Conn. Shooter Adam Lanza: 'Obviously Not Well'

Adam Lanza of Newtown, Connecticut was a child of the suburbs and a child of divorce who at age 20 still lived with his mother.

This morning he appears to have started his day by shooting his mother Nancy in the face, and then drove her car to nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, armed with two handguns and a semi-automatic rifle.

There, before turning his gun on himself, he shot and killed 20 children, who President Obama later described as "beautiful little kids" between five and 10 years of age. Six adults were also killed at the school. Nancy Lanza was found dead in her home.

A relative told ABC News that Adam was "obviously not well."

Family friends in Newtown also described the young man as troubled and described Nancy as rigid. "[Adam] was not connected with the other kids," said Barbara Frey, who also said he was "a little bit different ... Kind of repressed."

State and federal authorities believe his mother may have once worked at the elementary school where Adam went on his deadly rampage, although she was not a teacher, according to relatives, perhaps a volunteer.

Nancy and her husband Peter, Adam's father, divorced in 2009. When they first filed for divorce in 2008, a judge ordered that they participate in a "parenting education program."

Peter Lanza, who drove to northern New Jersey to talk to police and the FBI, is a vice president at GE Capital and had been a partner at global accounting giant Ernst & Young.

Adam's older brother Ryan Lanza, 24, has worked at Ernst & Young for four years, apparently following in his father's footsteps and carving out a solid niche in the tax practice. He too was interviewed by the FBI. Neither he nor his father is under any suspicion.

"[Ryan] is a tax guy and he is clean as a whistle," a source familiar with his work said.

Police had initially identified Ryan as the killer. Ryan sent out a series of Facebook posts saying it wasn't him and that he was at work all day. Video records as well as card swipes at Ernst & Young verified his statement that he had been at the office.

Two federal sources told ABC News that identification belonging to Ryan Lanza was found at the scene of the mass shooting. They say that identification may have led to the confusion by authorities during the first hours after the shooting. Neither Adam nor Ryan has any known criminal history.

A Sig Sauer handgun and a Glock handgun were used in the slaying and .223 shell casings – a round used in a semi-automatic military-style rifle -- were also found at the scene. Nancy Lanza had numerous weapons registered to her, including a Glock and a Sig Sauer. She also owned a Bushmaster rifle -- a semi-automatic carbine chambered for a .223 caliber round. However, federal authorities cannot confirm that the handguns or the rifle were the weapons recovered at the school.

Numerous relatives of the Lanzas in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, as well as multiple friends, are being interviewed by the FBI in an effort to put together a better picture of the gunman and any explanation for today's tragedy.

"I think the most important thing to point out with this kind of individual is that he did not snap this morning and decide to act out violently," said former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole. "These acts involve planning and thoughtfulness and strategizing in order to put the plan together so what may appear to be snap behavior is not that at all."

With reporting by Pierre Thomas, Jim Avila, Santina Leuci, Aaron Katersky, Matthew Mosk, Jason Ryan and Jay Shaylor

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Today on New Scientist: 13 December 2012

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First results from James Cameron's trip to the abyss

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China shares up over 3% on data, policy hopes

SHANGHAI: Chinese shares were up more than three per cent in afternoon trade on Friday on fresh signs of an economic recovery and hopes new policies will emerge from a key government meeting, dealers said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped 3.02 per cent, or 62.24 points, to 2,123.72.

British banking giant HSBC said on Friday its preliminary purchasing managers' index (PMI) hit a 14-month high of 50.9 in December, compared with a final reading of 50.5 for November.

"The PMI data confirmed that the domestic economy has turned for the better. The index was also pushed up by expectations for policies from the economic work conference," Zheshang Securities analyst Zhang Yanbing told AFP.

China is expected to hold its annual economic work conference over the weekend to lay out policies for next year, state media reported.

- AFP/xq

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Chinese arbitrators rule against brain-damaged Foxconn worker

This is the gate of the Fosconn factories in Shenzhen.

(Credit:
Jay Greene/CNET)

Chinese labor arbitrators have ruled against the father of a Foxconn worker severely injured in a factory explosion last year, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.

Zhang Guangde -- Zhang Tingzhen's father -- took Foxconn to court in October, a year after his sone was hit with a massive electrical shock while repairing a spotlight in Foxconn's Shenzhen factory. Zhang suffered major brain damage after falling 12 feet to the ground, an injury that required doctors to remove half of his brain to keep him alive.

Since the accident, Foxconn had been paying for Zhang's medical bills. However, earlier this year, the company text-messaged his family, saying that his payments would be cut off unless he moves from the more-expensive Shenzhen area to Huizhou, which is 43 miles away.

Zhang Guangde argued that his son is incapable of traveling and said Foxconn, which has come under fire by the Fair Labor Association for its treatment of employees, should continue to pay for his son's medical bills. The company, however, had said that it would not pay for his bills in Shenzhen any longer because he wasn't hired there -- another claim Zhang's father rejected.

Chinese companies have been accused of hiring workers in low-wage areas to work in higher-priced cities to reduce expenses -- a practice Foxconn has denied following in Zhang's case.

The Shenzhen labor dispute arbitration committee ruled against the elder Zhang after the company produced a contract from August 2011 that showed his son was hired to work at Foxconn's Huizhou facility, according to documents reviewed Friday by Reuters.

Zhang's attorney said an appeal is planned.

In a statement to CNET, Foxconn asserted that the travel requirement is part of a government-mandated assessment process for a government-funded insurance policy. The company has since informed Zhang's family it would make up any difference in cost of care based on where he receives his care and where he was hired that the government covered. However, a Foxconn representative would not confirm that that offer would still apply if Zhang was unable to travel for the evaluation.

The company also promised that his place of employment would have no bearing on the level of support Foxconn offers to Zhang.

"Our company is providing financial and medical support that is above what is required by Chinese labor law because we believe it is the right thing to do and we want to ensure the well-being of Mr. Zhang and his family during this challenging time. We are also working with the family and medical experts to determine the long-term care and support that Mr. Zhang will need in order to ensure his medical and other needs are met," the company said in a statement to CNET.

Foxconn, which produces consumer electronics for companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Sony, has come under scrutiny in the past few years amid reports of employees committing suicide at company facilities. The company has also been accused of employing underage laborers, providing poor living conditions at its dormitory housing, and overworking employees.

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Global Checkup: Most People Living Longer, But Sicker

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

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

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

First, the good news:

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

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

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

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

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

And the bad:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Health-Exchange Deadline Looms

All of the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare," doesn't go into effect until 2014, but states are required to set up their own health care exchanges or leave it to the federal government to step in by next year. The deadline for the governors' decisions is Friday.

The health insurance exchanges are one of the key stipulations of the new health care law. They will offer consumers an Internet-based marketplace for purchasing private health insurance plans.

But the president's signature health care plan has become so fraught with politics that whether governors agreed to set up the exchanges has fallen mostly along party lines.

Such partisanship is largely symbolic because if a state opts not to set up the exchange, the Department of Health and Human Services will do it for them as part of the federal program. That would not likely be well-received by Republican governors, either, but the law forces each state's chief executive to make a decision one way or the other.

Here's what it looks like in all 50 states and the District of Columbia:

20 states that have opted out -- N.J., S.C., La., Wis., Ohio, Maine, Ala., Alaska, Ariz., Ga., Pa., Kan., Neb., N.H., N.D., Okla., S.D., Tenn., Texas and Wyo.

Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

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Several Republican governors have said they will not set up the exchanges, including Chris Christie (N.J.), Nikki Haley (S.C.), Bobby Jindal (La.), Scott Walker (Wis.), John Kasich (Ohio), Paul LePage (Maine), Robert Bentley (Ala.), Sean Parnell (Ark.), Jan Brewer (Ariz.), Nathan Deal (Ga.), Tom Corbett (Pa.), Sam Brownback (Kan.), Dave Heineman (Neb.), John Lynch (N.H.), Jack Dalrymple (N.D.), Mary Fallin (Okla.), Dennis Daugaard (S.D.), Bill Haslam (Tenn.), Rick Perry (Texas), and Matt Mead (Wyo.).

3 States Out, but a Little More Complicated -- Mont., Ind. and Mo.

The Montana outgoing and incoming governors are both Democrats, but the Republican state legislature rejected the Democratic state auditor's request to start setting up a state exchange. So a federal exchange will be set up in Montana as well.

The Indiana outgoing and incoming governors are both Republicans and outgoing Gov. Mitch Daniels deferred the decision to governor-elect and U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, who said his preference is not to set up a state health care exchange, paving the way for the feds to come in too.

In Missouri, Gov. Jay Nixon is a Democrat, but Prop E passed on Nov. 6, which barred his administration from creating a state-based exchange without a public vote or the approval of the state legislature. After the election, he sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services saying he would be unable to set up a state-based exchange, meaning the federal government would have to set up its own.

1 State Waiting for the White House -- Utah

Utah already has a state exchange set up, a Web-based tool where small-business employees can shop and compare health insurance with contributions from their employee. In a letter Republican Gov. Gary Herbert sent to the White House Tuesday, he asked for its exchange, called Avenue H, to be approved as a state-based exchange under the Affordable Care Act as long as state officials can open it to individuals and larger businesses.

Norm Thurston, the state's health reform implementation coordinator, says authorities there "haven't received an official response" from the White House, but "we anticipate getting one soon."

There are some sticking points that don't comply with the exchanges envisioned by the Affordable Care Act and Utah would like to keep it that way.

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UK government urged to consider relaxing drug rules

JUST say yes to considering relaxed drug controls, urged a panel of UK parliamentarians this week - but Prime Minister David Cameron has rejected the calls.

Many countries have loosened their penalties for drug use, including the Czech Republic and Portugal, which introduced a "de-penalisation" strategy in 2000. Citizens caught in possession avoid criminal records but must attend drug advice sessions. Last month, the US states of Colorado and Washington voted to legalise the recreational use of cannabis.

The UK report calls for the effects of these legal moves to be monitored. "Drugs policy ought to be evidence-based as much as possible," it concludes. "We recommend that the government fund a detailed research project to monitor the effects of each legalisation system."

The report notes that 21 countries have now introduced some form of decriminalisation. But the government's response has been lukewarm. "I don't support decriminalisation," said Cameron. "We have a policy which actually is working in Britain. Drugs use is coming down."

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China 'lacks leverage' over N. Korea: state media

BEIJING: Beijing lacks leverage over North Korea and will block moves for strong new sanctions for fear of weakening its position further, Chinese state media said Thursday following Pyongyang's rocket launch.

China is the North's sole major ally, considered the nation with the most influence over Pyongyang, and after Wednesday's rocket flight US officials urged it to intervene.

But in an editorial Thursday the state-run Global Times said: "China's ability to influence countries in the region is limited... The real problem is China's strength is not sufficient to influence its neighbour's situation."

"NK move shows China's lack of leverage" read its headline.

China voiced "regret" over the launch but state press said it could not support strong further measures against Pyongyang for fear of weakening its relationship.

A bellicose Western reaction risked driving North Korea into a corner with potentially devastating results, editorials said.

"That is why China should not take a cooperative stance with the US, Japan and South Korea in imposing sanctions on North Korea," the Global Times said.

"China will veto radical resolutions made by the three countries. At the same time North Korea should pay for its actions."

It acknowledged fears in the region should North Korea eventually be able to arm a ballistic missile with a nuclear weapon.

The reaction to the launch "is almost the same as that of North Korea's nuclear test", the paper said, and "a vicious circle" of escalation could lead to Japan abandoning its pacifist constitution and threaten peace in Northeast Asia.

The situation was "subtle, complex and dangerous", said the People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party, urging calm and a return to the six-party talks on North Korea hosted by China and including Russia, the United States, South Korea and Japan.

"The reaction by the Security Council should be prudent and measured," the paper added.

One columnist in Global Times, which often takes a nationalist stance, suggested that China should seize the opportunity to establish a regional security framework.

The country is embroiled in territorial disputes with Japan over islands in the East China Sea, and several littoral states over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety.

"Now it's high time to establish a political and security mechanism," wrote Ding Gang. "China is a big power in the region.

"China itself will certainly be confined by the mechanism, but the credibility it acquires will be more important. "The mechanism will not only regulate North Korea, but also the Philippines and Vietnam."

- AFP/ck

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Google Maps returns to iOS as an app after Apple's removal

Screen shots of Google's new Maps app for iOS.

(Credit:
Google)

Once banished from Apple's iOS, Google Maps has returned to the mobile platform in the form of a standalone app.

The official Google Maps app returned to Apple's App store this evening. As expected, the new free app includes turn-by-turn navigation, just like its
Android counterpart, as well as public transit directions, integrated Street View, and a 3D-like Google Earth view.

However, as quickly as it showed up, the app has apparently vanished from the App Store. Many iOS users complained about not being able to complete the purchase, getting a message that "the item you tried to buy is no longer available." (9:05 p.m. PT update -- It's back in the store.)

Error message would-be Google Maps buyers are seeing.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Declan McCullagh/CNET)

CNET has contacted Google and Apple for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

Early reviews of the new app appear to be positive.

The app features a "beautiful interface and a lighter feel," one early user told CNET. "It has far more information when it comes to listing places like restaurants."

Google supplied the map function to iOS devices until the release of
iOS 6 this fall, when it was replaced by Apple's homegrown mapping solution. The maps were found to be rife with embarrassing errors, leading Apple CEO Tim Cook to issue a rare public apology on the subject.

Apple retreated on claims that the app was the "most powerful mapping service ever" and even began promoting other maps apps in its App Store.

The ouster of iOS software chief Scott Forstall was said to be linked to Cook's apology and Forstall's unwillingness to sign it. Richard Williamson, who was in charge of the company's maps software for iOS, was also reportedly fired.

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Hubble Discovers Oldest Known Galaxy

The Hubble space telescope has discovered seven primitive galaxies formed in the earliest days of the cosmos, including one believed to be the oldest ever detected.

The discovery, announced Wednesday, is part of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field campaign to determine how and when galaxies first assembled following the Big Bang.

"This 'cosmic dawn' was not a single, dramatic event," said astrophysicist Richard Ellis with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Rather, galaxies appear to have been formed over hundreds of millions of years.

Ellis led a team that used Hubble to look at one small section of the sky for a hundred hours. The grainy images of faint galaxies include one researchers determined to be from a period 380 million years after the onset of the universe—the closest in time to the Big Bang ever observed.

The cosmos is about 13.7 billion years old, so the newly discovered galaxy was present when the universe was 4 percent of its current age. The other six galaxies were sending out light from between 380 million and 600 million years after the Big Bang. (See pictures of "Hubble's Top Ten Discoveries.")

Baby Pictures

The images are "like the first ultrasounds of [an] infant," said Abraham Loeb, a specialist in the early cosmos at Harvard University. "These are the building blocks of the galaxies we now have."

These early galaxies were a thousand times denser than galaxies are now and were much closer together as well, Ellis said. But they were also less luminous than later galaxies.

The team used a set of four filters to analyze the near infrared wavelengths captured by Hubble Wide Field Camera 3, and estimated the galaxies' distances from Earth by studying their colors. At a NASA teleconference, team members said they had pushed Hubble's detection capabilities about as far as they could go and would most likely not be able to identify galaxies from further back in time until the James Webb Space Telescope launches toward the end of the decade. (Learn about the Hubble telescope.)

"Although we may have reached back as far as Hubble will see, Hubble has set the stage for Webb," said team member Anton Koekemoer of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "Our work indicates there is a rich field of even earlier galaxies that Webb will be able to study."

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