, says Bill Bottke of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

"It shows that not all asteroids can deliver sufficient quantities. One of the disappointments is that, from a prebiotic organic chemistry perspective, it was very limited," says Bottke. "But this is an unusual case. Most [CM chondrites] are loaded with organic compounds."

Still, studying the space rocks will help us prepare future missions to asteroids such as OSIRIS-Rex, scheduled to take off for asteroid 1999 RQ36 in 2016 and bring a sample back in 2023.

"In some ways, we've had a sample, a very fresh one, come to us," says Bottke. "This is a test bed for the techniques we'll use in that mission."

Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1227163

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Football: Newcastle powerless to keep Ba admits Pardew

LONDON: Newcastle manager Alan Pardew admitted on Thursday that his club are powerless to keep Demba Ba if the Senegal striker wants to quit St James' Park.

Ba has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave if another team offers 7.5 million pounds and Pardew knows the former West Ham star could attract interest from several clubs during the January transfer window.

The 27-year-old, who has scored 11 times this season, was forced to deny reports this week that he had said it would be a dream come true to join Arsenal, while Liverpool are also said to be interested.

In the circumstances, Pardew is resigned to a month of worrying that one of his key players will be tempted away from Tyneside.

"It's unfortunate that the contract he has leaves open a lot of questions because we have this clause and every window that comes around, I have to answer the same questions," Pardew said.

"It would be disappointing for him to leave in this window for this club and for his team-mates here, but the decision will be his, ultimately, because that clause is there.

"The most important things we have got with Demba is he is someone who is a goalscorer and he is scoring goals, and that's very, very important to a side.

"His commitment to and work-rate for the team, I don't fault."

- AFP/fa

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President to GOP: Fiscal cliff is not about me

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: President Obama suggests Republicans are fixated on besting him personally


• NEW: Obama: It's "puzzling" that GOP leaders have yet to agree to a deal


• NEW: Speaker Boehner's office says Obama's latest proposal is lacking


• Without a deal, everyone's taxes go up in the new year

Washington (CNN) -- In a candid assessment of the tough fiscal cliff negotiations, President Barack Obama said Wednesday that Republicans are focused too much on besting him personally instead of thinking about what's best for the country.

The comments at a White House news conference came less than two weeks before the nation faces automatic tax increases on everyone, as well as deep spending cuts due to the fiscal cliff at the end of the year.

Obama alluded to the Connecticut school shootings in calling on Republicans to agree to a deal, saying that "if there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be perspective about what's important."

"Right now, what the country needs is for us to compromise," he said, calling what he characterized as a GOP refusal to accept a reasonable compromise on the table as "puzzling."

Asked why an agreement proved so difficult to attain after both sides made major concessions in the past week, Obama said it might be that "it is very hard for them to say 'yes' to me."

"At some point they've got to take me out of it," Obama said of Republicans, adding they should instead focus on "doing something good for the country."

The incremental negotiations seek to avoid the fiscal cliff with a broad deficit reduction agreement that the two sides have shaped to a roughly $2 trillion package of new revenue, spending cuts and entitlement reforms.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner responded to Obama's remarks by saying the president's latest proposal was not evenly balanced, with more new revenue opposed by Republicans instead of spending cuts and entitlement reforms they seek.

With the talks moving closer to a possible deal, Boehner added a new wrinkle on Tuesday by proposing what he called a plan B option to let tax rates go up on income above $1 million while keeping current rates for everyone else.

Boehner told reporters his proposal was a possible short-term step while continuing to negotiate a broader deal.

"We all know that every income tax filer in America is going to pay higher rates come January the first unless Congress acts," Boehner said in reference to the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts of the fiscal cliff. "So I believe it's important that we protect as many American taxpayers as we can."

While addressing part of the fiscal cliff, the Boehner plan B would leave intact government spending cuts, including defense, that are required under a budget deal reached last year to raise the federal debt ceiling. Known as sequestration, the cuts were intended to motivate Congress to reach a deficit reduction deal to avoid them.

Opinion: Art that calls the fiscal cliff's bluff

Obama said Wednesday the Boehner proposal "defies logic" because it raises tax rates on some Americans, which Republicans said they didn't want, and lacks any spending cuts, which Republicans say they do want.

The White House and congressional Democrats say the Boehner plan B has no chance of passing Congress, and Obama added that bringing it up now wasted time as the deadline for an agreement looms ever closer.

In a background briefing with reporters, senior administration officials said no further talks have occurred between Obama and Boehner since Monday. According to the officials, Obama will delay his planned holiday trip to Hawaii on Friday if no deal is reached by then.

Republican Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas called Boehner's move a negotiating tactic, and GOP leaders sought to corral support for the plan B option.

If they can assure the outcome they seek, they plan to hold votes Thursday on both the Boehner proposal and Obama's longstanding demand to return to higher tax rates of the 1990s on income above $250,000 for families.

Obama made the tax proposal a central theme of his re-election campaign, arguing that it prevented a tax increase for middle-class Americans in a time of needed fiscal austerity.

Polls consistently show strong public support for the Obama plan, and some Republicans have called for giving the president what he wants on the tax issue in order to focus negotiations on the spending cuts and entitlement reforms sought by their party.

As part of the broader talks on reducing the nation's chronic federal deficits and debt, Obama on Monday raised the threshold for the higher tax rates to $400,000.

Budget experts: Fiscal cliff deal could disappoint

The Boehner proposal Tuesday would set the threshold at $1 million, and Democrats claimed he made it because he knows he can't get conservative House Republicans to back the agreement he is negotiating with the president.

"The Republicans in the House have rejected their own speaker's proposal at this stage," Rep. Xavier Becerra of California told reporters. "So, (at) this stage it seems like the real negotiation and fight is among Republicans."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Boehner's backup plan appeared to be a result of pressure from tea party conservatives opposing a wider deal.

"It would be a shame if Republicans abandoned productive negotiations due to pressure from the tea party, as they have time and again," Reid said.

Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel, shot back that the plan B proposal gave Democrats exactly what they wanted -- higher tax rates on millionaires. He noted that the Senate passed a similar measure in 2010, saying that to oppose Boehner's plan now would make Democrats responsible for failing to avoid the fiscal cliff.

That brought a response from a spokesman for Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who came up with the 2010 compromise that never won House approval.

Since the 2010 vote, "we've had an election on the president's tax plan, the president won, and Republicans can't turn the clock back," said the spokesman, Brian Fallons.

"It's not surprising Republicans are having buyer's remorse, but we need higher revenues now," Fallons said. "The more revenue we raise up front through a tax rate increase on the wealthy, the less likely the middle class will get hit on the deduction side."

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney made a similar point, telling reporters that Obama wants to lock in the increased revenue from higher tax rates on top income brackets now.

Expected negotiations next year on a broader reform of the tax system would be "revenue neutral," meaning the changes would result in no increase or decrease of overall tax revenue, Carney said.

Conservatives trying to shrink the federal government generally oppose increasing tax revenue. They are particularly opposed to higher tax rates because history shows that once rates go up, it is difficult to later reduce government revenue by lowering them again.

Obama and Democrats argue that increased revenue, including higher tax rates on the wealthy, must be part of broader deficit reduction to prevent the middle class from getting hit too hard.

The president previously said that once Republicans agreed to higher tax rates on wealthy Americans, he would be willing to compromise on spending cuts and entitlement reforms sought by Boehner as part of what the president calls a balanced approach.

What happens if the payroll tax cut expires

After weeks of little progress and much ideological pontificating, both sides started making concessions after two face-to-face meetings last week.

Over the weekend, Boehner offered for the first time to accept tax rate increases on household income of $1 million and above, sources said. The speaker also offered to allow the president to raise the debt ceiling in 2013 without a messy political fight, another key Obama demand.

In response, Obama on Monday offered $200 million in new cuts to discretionary federal government spending, divided evenly between defense and non-defense programs.

The president also included for the first time a provision to change the formula for adjusting entitlement benefits for inflation based on the consumer price index, or CPI, and he dropped an extension of a payroll tax cut from the past two years.

According to a source who provided CNN with details of Obama's counteroffer, it included $1.2 trillion in revenue increases and $1.22 trillion in spending reductions.

However, Republicans disputed those figures, saying the Obama offer really was $1.3 trillion in additional revenue and $850 billion in spending reductions.

Working out those differences appeared to be a key to reaching a comprehensive deficit reduction deal by the end of the year. At the same time, Boehner's plan B offer signaled a possible diversion for now, though.

Obama's latest offer brought the two sides billions of dollars closer, but it also generated protests from the liberal base of the Democratic Party because it included some benefit cuts in entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Justin Ruben, executive director of MoveOn, the liberal movement that backed Obama's presidential campaigns, said the group's members would consider any benefit cuts "a betrayal that sells out working and middle-class families."

In particular, liberals cited concessions that Obama made in his Monday counteroffer, including the new inflation formula applied to benefits that is called chained CPI.

Obama offers fiscal cliff tax concession

The chained CPI includes assumptions on consumer habits with regard to rising prices, such as seeking cheaper alternatives, and would result in smaller benefit increases in future years.

Statistics supplied by opponents say the change would mean Social Security recipients would get $6,000 less in benefits over the first 15 years of chained CPI.

However, Carney, the White House spokesman, said Obama's CPI proposal includes a provision "that would protect vulnerable communities including the very elderly when it comes to Social Security recipients." He called the president's acceptance of the chained CPI a signal of his willingness to compromise.

It was the latest in a series of concessions by both sides since last week's school shooting in Connecticut that killed 20 children.

Asked if the massacre affected what had been incremental negotiations, Boehner said: "I think both sides would agree to that."

"This is a difficult time for Americans," he said, adding that "it's not a time to put Americans through more stress."

Carney acknowledged that the Newtown tragedy had affected all Americans and "reminds us what really matters," but he stopped short of saying it had directly affected the talks.

"It's obviously hard to know what the impact of an event like that is on the way that lawmakers and others in Washington approach other issues," he told reporters. He later added, "To the extent that an event like that, as tragic as it is, brings us a little closer together, both in the nation and in Washington, that would be a good thing, but it's hard to measure an impact like that."

Congress had been scheduled to end its work last week, but legislators returned to Washington on Monday and leaders warned members to be prepared to stay until Christmas, return after the holiday and stay until the end of the year.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, said a deal would have to be reached by Christmas to allow time for the legislative process to approve the required measure or measures by the end of the year.

CNN's Dan Lothian, Dana Bash, Deirdre Walsh and Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.

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State Dept. officials resign following Benghazi report

Eric Boswell, the head of diplomatic security at the State Department, has resigned, CBS News confirmed, following the release of a harsh report detailing State Department missteps that led to the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

Two other officials are resigning as well, CBS News has confirmed: Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary responsible for embassy security, and an unnamed person from the State Department's near eastern affairs department.

Boswell's resignation from his post as assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security is effective immediately. Sources say he will stay on as director of the Office of Foreign Missions for a short, indefinite time.

The report, released today by an independent board led by retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, did not single out any individuals for culpability. It did, however, blame failures within two bureaus at the State Department for the missteps that eventually lead to the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three additional American personnel in Libya. The two bureaus cited -- Near Eastern Affairs and Diplomatic Security -- were criticized for a security posture that was "grossly inadequate to deal with the attack," and for failing to coordinate with other agencies to better secure the consulate.

Members of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees were briefed on the report this morning. After the briefings, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the report "is going to significantly advance the security of personnel and our country."

A number of congressmen said today that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should still testify before Congress on the Benghazi attack. Clinton was scheduled to testify on the Benghazi attack this Thursday in two congressional hearings. However, after falling ill and suffering from a concussion, she's no longer scheduled to appear at the hearings. Clinton sent a letter to Congress, indicating she accepts the Benghazi report's 29 recommendations for strengthening security at diplomatic posts and recognizes the the need to address the "systemic challenges" at the State Department.

House Foreign Affairs Chairwoman Ileana Ros-lehtinen, R-Fla., said Clinton "absolutely" still needs to testify. Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., said committee members still have many questions and that today's closed-door briefing was just the start.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said it was "imperative" for Clinton to testify before a new secretary of state is confirmed in President Obama's second term.

"I think that is very important to her, I think it is very important for our country, and I think it is very important to really understand the inner workings of the State Department itself," he said.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said in a statement that Clinton will need to "personally address" issues he feels were not addressed entirely in the report.

"While I appreciate the board's hard work, I am deeply concerned that the unclassified report omits important information the public has a right to know," Issa said. "This includes details about the perpetrators of the attack in Libya as well as the less-than-noble reasons contributing to State Department decisions to deny security resources. Relevant details that would not harm national security have been withheld and the classified report suffers from an enormous over-classification problem."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., by contrast, called the report's conclusions "very stark, very candid, very honest."

The report, he said, "told us the following: Mistakes were made, lives were lost, lessons need to be learned." Durbin said the review board's conclusions were: "Our intelligence fell short, our security personnel were inexperienced and unprepared, our security systems failed, our host nation was lacking in protection for our own people, and senior State Department officials unfortunately showed a lack of leadership and management ability."

He added, "That is a challenge to all of us, it is a challenge for us to assess this in an honest fashion and to change policy to put resources in place that will make a difference."

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Inside One School's Extraordinary Security Measures

While schools across America reassess their security measures in the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., one school outside of Chicago takes safety to a whole new level.

The security measures at Middleton Elementary School start the moment you set foot on campus, with a camera-equipped doorbell. When you ring the doorbell, school employees inside are immediately able to see you, both through a window and on a security camera.

“They can assess your demeanor,” Kate Donegan, the superintendent of Skokie School District 73 ½, said in an interview with ABC News.

Once the employees let you through the first set of doors, you are only able to go as far as a vestibule. There you hand over your ID so the school can run a quick background check using a visitor management system devised by Raptor Technologies. According to the company’s CEO, Jim Vesterman, only 8,000 schools in the country are using that system, while more than 100,000 continue to use the old-fashioned pen-and-paper system, which do not do as much to drive away unwanted intruders.

“Each element that you add is a deterrent,” Vesterman said.

In the wake of the Newtown shooting, Vesterman told ABC News his company has been “flooded” with calls to put in place the new system. Back at Middleton, if you pass the background check, you are given a new photo ID — attached to a bright orange lanyard — to wear the entire time you are inside the school. Even parents who come to the school on a daily basis still have to wear the lanyard.

“The rules apply to everyone,” Donegan said.

The security measures don’t end there. Once you don your lanyard and pass through a second set of locked doors, you enter the school’s main hallway, while security cameras continue to feed live video back into the front office.

It all comes at a cost. Donegan’s school district — with the help of security consultant Paul Timm of RETA Security — has spent more than $175,000 on the system in the last two years. For a district of only three schools and 1100 students, that is a lot of money, but it is all worth it, she said.

“I don’t know that there’s too big a pricetag to put on kids being as safe as they can be,” Donegan said.

“So often we hear we can’t afford it, but what we can’t afford is another terrible incident,” Timm said.

Classroom doors open inward — not outward — and lock from the inside, providing teachers and students security if an intruder is in the hallway. Some employees carry digital two-way radios, enabling them to communicate at all times with the push of a button. Administrators such as Donegan are able to watch the school’s security video on their mobile devices. Barricades line the edge of the school’s parking lot, keeping cars from pulling up close to the entrance.

Teachers say all the security makes them feel safe inside the school.

“I think the most important thing is just keeping the kids safe,” fourth-grade teacher Dara Sacher said.

Parents like Charlene Abraham, whose son Matthew attends Middleton, say they feel better about dropping off their kids knowing the school has such substantial security measures in place.

“We’re sending our kids to school to learn, not to worry about whether they’re going to come home or not,” she said.

In the wake of the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook last Friday, Donegan’s district is now even looking into installing bullet-resistant glass for the school building. While Middleton’s security measures continue to put administrators, teachers, parents and students at ease, Sacher said she thinks that more extreme measures — such as arming teachers, an idea pushed by Oregon state Rep. Dennis Richardson — are a step too far.

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable being armed,” Sacher said. “Even if you trained people, I think it’d be better to keep the guns out of school rather than arm teachers.”

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Today on New Scientist: 19 December 2012

Cassini captures spectacle in Saturn's shadow

Saturn blocks out the sun to reveal its rings in all their splendour in this image from the Cassini spacecraft

Fabricated future: The sceptic's guide to 3D printing

3D printing is a revolutionary technology, but never mind the hype, says MacGregor Campbell - it will make its impact in unexpected ways

Best videos of 2012: Soap bubbles create 3D display

Watch the world's thinnest screen display vivid images, at number 8 in our countdown of this year's top videos.

Nearby Tau Ceti may host two planets suited to life

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Dogs - great people pleasers, less good as chauffeurs

Videos of dogs driving cars have become a global hit and prompted wild claims of canine intelligence. Not so fast, argues an animal cognition researcher

'Pinch-and-paste' app boosts your interior design skills

Want to see what your couch would look like in any colour or fabric? A new augmented reality app lets you virtually trick out your living room before you buy

Our deep relationship with water

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Blame bacteria if you start putting on weight

A man lost about 30 per cent of his body mass on a diet designed to inhibit Enterobacter - adding to mounting evidence that bacteria causes obesity

Micro-origami uses cells to fold itself

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2013 Smart Guide: Revolutionary human stem cell trial

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App for quizzing your way to being a mastermind

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Obama calls for gun violence proposals within a month

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Wednesday set up a task force to frame "concrete proposals" on ending mass shootings by next month and called for new laws, but denied he had been on "vacation" on gun control.

With trauma still raw after the Connecticut school massacre last week, Obama put Vice President Joe Biden in charge of an inter-agency effort on gun control and mental health, saying America had a "deep obligation" to act.

Obama, who failed to put political muscle behind greater gun control after previous mass slaughters, dismissed the notion that the task force would simply be a familiar, toothless Washington policy commission with little impact.

And he said killings of 20 children aged six and seven and six teachers and caregivers in the elementary school in Newtown were so horrific they should provide lawmakers with a potent incentive for action, even when the initial shock fades.

"I would hope that our memories aren't so short that what we saw in Newtown isn't lingering with us, that we don't remain passionate about it only a month later," Obama said at the White House.

"This is a team that has a very specific task to pull together real reforms right now.

"I will be putting forward very specific proposals. I will be talking about them in my State of the Union, and we will be working with interested members of Congress to try to get something done."

Obama urged the slow moving Congress to hold timely votes on banning military-style assault weapons like the one used by gunman Adam Lanza in Newtown and also on outlawing the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips.

He also called for new laws to ensure background checks for all gun purchases and signalled an effort to expand mental health care, in an effort to deter psychologically troubled people from turning to mass violence.

"We're going to need to make access to mental health at least as easy as access to a gun. We're going to need to look more closely at a culture that, all too often, glorifies guns and violence."

Biden has a history of framing crime legislation from his years in the Senate, has an affinity with law enforcement services, and also enjoys the kind of cordial links with many top Republicans in Congress that Obama lacks.

Obama, who comforted relatives of Newtown victims on Sunday, bristled when asked by a reporter whether he had been absent on gun control issues, following mass killings in Colorado, Arizona and Texas on his watch.

"I've been president of the United States, dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, an auto industry on the verge of collapse, two wars. I don't think I've been on vacation."

Obama, who many conservatives believe wants to take away their guns, also said he supported the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which enshrines the right to bear arms in the United States.

"There is a big chunk of space between what, you know, the Second Amendment means and having no rules at all," he said.

Obama also called on the National Rifle Association, the most powerful gun lobby group which piles pressure on lawmakers over gun rights, to consider its priorities, before senior figures hold a news conference on Friday.

"The NRA is an organisation that has members who are mothers and fathers, and I would expect that they've been impacted by this as well, and hopefully they'll do some self-reflection."

The aftermath of the horrific shootings in Connecticut has prompted some pro-gun figures on Capitol Hill to admit that more needs to be done to regulate the sale and use of firearms.

But most evidence of shifting positions has been among Democrats, and there are signs that Republicans, especially those from rural, southern and conservative states may balk at new legislative action.

In another development Wednesday, Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller announced a bill that would require a National Academy of Sciences assessment of links between violent games and violence.

Lanza was reportedly a fan of violent video games including "Dynasty Warriors."

- AFP/de

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"In Cold Blood" killers' remains exhumed

LANSING, Kan. Kansas officials have exhumed the bodies of two men executed for the 1959 slayings of a Kansas family made infamous in Truman Capote's nonfiction novel, "In Cold Blood."

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said the bodies of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith were exhumed Tuesday at the Mount Muncie Cemetery in Lansing at the request of Florida officials.

The Sarasota County, Fla., sheriff's office asked for the exhumation to collect DNA that could help solve the 1959 murders of Cliff and Christine Walker and their two children in Osprey, Fla.

A sheriff's office representative observed the exhumations, CBS Topeka affiliate WIBW-TV reports.

Smith's and Hickock's remains are buried in a private cemetery in Leavenworth County, WIBW-TV reports.

The Walkers were killed soon after the slayings of Herb Clutter and his family in Holcomb, Kan.

Sarasota officials say Hickock and Smith fled to Florida after the Kansas killings and were in the area when the Walkers were killed.

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Threat Closes Newtown Elementary School

Local officials closed a Newtown, Conn., elementary school following a threat on what would have been the first day of classes since a shooting rampage at nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Classes at Head O'Meadow Elementary School were scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET, but as parents and students arrived at the school they encountered police who turned them away.

Principal Barbara Gasparine sent an email to parents telling them that school would be closed rather than locked down due to the threats, the nature of which was not specified.

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"As was predicted by the police that there would be some threats, the police were prepared and have us in lockdown, which is our normal procedure. Due to the situation, students will not come to school today. Please make arrangements to keep them home," Gasparine wrote parents in an email obtained by ABC News.

Newtown police would not specify the type of threat, calling the school closure a "precautionary measure" in the wake of last week's shooting that left 20 children and six adults of Sandy Hook dead.

Reporters at the school to cover the arrival of Newtown students on the first day since the massacre were pushed back by police a quarter of mile away from the school.

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Sandy Hook Elementary and Head O'Meadow are 4.5 miles away from each other, and in the same district.

Sandy Hook is classified an active crime scene and will remain closed "indefinitely," according to authorities.

Officials are moving furniture and supplies from Sandy Hook classrooms to a former middle school in nearby Monroe, Conn. A start date for those students has yet to be determined.

Teachers photographed their classrooms at Sandy Hook and are recreating them -- down to the crayons left on students desks -- at the new site in Monroe, in an attempt to make incoming students feel as comfortable as possible.

New security systems are being installed at Chalk Hill school, and Newtown councilman Steve Vavrek said when the schools opens it will be "the safest school in America."

It was a somber day for many parents who sent their students back to school. Green and white ribbons adorned the grilles of Newtown school buses this morning.

There was a heavy police presence atthe schools-- 15 police departments had been called in to help with security and there were several units at each school, an officer said.

At Hawley Elementary, families walked their children to school. One tearful mother told ABC that the time is right to go back to school for her fourth grader. Another father told us that this is "a day of great sadness" but that "it will be good to get back into a routine." He addressed concerns of a premature return, saying that "There's no rulebook for this...is there ever a right day?"

At Newtown Middle School, lines of parents waited to drop off their kids. One teacher hugged a student as he exited the car. Children in school buses waved at reporters as they drove by.

And at Reed Intermediate, a memorial has been set up in the center island. Encircling the flag pole are three wreaths, bouquets of flowers, a host of green and white balloons, and what appears to be notes.

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