TIME magazine names Obama 2012 person of the year

NEW YORK: Time magazine on Wednesday named the recently re-elected US President Barack Obama as its person of the year for 2012 -- the second time it has accorded him this honor.

The venerable American news magazine said the United States is in the midst of huge cultural and demographic changes and Obama is "both the symbol and in some ways the architect of this new America."

The magazine noted that Obama was the first president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to win more than 50 per cent of the vote in two straight elections and the first since 1940 to be re-elected despite a jobless rate above 7.5 per cent.

Obama beat Republican Mitt Romney soundly in November's election to win a second four year term.

"In 2012, he found and forged a new majority, turned weakness into opportunity and sought, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union," said Time, which named Obama person of the year in 2008 when he became America's first black president.

- AFP/ck

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Bank official gets three years in jail for Rs 20,000 bribe

NEW DELHI: An official of Indian Overseas Bank was sentenced to three years in jail by a Visakhaptnam court for demanding a bribe of Rs 20,000 from another employee to help him get a transfer.

The Special Judge for CBI cases in Visakhaptnam sentenced V M M V Nagendra Rao, Special Cadre Assistant with the bank's Seetharampuram Branch in Vijayawada, to three years of simple imprisonment and also slapped a fine Rs 20,000.

According to the CBI chargesheet against Rao, the accused had demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a Clerk-cum-Cashier when he requested for a transfer to Kothagudem Branch on personal grounds, a CBI release said here today.

Rao, who was also Assistant General Secretary, All Indian Overseas Bank's Employees Union Vijayawada Region told the person that he can get it done by using his influence and demanded the bribe, the CBI said.

The complainant got a transfer to Kothagudem Branch in the second week of December 2007 after which Rao again demanded the bribe and warned that if he didn't get the money then he will get him transfred to a remote place, it said.

CBI laid a trap and allegedly caught the accused red handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from the complainant.

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Experts: Kids are resilient in coping with trauma

WASHINGTON (AP) — They might not want to talk about the gunshots or the screams. But their toys might start getting into imaginary shootouts.

Last week's school shooting in Connecticut raises the question: What will be the psychological fallout for the children who survived?

For people of any age, regaining a sense of security after surviving violence can take a long time. They're at risk for lingering anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder.

But after the grief and fear fades, psychiatrists say most of Newtown's young survivors probably will cope without long-term emotional problems.

"Kids do tend to be highly resilient," said Dr. Matthew Biel, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

And one way that younger children try to make sense of trauma is through play. Youngsters may pull out action figures or stuffed animals and re-enact what they witnessed, perhaps multiple times.

"That's the way they gain mastery over a situation that's overwhelming," Biel explained, saying it becomes a concern only if the child is clearly distressed while playing.

Nor is it unusual for children to chase each other playing cops-and-robbers, but now parents might see some also pretending they're dead, added Dr. Melissa Brymer of the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.

Among the challenges will be spotting which children are struggling enough that they may need professional help.

Newtown's tragedy is particularly heart-wrenching because of what such young children grappled with — like the six first-graders who apparently had to run past their teacher's body to escape to safety.

There's little scientific research specifically on PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, in children exposed to a burst of violence, and even less to tell if a younger child will have a harder time healing than an older one.

Overall, scientists say studies of natural disasters and wars suggest most children eventually recover from traumatic experiences while a smaller proportion develop long-term disorders such as PTSD. Brymer says in her studies of school shootings, that fraction can range from 10 percent to a quarter of survivors, depending on what they actually experienced. A broader 2007 study found 13 percent of U.S. children exposed to different types of trauma reported some symptoms of PTSD, although less than 1 percent had enough for an official diagnosis.

Violence isn't all that rare in childhood. In many parts of the world — and in inner-city neighborhoods in the U.S., too — children witness it repeatedly. They don't become inured to it, Biel said, and more exposure means a greater chance of lasting psychological harm.

In Newtown, most at risk for longer-term problems are those who saw someone killed, said Dr. Carol North of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who has researched survivors of mass shootings.

Friday's shootings were mostly in two classrooms of Sandy Hook Elementary School, which has about 450 students through fourth-grade.

But those who weren't as close to the danger may be at extra risk, too, if this wasn't their first trauma or they already had problems such as anxiety disorders that increase their vulnerability, she said.

Right after a traumatic event, it's normal to have nightmares or trouble sleeping, to stick close to loved ones, and to be nervous or moody, Biel said.

To help, parents will have to follow their child's lead. Grilling a child about a traumatic experience isn't good, he stressed. Some children will ask a lot of questions, seeking reassurance, he said. Others will be quiet, thinking about the experience and maybe drawing or writing about it, or acting it out at playtime. Younger children may regress, becoming clingy or having tantrums.

Before second grade, their brains also are at a developmental stage some refer to as magical thinking, when it's difficult to distinguish reality and fantasy. Parents may have to help them understand that a friend who died isn't in pain or lonely but also isn't coming back, Brymer said.

When problem behaviors or signs of distress continue for several weeks, Brymer says it's time for an evaluation by a counselor or pediatrician.

Besides a supportive family, what helps? North advises getting children back into routines, together with their friends, and easing them back into a school setting. Studies of survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks found "the power of the support of the people who went through it with you is huge," she said.

Children as young as first-graders can benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy, Georgetown's Biel said. They can calm themselves with breathing techniques. They also can learn to identify and label their feelings — anger, frustration, worry — and how to balance, say, a worried thought with a brave one.

Finally, avoid watching TV coverage of the shooting, as children may think it's happening all over again, Biel added. He found that children who watched the 9/11 clips of planes hitting the World Trade Center thought they were seeing dozens of separate attacks.

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EDITOR'S NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

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Siblings of Sandy Hook Victims Face Survivor's Guilt

Six-year-old Arielle Pozner was in a classroom at Sandy Hook school when Adam Lanza burst into the school with his rifle and handguns. Her twin brother, Noah, was in a classroom down the hall.

Noah Pozner was killed by Lanza, along with 19 other children at the school, and six adults. Arielle and other students' siblings survived.

"That's going to be incredibly difficult to cope with," said Dr. Jamie Howard, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute in New York. "It is not something we expect her to cope with today and be OK with tomorrow."

READ: Two Adult Survivors of Connecticut School Shooting Will be Key Witnesses

As the community of Newtown, Conn., begins to bury the young victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting today, the equally young siblings of those killed will only be starting to comprehend what happened to their brothers and sisters.

"Children this young do experience depression in a diagnosable way, they do experience post-traumatic stress disorder. Just because they're young, they don't escape the potential for real suffering," said Rahil Briggs, a child psychologist and professor at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

President Obama on Newtown Shooting: 'We Must Change' Watch Video

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Arielle and other survivor siblings could develop anxiety or other emotional reactions to their siblings' death, including "associative logic," where they associate their own actions with their sibling's death, Howard said.

"This is when two things happen, and (children) infer that one thing caused the other. (Arielle) may be at risk for that type of magical thinking, and that could be where survivor's guilt comes in. She may think she did something, but of course she didn't," Howard said.

CLICK HERE for photos from the shooting scene.

Children in families where one sibling has died sometimes struggle as their parents are overwhelmed by grief, Howard noted. When that death is traumatic, adults and children sometimes choose not to think about the person or the event to avoid pain.

Interested in How to Help Newtown Families?

"With traumatic grief, it's really important to talk about and think about the children that died, not to avoid talking and thinking about them because that interferes with grieving process, want their lives to be celebrated," Howard said.

Children may also have difficulty understanding why their deceased brother or sister is receiving so much, or so little, attention, according Briggs.

"I think one of the most challenging questions we can be faced with as parents is how to 'appropriately' remember a child that is gone. So much that can go wrong with that," Briggs said. "You have the child who is fortunate enough to escape, who thinks 'Why me? Why did my brother go?' But if you don't remember the sibling enough the child says 'it seems like we've forgotten my brother.'"

"They may even find themselves feeling jealous of all the attention the sibling seems to be receiving," Briggs said.

Parents and other adults in the family's support system need to be on alert, watching the child's behavior, she said. Children could show signs of withdrawing, or seeming spacy or in a daze. They could also seem jumpy or have difficulty concentrating in the wake of a traumatic event.

"For kids experiencing symptoms, and interfering with ability to go to school, they may be suffering from acute stress disorder, and there are good treatments," Howard said.

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Egypt opposition to protest against "invalid" constitution

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's opposition will hold new protests on Tuesday against an Islamist-backed draft constitution that has divided the nation but which looks set to be approved in the second round of a referendum next weekend.

Islamist President Mohamed Mursi obtained a 57 percent "yes" vote for the constitution in a first round of the referendum on Saturday, state media said, less than he had hoped for.

The result is likely to embolden the opposition, which says the law is too Islamist. But they are unlikely to win this Saturday's second round, to be held in districts seen as even more sympathetic towards Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Protesters broke out into cheers when the public prosecutor Mursi appointed last month announced his resignation late on Monday. Further signs of opposition emerged when a judges' club urged its members not to supervise Saturday's vote. But the call is not binding on members and balloting is expected to go ahead.

If the constitution passes next weekend, national elections can take place early next year, something many hope will help end the turmoil that has gripped Egypt since the fall of Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago.

The main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, said there were widespread voting violations in the first round of the referendum and urged organizers to ensure that the second round was properly supervised.

It has called for protests across Egypt on Tuesday "to stop forgery and bring down the invalid draft constitution" and wants organizers to re-run the first round of voting.

The Ministry of Justice said it was appointing a group of judges to investigate allegations of voting irregularities around the country.

DEMONSTRATIONS

In Cairo, the Front planned to hold demonstrations at Tahrir Square, cradle of the revolution that toppled Mubarak, and outside Mursi's presidential palace, still ringed with tanks after earlier protests.

"Down with the constitution of the Brotherhood," the Front said in a statement. "Down with the constitution of tyranny."

A protester at the presidential palace, Mohamed Adel, 30, said: "I have been camping here for weeks and will continue to do so until the constitution that divided the nation, and for which people died, gets scrapped."

The build-up to the first round of voting saw clashes between supporters and opponents of Mursi in which eight people died. Recent demonstrations in Cairo have been more peaceful, although rival factions clashed on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt's second biggest city.

On Monday evening, more than 1,300 members of the General Prosecution staff gathered outside the office of Public Prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim to demand that he leave his post.

Hours later, Ibrahim announced he had resigned and the crowd cheered, "God is Great! Long live justice!" and "Long live the independence of the judiciary!" witnesses said.

The closeness of the first-round referendum vote and low turnout give Mursi scant comfort as he seeks to assemble support for difficult economic reforms to reduce the budget deficit.

He will hold a further round of national unity talks with political leaders on Tuesday, but the National Salvation Front is expected to stay away, as it has in the past.

OPPOSITION BOOST

The lack of a big majority in the plebiscite so far has complicated matters for Mursi, strengthening the fractious opposition and casting doubt on the credibility of the constitution, political analysts believe.

"This percentage ... will strengthen the hand of the National Salvation Front and the leaders of this Front have declared they are going to continue this fight to discredit the constitution," said Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University.

Mursi would be likely to become more unpopular with the introduction of planned austerity measures, polarizing society further, Sayyid told Reuters.

To tackle the budget deficit, the government needs to impose tax rises and cut back fuel subsidies. Uncertainty surrounding economic reform plans has already forced the postponement of a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The Egyptian pound has fallen to eight-year lows against the dollar.

Mursi and his backers say the constitution is needed to move Egypt's democratic transition forward. Opponents say the document is too Islamist and ignores the rights of women and of minorities, including Christians who make up 10 percent of the population.

Demonstrations erupted when Mursi awarded himself extra powers on November 22 and then fast-tracked the constitution through an assembly dominated by his Islamist allies and boycotted by many liberals.

The referendum has had to be held over two days because many of the judges needed to oversee polling staged a boycott in protest. In order to pass, the constitution must be approved by more than 50 percent of those voting.

(Additional reporting by Tamim Elyan and Edmund Blair; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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SMRT Alpha appointed to operate retail space at S'pore Sports Hub

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Sports Hub has appointed SMRT Alpha to lease and operate 41,000 square metres of commercial retail space at the Singapore Sports Hub.

This new joint venture is a partnership between subsidiaries of SMRT and NTUC FairPrice.

The retail mall and waterfront area will feature a variety of indoor and alfresco food and beverage outlets.

For shoppers, the mall will offer a wide range of stores and amenities.

Tenants will also include a FairPrice Xtra hypermarket at the mall, providing affordable daily essentials and groceries, as well as sportswear and sporting equipment, catering to the needs of the residents and shoppers in the area.

The Singapore Sports Hub will be opened and fully operational in April 2014.

- CNA/lp

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General Bikram Singh headed for Sri Lanka to bolster bilateral military ties

NEW DELHI: Continuing with the upward trajectory in bilateral military ties with Sri Lanka, General Bikram Singh will be leaving for Colombo on Wednesday. Apart from top political and defence officials, the Army chief will also meet Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his four-day visit. Gen Singh will also be the chief guest at the passing out parade of the Sri Lankan Military Academy at Diyatalawa on December 22, apart from visiting other military establishments.

The last visit by the Indian Army chief to the island nation was in September 2010. The Indian government is trying to strike a fine balance between larger strategic considerations, in the backdrop of China making steady inroads into Sri Lanka, and domestic political considerations because discrimination against Sri Lankan Tamils by the majority Sinhalese in the island nation continues to be a hugely emotive issue in Tamil Nadu. Earlier this year, the UPA-II government had been forced to shift 27 Sri Lankan military personnel being trained at the Tambaram airbase near Chennai to neighbouring Karnataka after political parties in Tamil Nadu had kicked up a ruckus.

Though India trains soldiers from several countries, ranging from Maldives, Mauritius and Mongolia to Botswana, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the facilities extended to Sri Lanka are much more. Around 800 to 900 Sri Lankan military personnel are trained in different Indian military establishments every year. The Indian Military Academy at Dehradun, for instance, has even run 'special courses' to train hundreds of 'gentlemen cadets'' from Sri Lanka.

India has trained thousands of Sri Lankan personnel over the last several years at its military institutions ranging from Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairengte (Mizoram) to School of Artillery at Devlali (Maharashtra), apart from providing specialised naval courses in gunnery, navigation, communication and anti-submarine warfare. Even when the Sri Lankan forces were earlier battling the LTTE, India had provided some largely defensive military equipment like L-70 guns, battle-field surveillance radars, Indra-II radars and mine-protected vehicles to Sri Lanka.

The two nations had also cooperated in intelligence sharing and undertaken 'coordinated' naval patrolling. Continuing with this diplomatic and military engagement, India and Sri Lanka in September-November last year had also held their first major naval combat exercise SLINEX-11'' in six years, with a total of 16 warships off Trincomalee. The Indian Navy, in recent times, has also done hydrographic surveys and salvage operations for Sri Lanka.

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Experts: No link between Asperger's, violence

NEW YORK (AP) — While an official has said that the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had Asperger's syndrome, experts say there is no connection between the disorder and violence.

Asperger's is a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness.

"There really is no clear association between Asperger's and violent behavior," said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Little is known about Adam Lanza, identified by police as the shooter in the Friday massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. He fatally shot his mother before going to the school and killing 20 young children, six adults and himself, authorities said.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation, said Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's.

High school classmates and others have described him as bright but painfully shy, anxious and a loner. Those kinds of symptoms are consistent with Asperger's, said psychologist Eric Butter of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who treats autism, including Asperger's, but has no knowledge of Lanza's case.

Research suggests people with autism do have a higher rate of aggressive behavior — outbursts, shoving or pushing or angry shouting — than the general population, he said.

"But we are not talking about the kind of planned and intentional type of violence we have seen at Newtown," he said in an email.

"These types of tragedies have occurred at the hands of individuals with many different types of personalities and psychological profiles," he added.

Autism is a developmental disorder that can range from mild to severe. Asperger's generally is thought of as a mild form. Both autism and Asperger's can be characterized by poor social skills, repetitive behavior or interests and problems communicating. Unlike classic autism, Asperger's does not typically involve delays in mental development or speech.

Experts say those with autism and related disorders are sometimes diagnosed with other mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"I think it's far more likely that what happened may have more to do with some other kind of mental health condition like depression or anxiety rather than Asperger's," Laugeson said.

She said those with Asperger's tend to focus on rules and be very law-abiding.

"There's something more to this," she said. "We just don't know what that is yet."

After much debate, the term Asperger's is being dropped from the diagnostic manual used by the nation's psychiatrists. In changes approved earlier this month, Asperger's will be incorporated under the umbrella term "autism spectrum disorder" for all the ranges of autism.

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AP Writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

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Online:

Asperger's information: http://1.usa.gov/3tGSp5

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Newtown Victims: 'Hero' Teacher, Principal, 20 Kids

Twenty bright first graders with their entire lives ahead of them were gunned down on Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Along with the students, the lives of six school staffers, including a devoted teacher and a proud principal, were lost. Click through to see the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Noah Pozner and his twin sister celebrated their sixth birthdays on Nov. 20. His sister, Arielle, who was in another class, survived.

Pozner's uncle Alexis Haller told The Associated Press that he was "smart as a whip," gentle but with a rambunctious streak.

Haller told the AP that Pozner called Arielle his best friend.

"They were always playing together, they loved to do things together," Haller said. When his mother, a nurse, would tell him she loved him, he would answer, "Not as much as I love you, Mom."

Funeral services Pozner are planned for Monday.

Emilie Parker, the little girl with the blond hair and bright blue eyes, would have been one of the first to comfort her classmates at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had a gunman's bullets not claimed her life, her father said.

"My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing and giving support to all the victims because that's the kind of kid she is," her father, Robbie Parker said as he fought back tears, telling the world about his "bright, creative and loving" daughter who was one of the 20 young victims in the Newtown, Conn., shooting.

"She always had something kind to say about anybody," her father said. "We find comfort reflecting on the incredible person Emilie was and how many lives she was able to touch."

Emilie was a budding artist who carried her markers and pencils everywhere. Her grandfather recently passed away and Emilie paid tribute to him by slipping a special card she had drawn into his casket, her father said.

WATCH: Emilie's father speaks about his daughter

Jack's funeral is scheduled to take place Monday.
Jack was a fan of New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, who paid tribute to the 6-year-old during Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Cruz honored Jack Sunday on his cleats, writing on them the words "Jack Pinto, My Hero."

"I also spoke to an older brother and he was distraught as well. I told him to stay strong and I was going to do whatever I can to honor him," Cruz said after the game. "He was fighting tears and could barely speak to me."
Cruz said he plans to give the gloves he wore during the game to the boy's family, and spend some time with them.

The family released a statement saying, Jack was an "inspiration to all those who knew him."

"Jack loved school, reading, wrestling, skiing and football. Most of all Jack loved to play with his friends and keep up with his big brother," said his family. "He had a wide smile that would simply light up the room and while we are all uncertain as to how we will ever cope without him, we choose to remember and celebrate his life. Not dwelling on the loss but instead on the gift that we were given and will forever cherish in our hearts forever."

Like most first graders, Jesse Lewis was excited for the holiday season. The 6-year-old, who was in Victoria Soto's class, couldn't wait to go to school on Friday because they were making gingerbread houses, and his father had planned to join them.

Victoria Soto, 27, one of the adult victims, loved being a teacher, her cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC News' Chris Cuomo Friday. In fact, her first-grade students' safety was such a high priority that Soto reportedly lost her life protecting them.

"The family was informed that she was trying to shield, get her children into a closet and protect them from harm, and by doing that put herself between the gunman and the children," Wiltsie said. "And that's when she was tragically shot and killed.

"I'm very proud to have known Vicki," Wiltsie added. "Her life dream was to be a teacher. And her instincts kicked in when she saw there was harm coming to her students.

"It brings peace to know that Vicki was doing what she loved, protecting the children," he said. "And in our eyes, she is a hero."

Grace Audrey McDonnell, 7

"We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from so many people. Our daughter Grace was the love and light of our family. Words cannot adequately express our sense of loss."

As with so many, the ABC family has been touched directly by the tragedy in Sandy Hook.

One of the young victims, Catherine Hubbard, is the niece of an ABC News employee.

Here is a statement from the family:
"We are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter, Catherine Violet and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have been affected by this tragedy.

"We appreciate the overwhelming support from our community that we have received over the past 24 hours.
"We also wish to express our gratitude for all of the emergency responders who responded to this tragic incident as well as the teachers and staff of Sandy Hook School. Our local police and fire departments and the other agencies who are working on this continuing investigation have been incredible.

"We also want to recognize outstanding work of The Connecticut State Police who have been supporting us from the very beginning of this ordeal and continue to provide unwavering support to our family.

"We have no further statement to make at this time and ask that we be afforded the opportunity to grieve with our friends and family.

"We ask that you continue to pray for us and the other families who have experienced loss in this tragedy.

"Jennifer and Matthew Hubbard"

Hochsprung became principal of Sandy Hook in recent years and by all accounts, was devoted to the students and teachers at her school.

"When we had our orientation, you could tell she loved her job," Brenda Lediski, a parent, told ABC News by phone.

Kristin Larson, a former PTA secretary, told the Boston Globe that Hochsprung was "always enthusiastic, always smiling, always game to do anything."

"When I saw her at the beginning of the school year, she was hugging everyone," Larson said.

The terrifying moment Hochsprung came into contact with the gunman were heard over the school intercom and may have saved lives.

It's not clear whether the intercom was turned on purposefully to alert the school's staff to the menace or whether the intercom was on for morning announcements.

Either way, it caught the initial moments of Adam Lanza's lethal fury and gave teachers and others life saving moments to lock their doors and try to hide their children.

Mary Sherlach, School Psychologist

Sherlach had been a school psychologist at Sandy Hook since August of 1994 and had experience working on committees devoted to school safety, according to her website.

Sherlach and her husband, Bill, had been married for 31 years and have two adult daughters.

"I truly enjoy working with the SHS staff, parents and children," she wrote. "And am always ready to assist in problem solving , intervention and prevention."

Her son-in-law, Eric Schwartz, said Sherlach felt she was "doing God's work by helping children."

Lauren Rousseau worked as a substitute teacher before landing a full time position this year at Sandy Hook Elementary School. For the 30-year-old, it was a dream job.

"We will miss her terribly," Lauren's mother, Teresa Rousseau , told the Delaware County Times. "And will take comfort knowing that she had achieved that dream."

The 6-year-old was just learning the rosary and would lead the family in grace every night before dinner, the New Haven Register reported. Her favorite colors were pink and purple. She leaves behind a 3-year-old brother.

Her family released a statement describing Olivia as "creative" and a fan of craft projects and art class. She was a patient big sister to 3-year old Brayden and would lead Grace each evening at the dinner table, according to her father, Brian.

"Olivia was smart, bubbly, and unbelievably entertaining. Her physical loss will be felt every day by those who loved her most, but her sparkly spirit will live on," the statement read.

D'Avino was a behavioral therapist who had only recently started working at Sandy Hook Elementary School, according to Lissa Lovetere, a friend who is handling her funeral planned for Friday.

D'Avino's boyfriend, Anthony Cerritelli, planned to ask her to marry him on Christmas Eve, Lovetere told The Associated Press.

Police told her family that she shielded one of the students during the rampage, Lovetere told the AP.

Jessica's parents, Rich and Krista Rekos, released a statement describing their daughter's love of horses. When she turned 10, they promised, she could have a horse of her own. For Christmas, she asked Santa for new cowgirl boots and hat.

"She devoted her free time to watching horse movies, reading horse books, drawing horses, and writing stories about horses," her family said in the statement.

The family described Jessica as "a creative, beautiful little girl who loved playing with her little brothers, Travis and Shane.

"We cannot imagine our life without her. We are mourning her loss, sharing our beautiful memories we have of her, and trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can't play with his best friend," they said.

The 6-year-old, with her beaming smile, was the daughter of a jazz musician. She sang in a home video with her brother, who was also at Sandy Hook Elementary School during the massacre.

The girl's grandmother, Elba Marquez, told The Associated Press the family moved to Connecticut just two months ago, drawn from Canada, in part, by Sandy Hook's sterling reputation. The grandmother's brother, Jorge Marquez, is mayor of a Puerto Rican town.

Charlotte's parents, Joann and Joel, had lived in Newtown for four or five years, Joann's brother John Hagen, of Nisswa, Minn., told Newsday.

"She was going to go some places in this world," Hagen told the newspaper. "This little girl could light up the room for anyone."

Daniel was the youngest of three children, his family said in a statement. The family described Daniel as "fearless in the pursuit of happiness in life."

"Words really cannot express what a special boy Daniel was. Such a light. Always smiling, unfailingly polite, incredibly affectionate, fair and so thoughtful towards others, imaginative in play, both intelligent and articulate in conversation: in all, a constant source of laughter and joy," the family said.

Josephine's father, Bob, said Sunday that the family will be releasing a statement soon.

"You couldn't think of a better child," neighbor Kevin Grimes told The Associated Press.

Grimes told the AP that he was recently speaking with Chase and the little boy was telling him about winning his first mini-triathlon.

James' mother, Cindy, is a native of Sherrill, N.Y.

"It's a terrible tragedy, and we're a tight community," Mayor William Vineall told the Utica Observer-Dispatch. "Everybody will be there for them, and our thoughts and prayers are there for them," he added.

Victims of Sandy Hook Shooting

As more information and images emerge of the victims from Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in coming days, here are the names of the other students and staffers killed:

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Caroline Previdi, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6

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Syrian vice president says neither side can win war

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa said that neither the forces of President Bashar al-Assad nor rebels seeking to overthrow him can win the war which is now being fought on the outskirts of Assad's powerbase in Damascus.

Sharaa, a Sunni Muslim in a power structure dominated by Assad's Alawite minority, has rarely been seen since the Syrian revolt erupted in March 2011 and is not part of the president's inner circle directing the fight against Sunni rebels.

But he is the most prominent figure to say in public that Assad will not win. He was speaking to the pro-Assad al-Akhbar paper in an interview from Damascus which is now hemmed in by rebel fighters to the south.

Assad's forces have used jets and artillery to try to dislodge the fighters from around Damascus but the violence has crept into the heart of the capital and rebels announced on Sunday a new offensive in the central province of Hama.

Sharaa said the situation in Syria, where more than 40,000 people have been killed, was deteriorating and a "historic settlement" was needed to end the conflict, involving regional powers and the U.N. Security Council and the formation of a national unity government "with broad powers".

"With every passing day the political and military solutions are becoming more distant. We should be in a position defending the existence of Syria. We are not in a battle for an individual or a regime," Sharaa was quoted as saying.

"The opposition cannot decisively settle the battle and what the security forces and army units are doing will not achieve a decisive settlement," he told the paper, adding that the insurgents fighting to topple Syria's leadership could plunge it into "anarchy and an unending spiral of violence".

Sources close to the Syrian government say Sharaa had pushed for dialogue with the opposition and objected to the military response to an uprising that began peacefully.

In Damascus, residents said on Monday the army had told people to evacuate the Palestinian district of Yarmouk, suggesting an all-out military offensive on the southern district was imminent.

The centre of the city, largely insulated from the violence for 21 months, is now full of army and vigilante checkpoints and shakes to the sound of regular shelling, residents say.

Queues for bread form at bakeries hours before dawn, as people seek out dwindling supplies, power cuts are increasing and fears are growing that Damascus could descend into chaos.

In a veiled criticism of the crackdown, Sharaa said there was a difference between the state's duty to provide security to its citizens, and "pursuing a security solution to the crisis."

He said even Assad could not be certain where events in Syria were leading, but that anyone who met him would hear that "this is a long struggle...and he does not hide his desire to settle matters militarily to reach a final solution."

CHANGE INEVITABLE

"We realize today that change is inevitable," Sharaa said, but "none of the peaceful or armed opposition groups with their known foreign links can call themselves the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people".

"Likewise the current leadership...cannot achieve change alone after two years of crisis without new partners who contribute to preserving (Syria's) national fabric, territorial unity and regional sovereignty".

Rebels have now brought the war to the capital, without yet delivering a fatal blow to the government. But nor has Assad found the military muscle to oust his opponents from the city.

In Paris, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of France, one of the powers most insistent that Assad has lost his legitimacy, said: "I think the end is nearing for Bashar al-Assad."

On the ground, rebels said they were launching an operation to seize the central province of Hama to try to link northern rural areas of Syria under their control to the center.

Qassem Saadeddine, a member of the newly established rebel military command, said fighters had been ordered to surround and attack checkpoints across the province. He said forces loyal to Assad had been given 48 hours to surrender or be killed.

"When we liberate the countryside of Hama province ... then we will have the area between Aleppo and Hama liberated and open for us," he told Reuters.

The city of Hama in the province of the same name has a special resonance for anti-Assad activists. In 1982 Hafez al-Assad, father of the current ruler, crushed an uprising in the city, killing up to 30,000 civilians.

In Damascus, activists said fighter jets bombed the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday, killing at least 25 people sheltering in a mosque.

The attack was part of a month-old campaign by Assad's forces to eject rebels from positions they are establishing around the capital's perimeter. Yarmouk, to the south, falls within an arc of territory running from the east of Damascus to the southwest from where rebels hope to storm the government's main redoubt.

MOSQUE HIT

Opposition activists said the deaths in Yarmouk, to which refugees have fled from fighting in nearby suburbs, resulted from a rocket fired from a warplane hitting the mosque.

Footage showed bodies and body parts scattered on the stairs of what appeared to be the mosque.

The latest battlefield accounts could not be independently verified due to tight restrictions on media access to Syria.

Syria is home to more than 500,000 Palestinian refugees, most living in Yarmouk, and both Assad's government and the rebels have enlisted and armed Palestinians as the uprising, which began as a peaceful street movement 21 months ago, has mushroomed into a civil war.

After Sunday's air raid, clashes flared between Palestinians from the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) and rebels including other Palestinian fighters and some PFLP-GC fighters were killed.

In the latest of a string of military installations to fall to the rebels, the army's infantry college north of Aleppo was captured on Saturday after five days of fighting, a rebel commander with the powerful Islamist Tawheed Brigade said.

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Samia Nakhoul and Anna Willard)

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