CERN becomes first pure physics voice in UN chorus

Lisa Grossman, physical sciences reporter

(Image: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras)

If CERN observes the proceedings of the United Nations, will it change the outcome?

The international particle physics laboratory, based near Geneva, Switzerland, has been granted observer status in the General Assembly of the United Nations, CERN officials announced today. 

The lab joins environmental groups and public health agencies as the first physical sciences research organization in the ranks of UN observers. Observer status grants the right to speak at meetings, participate in procedural votes, and sign and sponsor resolutions, but not to vote on resolutions.

In some ways, CERN's addition seems a natural move - and a long time coming.

The facility was founded in 1954 under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Its initial mission was to provide collaborative projects for researchers from Allied countries and former Axis countries after the second World War.

Arguably the lab's most high-profile project, the Large Hadron Collider, made headlines worldwide this year when it revealed detection of a new particle that appears to be the elusive Higgs boson.

"Through its projects, which bring together scientists from all over the world, CERN also promotes dialogue between nations and has become a model for international cooperation," CERN states in a press release. The lab says it may use its new status with the UN to help shore up scientific education and technological capabilities in developing countries, particularly in Africa.

But just as observing a quantum particle can change its state, can CERN's involvement truly collapse the UN's wavefunction and trigger better global science and technology policies? Only time will tell.

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NEA's new partnership to enhance S'pore's radiological operational readiness

SINGAPORE: National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) on collaboration in nuclear and radiation safety, emergency preparedness and response.

NEA's partnership with DEMA is meant to enhance Singapore's capabilities in radiological operational readiness and incident response.

The partnership will provide a platform for NEA and DEMA to share and exchange knowledge and technical expertise in several areas -- environmental radiation monitoring, risk assessment of surface contamination, and public protection policies and measures.

Staff exchange visits and attachment programmes are also included in the partnership.

Director of NEA's Centre for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Science Mr Ang Kok Kiat and chief advisor of DEMA's Nuclear Division Mr Steen Cordt Hoe signed the LOI at the sidelines of the Fukushima Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety held in Koriyama City of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.

The collaboration with DEMA was first mooted following a multi-agency delegation visit to Denmark led by NEA's chief executive officer, Mr Andrew Tan, in October 2011.

DEMA, a government agency under the Danish Ministry of Defence, is tasked with leading the Danish response to nuclear emergencies abroad for protection of the population and environment.

DEMA's nuclear emergency management capabilities include a nation-wide automatic monitoring system and forecasting of possible radioactive fallout on the basis of current weather data.

- CNA/lp

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Hundreds pack Conn. church for vigil after rampage

Updated 11:39 PM ET

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

Tragedy at the Elementary School: What Happened in Newtown, Conn. Watch Video

Newtown, Connecticut Shooting: 27 Killed, Gunman Dead Watch Video

"[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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Permian mass extinction triggered by humble microbe

AROUND 251 million years ago, over 90 per cent of the species on Earth suddenly went extinct. Their killer may not have been a devastating meteorite or a catastrophic volcanic eruption, but a humble microbe.

The prevailing theory is that the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period was triggered by volcanic eruptions over a vast area of what is now Siberia. This led, among other things, to a dramatic rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

But the scenario just doesn't fit the facts, says Daniel Rothman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From his analysis of an end-Permian sediment sample from China, Rothman says carbon levels surged much too quickly for geological processes to be at work.

Microbes can generate carbon compounds that fast, though. When Rothman's group analysed the genome of Methanosarcina - a methanogen responsible for most of Earth's biogenic methane today - they discovered that the microbe gained this ability about 231 million years ago. The date was close to that of the mass extinction, but not close enough to suggest a link.

But Methanosarcina needs large amounts of nickel to produce methane quickly. When the team went back to their sediment cores, they discovered that nickel levels spiked almost exactly 251 million years ago - probably because the Siberian lavas were rich in the metal. That suggests Methanosarcina did trigger the extinction, Rothman told the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco last week.

Other geologists remain to be convinced. "[But] it's a fascinating idea that the evolution of a new life form led to an extinction," says Anthony Barnosky of the University of California, Berkeley. Today's mass extinction of biodiversity is similar, says Barnosky, because it is largely driven by our species.

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Enough blood for injured Navy serviceman & others in need

SINGAPORE: Singapore Red Cross and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said injured Navy serviceman Jason Chee is well supported by the National Blood Programme.

In a joint statement, they assured well wishers that there is sufficient blood for his surgeries.

The statement revealed that the Singapore Red Cross has already been recalling donors who are due for donation and blood donors of O+ type to ensure sufficient stock.

SRC and HSA thanked donors who have been prompted by Mr Chee's incident to come forward to donate blood.

They clarified that directed and replacement donations -- where families and friends are obliged to donate blood for the patient or to replace blood used by the patient -- are not practised in Singapore.

The statement said blood collected at the blood banks is available to all patients who need it.

It added that voluntary and non-remunerated blood donation is key to the safety and quality of Singapore's blood supply.

It noted that because of the regular contribution of donors, there was sufficient blood for Mr Chee and others when they needed transfusions.

Mr Chee, a regular serviceman, was injured on Monday after he got caught between a motorised winch and a rope on Landing Ship Tank RSS Endeavour.

His elderly father has been shaken by the news, and has been taken care of by relatives.

Mr Chee is the family's only child and sole breadwinner.

He recently lost his mother, who was a kidney dialysis patient.

Mr Chee had been working on board the ship in the Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy patrol when he received news of his mother's worsening condition.

The Navy had flown him home to be with his mother. He was in Singapore when she died.

- CNA/xq

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22 school kids wounded in knife attack

By CNN Staff

updated 1:14 AM EST, Fri December 14, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The attack takes place at a primary school in Henan province, state media report


• Police say they have detained a 36-year-old local resident


• China was hit by a spate of knife and cleaver attacks on school children in 2010

(CNN) -- Twenty-two primary school children have been wounded in a knife attack in central China, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported Friday.

The attack took place Friday morning at the entrance to the Chenpeng Village Primary School in Henan province, Xinhua said, citing local authorities.

A local resident was also wounded in the attack, it said.

Police say they have detained a suspect, a 36-year-old village resident, the agency reported.

China was hit by a spate of knife and cleaver attacks on school children in 2010, some of them fatal.

A number of measures were introduced at the time, including increased security at schools across the country and a regulation requiring people to register with their national ID cards when buying large knives.

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Rice withdraws from secretary of state consideration

Updated: 8:45 p.m. ET

U.N. ambassador Susan Rice on Thursday officially withdrew her name from consideration to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, citing in a letter to President Obama the "lengthy, disruptive and costly" nominating process she was sure to face if tapped for the job -- a disruption she argued the nation "cannot afford."

Play Video

Analysis: Why did Rice withdraw?

Rice, who was considered a top contender for the position, has been recently embroiled in ongoing controversy surrounding her account of the September 11 Libya attacks, which she discussed in a series of talk show appearances on September 16. In her letter to the president today, Rice said she was "saddened" that the position had become so politicized, but argued Congress has more important battles to fight.

"I am highly honored to be considered by you for appointment as Secretary of State. I'm fully confident that I could serve our country ably and effectively in that role," she wrote. "However, if nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly - to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities. That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country. It is far more important that we devote precious legislative hours and energy to enacting your core goals, including comprehensive immigration reform, balanced deficit reduction, job creation, and maintaining a robust national defense and effective U.S. global leadership. Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time."

In a statement, President Obama acknowledged that he had "accepted" Rice's decision to remove her name from consideration, and expressed "every confidence" in her ability to "serve our country now and in the years to come."

On Thursday evening, Rice tweeted: "Those of you who know me know that I'm a fighter, but not at the cost of what's right for our country. I don't do this work for me. I do it because I believe in President Obama's approach to the world, and I want to get things done. To all my followers: I appreciate you. We've still got a lot of work to do for the American people and the world. #Letsgo."

But the president, who fiercely defended Rice against the recent criticism, expressed deep regret over the attacks, which he called "unfair and misleading."

"Her decision demonstrates the strength of her character, and an admirable commitment to rise above the politics of the moment to put our national interests first," Mr. Obama said in the statement. "The American people can be proud to have a public servant of her caliber and character representing our country."

Diplomats at the U.N. were shocked at the withdrawal announcement, particularly because she appeared to be assured of the president's support, reports CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk. Even her adversaries among the diplomatic corps at the U.N. had expressed their respect for her advocacy of U.S. interests.

Nevertheless, Rice had begun to express doubts about her nomination, as recently as this week at a holiday celebration in her apartment in New York, which select members of the diplomatic and press corps attended, saying the attacks had reached a fevered pitch, Falk reports.

Play Video

Rice: Libya attacks spontaneous

On September 16, five days after the attacks in Benghazi that caused the death U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, Rice appeared on a handful of Sunday morning political talk shows to discuss the incident. Rice's comments on those shows were guided by CIA talking points that, according to a U.S. intelligence official, "were written, upon request, so members of Congress and senior officials could say something preliminary and unclassified about the attacks," and reflected the possibility that the attacks were a result of spontaneous protests spurred by an anti-Muslim video.

As details trickled out contradicting that possibility, Republicans pounced on the discrepancies between Rice's comments and others, and the ambassador ultimately clarified that there had been "no protest or demonstration in Benghazi" and that "the intelligence assessment [had] evolved" since her Sept. 16 comments.

A spokesperson for the Director of National Intelligence told CBS News that "the intelligence community assessed from the very beginning that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack," and that Rice would have been privy to that characterization -- which was shared at a classified level -- since she's a member of the president's cabinet. But CBS also learned that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) cut specific references to "al Qaeda" and "terrorism" from the unclassified talking points given to Ambassador Susan Rice ahead of her television appearances.

Play Video

Susan Rice fails to satisfy GOP senators' questions

A handful of Republican lawmakers -- chiefly Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. -- seized on the controversy, targeting Rice's credibility as a potential secretary of state in a series of recent press conferences and threatening to block her nomination. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also questioned Rice's leadership, and offered up Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as her preferable candidate for the job.

Following Rice's announcement on Thursday, Graham released a statement saying he "respected" her decision, and that "President Obama has many talented people to choose from to serve as our next Secretary of State." He said he remained "determined" to find out "what happened - before, during, and after the attack" in Libya.

A brief statement from McCain spokesperson Brian Rogers reflected a similar sentiment: "Senator McCain thanks Ambassador Rice for her service to the country and wishes her well. He will continue to seek all the facts surrounding the attack on our consulate in Benghazi that killed four brave Americans," he said.

"Face the Nation" anchor Bob Schieffer reports key Senate Republicans quietly passed the word to Vice President Biden last week that it was going to be all but impossible for her to be confirmed.

Biden was told there was virtually no support for Rice among Republicans and that some Democrats were also beginning to question whether she was the best choice.

Additionally, Schieffer reports Rice seemed to be wavering recently about whether she really wanted the job.

"I have two children," she told Schieffer. "I would want to talk to them. It would be a family decision."

With regard to the scrutiny of her financial investments, Payton Knopf, Deputy Spokesperson of the U.S. Mission to the U.N. told CBS News, "Ambassador Rice has complied with annual financial disclosure and applicable ethics requirements related to her service in the U.S. government and is committed to continuing to meet these obligations."

Rice's withdrawal will make it easier for Secretary of State Clinton, who is due to testify about the Benghazi episode next week on Capitol Hill, but Senator Graham said Rice's withdrawal is not the end of the controversy. Graham told me tonight the administration "is still inexplicably stonewalling and we still want answers."

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What Is a Right-to-Work Law?

This week Michigan became the 24th state in the country to adopt a right-to-work law. The passage of the bill by the state legislature, and eventual signing by Rick Snyder, the state's Republican governor, brought a huge wave of protests in a state with deep union roots.

Right-to-work laws have garnered a lot of national attention in recent years as more states have implemented this legislation that prohibits unions from requiring workers to pay dues as a condition of their employment. The laws are meant to regulate agreements between employers and labor unions that would prohibit the employer from hiring non-union workers.

The laws are particularly divisive--proponents argue that businesses will be more likely to set up shop in the state, while opponents argue that weakening union power will lead to lower wages. Because each state has a variety of factors that must be considered individually when assessing its overall economic standing, it's difficult to fully assess the validity of each side's argument, since you can't isolate the direct effect of these laws on the state's economy.

However, a study conducted in 2007 by Lonnie Stevans of Hofstra University suggested that both sides of the argument are, to some degree, accurate.

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"Findings are that the number of businesses and self-employed are greater on average in right-to-work states, but employment, wages, and per-capita personal income are all lower on average in right-to-work states," Stevans wrote.

But he noted that there was little "trickle down" from the business owners to the workers--the laws benefitted the business owners who did not have to contend with union contracts, but business employees didn't get those same positive effects--as evidenced by the lower salaries on average.

An analysis by ABC News of the most recent seasonally adjusted unemployment rates in states with right-to-work laws vs. those without such laws found that on average, the unemployment rate in states with right to work laws was slightly lower than those without. The average unemployment rate in the 24 states with right-to-work laws was 7 percent, while the average rate in the 26 states plus D.C. that do not have right-to-work laws was just under 7.6 percent--a difference of just under .6 percent.

The state with the lowest unemployment rate in the country--Nebraska at just 3.8 percent unemployment--has such a law in place, as does the state with the highest unemployment rate, Nevada at 11.5 percent.

Support for the laws has often tended to fall along party lines, with Democrats opposing and Republicans supporting. The vast majority of states with right-to-work laws are Republican led, the majority of states without are led by Democrats.

Below is the list of the 24 states with right-to-work laws.

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Louisiana

Michigan

Mississippi

Nebraska

Nevada

North Carolina

North Dakota

Oklahoma

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Virginia

Wyoming

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Robot apps get a cash boost

APPS aren't just for your smartphone. The one-year-old Robot-App Store got a cash boost this week in the form of $250,000 from the first company dedicated to investing in consumer robotics.

Dmitry Grishin, founder of Grishin Robotics, already spent $250,000 on a telepresent robotics company called Double Robotics in September, and plans to invest a total of $25 million in the field.

Grishin says software like the apps on offer at the Robot-App Store is the key to creating a vibrant market in household robots. "Once you find a cool app, it will help to sell robots." He compares robots to computers. "A good application, like a spreadsheet, helped to sell PCs and to grow the PC market."

One app from the Robot-App Store makes the NAO robot (pictured) whistle and say "Hello, gorgeous" whenever it detects a face. Another allows you to steer the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner using your keyboard.

No killer app yet perhaps, but Grishin says that will come with the establishment of a "robot ecosystem", in which more developers create apps for a growing pool of consumers, who are in turn encouraged by the number of apps to choose from.

The world of robot software is certainly maturing. The open source Robot Operating System celebrated its fifth birthday in November.

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Fare increases needed to improve service to commuters, says Lui Tuck Yew

SINGAPORE: Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew has said fare increases are needed to improve service to commuters while keeping public transport operations commercially viable.

In a Facebook post, Mr Lui said fare increases are not to boost the short-term profits of Public Transport Operators (PTOs) or improve the salaries of bus drivers.

He said that's why the government must work with the PTOs to ensure that when granted any fare increase, they would re-invest part of this revenue to improve the public transport system to benefit commuters.

This can be in hardware, like more buses and trains and upgrading the signalling systems.

It can also be in software, like better terms and salaries for staff. This includes bus drivers and train operators, as well as the maintenance and service personnel.

Mr Lui said as fares increase, the government will have to play a larger role to keep the public transport system affordable.

He said there must be a concerted and sustained effort to upgrade the bus driving profession.

Employment terms and conditions must also be improved further to recruit new drivers and retain existing ones in order to ramp up bus capacity over the next few years.

On who pays for the increased costs, Mr Lui said there must be a proper balance among commuters in fares, or taxpayers in government subsidies, or the PTOs.

He said the government is fully committed to an affordable public transport system for the middle-income groups, the lower-income groups, the disabled community, and other vulnerable groups.

He said the bottom line is this. It is a matter of all the stakeholders - the PTOs, the government, and commuters - coming together to ensure everyone enjoys a reliable, high-quality and affordable public transport system.

- CNA/de

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Japan scrambles fighter jets over disputed islands

By Yoko Wakatsuki and Alex Zolbert, CNN

updated 3:28 AM EST, Thu December 13, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• A Japanese Coast Guard vessel spots the Chinese plane near the islands


• Japan says it sent four F-15 jets and another aircraft to the area


• This is the first time the island dispute has involved aircraft

Tokyo (CNN) -- Japan scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese plane was seen Thursday near small islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by both countries.

This is the first time the dispute over the islands, which Japan calls Senkaku and China refers to as Diaoyu, has involved aircraft.

Chinese government ships have repeatedly entered the waters around the remote, rocky islands since the Japanese government announced in September it was buying several of the islands from private owners.

Japanese Coast Guard vessels have engaged in games of cat and mouse with the Chinese ships, with both sides broadcasting messages to one another insisting they have territorial sovereignty over the area.

On Thursday morning, a Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessel spotted the Chinese government plane in airspace around the islands, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said.

Japanese Self Defense Force sent four F-15 jets and another aircraft to the area, Fujimura said, describing the Chinese plane's entry into the area as "extremely regrettable." Japan has lodged a protest with the Chinese government through diplomatic channels, he said.

The Japanese government's acquisition of the islands in September also set off several days of violent anti-Japanese protests across China and soured economic ties between the two Asian nations.

There was no immediate reaction from China about the incident.

Part of complete coverage on

Asia's disputed islands

Although claims of occupation and administration stretch back centuries, all of the disputes exist, to some extent, as legacies of imperial Japan's expansion through East Asia.

CNN looks at the main flashpoints as tension simmers between rival countries over a series of scattered and relatively barren islands.

updated 3:54 AM EST, Thu November 15, 2012

China uses perceived provocations as a chance to change the status-quo in its favor, writes Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt.

updated 10:33 AM EST, Wed November 28, 2012

Southeast Asia's top diplomat has warned that the South China Sea disputes risk becoming "Asia's Palestine"-- a violent conflict that destabilises the whole region.

updated 6:45 AM EDT, Thu September 20, 2012

The temptation of patriotic blustering is hard for either side to resist, but both countries have a lot to lose, writes Jeffrey Kingston.

updated 4:41 AM EDT, Tue September 18, 2012

The current wave of anti-Japanese protests sweeping China can be traced back to April and the firebrand governor of Tokyo.

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L.A. campus lockdown ends, suspect still at large

LOS ANGELES Students at Cal State Fullerton who barricaded themselves inside classrooms and dorm rooms Wednesday were given the all clear early Thursday by campus officials.

They were told Wednesday afternoon to prepare to stay put into the night as police searched for one of two suspects who was still on the loose after a jewelry store-pawn shop robbery-shooting.

The other suspect was believed to have fled to somewhere in the city of Fullerton, according to CBS Los Angeles station KCBS-TV.

Another suspect was caught after a high-speed pursuit that spanned three counties and ended on a baseball field where Los Angeles' police chief was giving away toys, and two other suspects were apprehended shortly after the robbery, police said.

Fullerton police told KCBS the search of the campus failed to find the suspect.

The search was centered on three buildings along Nutwood Avenue on the southeast edge of the campus, said Chris Bugbee, the school's director of public relations. Students were alerted via text message at about 4 p.m. and told to stay where they were with doors locked.

Police believed at least one suspect fled into Mihaylo Hall at the university's College of Business, where some occupants were evacuated.

SWAT officers were clearing Mihaylo Hall room by room, which was expected to take several hours.

At least one person fired a handgun while attempting to rob the combination pawn shop and jewelry store in Moreno Valley just after 3 p.m., according to Riverside County sheriff's Cpl. Angel Ramos. One person was shot, and the victim's condition was unknown.

Five suspects fled the robbery in a gray Lexus and were stopped by police in Fullerton when the Lexus rear-ended a vehicle near the school. Two people were detained soon after the crash. Three others ran off.

"They ran right at me, I decided to get out of their way, I did not know if they were armed or not," said student Shaun Kintaudi, who was on his way to take a test. "I decided it was best to run away from them and let the cops do their job."

The suspects were considered armed and dangerous, said Fullerton police spokesman Jeff Stuart.

All students were safe the entire time, school officials said. Some students posted photos to Twitter and Facebook of their locked-down classrooms and dorm rooms with doors barricaded as they waited inside, watching the news on their laptops.

Two student news anchors stuck in their campus television studio were posting video reports at the school newspaper's website as they got updates via text messages.

They said they had been rehearsing for just such an event.

"About a week ago we were doing live shots, and now we are actually doing live shots with a tragic situation," journalism major Cara Seo said in a video.

All evening classes and activities were canceled Wednesday. The campus is in its final week of classes before final exams.

One of the suspects who fled after the crash near campus carjacked a silver sedan and drove onto westbound state Route 91, speeding erratically through rush hour traffic until exiting onto surface streets nearly 30 miles away in Los Angeles County. The victim of the carjacking was not hurt, Stuart said.

The suspect crashed the car, sprinted through a lawn and hopped a fence near a housing project in Watts. He surrendered to dozens of officers on a baseball diamond at a recreation center where Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck was giving away toys to hundreds of young children.

"He picked the wrong rec center to run into today," said LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith.

"All of a sudden, we were there with the little kids and saw the bad guy jump over the fence being chased by an army of county sheriff's across the baseball field," Smith told KCBS.

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N. Korean Missile Hits Target of Alarming the World

North Korea's successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile hit its target: it bolstered the standing of its young tyrant Kim Jong Un and raised the specter of being able to eventually strike the U.S. with a nuclear weapon.

The pride in the success of the launch -- after several failures -- is a huge boost for Kim Jong Un, 29, who took power one year ago. He has been trying to cement his authority and win the hearts of the people with soft social and economic reforms, like allowing women to wear pants or more small businesses to operate based on profit.

But the rocket launch was on a different scale. A North Korean female announcer in a pink and dark grey national costume excitedly read an announcement of the missile's success and national TV aired interviews with people jumping and cheering on the news.

There had been reservations within and outside of North Korea when Kim Jong Un took power after his father's death on Dec. 17 last year as to whether the young Kim could lead a nuclear state. Looking determined at his first official appearance earlier this year, he had pledged to fulfill the legacy of his father Kim Jong Il to become a "self-sufficient strong nation" with space rocket technology.

The missile is believed to have a range of 6,212 miles, enough distance to reach the west coast of the United States. Its existence, along with a small North Korean nuclear arsenal, is an alarming possibility for many.

PHOTOS: An Inside Look At North Korea

North Korea, however, says it was simply putting a satellite in orbit.

"Picking on our launch (and not others) accusing that ours is a long-range missile and a provocative act causing instability comes from seeing us from a hostile point of view," said North Korea's foreign ministry in an official statement. "We do not want this to be overblown into something that none of us intended to be and hope all related nations act with reason and calmness."

But North Korean denials carry little credibility.

This evidence that North Korea has mastered the long-range missile technology does not mean there will be an imminent nuclear threat.

"They haven't figured out how to weaponize a nuclear (bomb) that will fit in a missile, nor do they have accurate guidance at long ranges," said Stephen Ganyard, ABC News consultant and former deputy assistant secretary of state.

Another crucial technology North Korea is yet to achieve is a proper heat shielding required to protect the warhead while re-entering the earth's atmosphere.

"This is a big leap for Pyongyang. They have been a threat with potential capability. But now a new era begins as a threat with possible capability," said Hwee-Rhak Park, professor of political leadership at Kookmin University in Seoul.

There was obvious alarm, however, as the international community condemned the launch, as North Korea is banned from developing nuclear and missile-related technology under U.N. resolutions.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak convened an emergency national security meeting. Japan's envoy to the United Nations called for consultations on the launch within the U.N. Security Council. Russian Foreign Ministry said it "has caused us deep regret," and even China "expressed regret," a significant notch up in condemnation from previous statements on North Korea, its traditional ally.

That international attention, analysts in Seoul say, is exactly what North Korea wanted.

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Workers' Party ready to offer voters a choice again

SINGAPORE: The Workers' Party (WP), which contested the 2011 general election in the Punggol East Single Member Constituency (SMC), said it is ready to offer voters a choice again in a by-election.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the WP said it has noted the announcement that the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Michael Palmer, has resigned from the People's Action Party and, by virtue of Article 46 of the Constitution, Mr Palmer's Parliamentary seat for Punggol East SMC has become vacant.

It added, that for the residents of Punggol East to be properly represented, the Workers' Party urges the Prime Minister to call a by-election in the constituency as soon as possible.

The WP statement came shortly after Mr Michael Palmer, the Speaker of Singapore Parliament and MP for Punggol East SMC, resigned over a "grave mistake" of having an improper relationship with a staff member of the People's Association.

- CNA/ck/sf

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Sudan: Israeli 'spy vulture' nabbed

By Nick Thompson and Nima Elbagir, CNN

updated 2:13 PM EST, Tue December 11, 2012

Sudan: Israel using 'spy vultures'

Sudan: Israel using 'spy vultures'

Sudan: Israel using 'spy vultures'

Sudan: Israel using 'spy vultures'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Sudan: Israeli vulture with GPS-equipped camera caught by officials in western Sudan


• Israeli scientists say a number of vultures tagged with GPS to study migration routes


• Expert: GPS tracking of this sort used in hundreds of studies around the world


• Griffon vultures are an endangered species in the Middle East, Hatzofe says

(CNN) -- A vulture captured by Sudanese authorities is actually an Israeli spy on a secret reconnaissance mission, a pro-government newspaper in the east African nation has claimed.

Government sources say the vulture, found in western Sudan, was tagged with a GPS-equipped camera to take and send pictures back to Israel, according to a December 8 story in the Alintibaha newspaper.

The bird also wore an ankle label reading "Hebrew University Jerusalem," "Israel Nature Service" and the contact details of an Israeli avian ecologist.

The ecologist, Ohad Hatzofe of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, has rejected the Sudanese government claims -- saying the vulture, which can fly up to 600 kilometers in a single day, was tagged with GPS equipment to study its migration pattern.

"The Sudanese accusations are untrue," Hatzofe told CNN. "The GPS gear on these vultures can only tell us where the birds are, nothing else."

He said: "This is ordinary equipment that is used around the world to detect movement of wildlife. There are hundreds of studies using this technology on everything from butterflies and sea turtles to sharks and whales."

Hatzofe also cast doubt on the practicality of using vultures as secret agents: "I'm not an intelligence expert, but what would be learned from putting a camera onto a vulture? You cannot control it. It's not a drone that you can send where you want. What would be the benefit of watching a vulture eat the insides of a dead camel?"

The Griffon vulture is an endangered species in the Middle East, according to Hebrew University Jerusalem professor Ran Nathan. His students, Roi Harel and Orr Spiegel, tagged more than 100 vultures -- 25 of them with GPS trackers -- as part of a project to observe the behavior and movement of younger vultures.

Hatzofe says the data from the tagged GPS vultures isn't transmitted solely back to Israel, but to the animal-tracking website Movebank, where other scientists can analyze the data.

The Israeli scientists first knew something was amiss in early December, when the GPS system (pictured above) indicated the vulture was on the ground and was moving along a road in western Sudan.

The Griffon vulture is not a migratory bird, but it isn't uncommon for them to make their way into northern Africa, according to Hatzofe, who says the vulture's wing tag included a message asking anyone who found the bird to contact him or the university.

"My email address is on the vulture," he told CNN, "but I never got a message."

The Israeli government declined to comment on this story, and repeated calls to Sudanese officials went unanswered.

Hatzofe says that the real danger of claiming that GPS-tagged birds are spies is that it could prompt government officials to kill animals they capture.

"There is nothing new about birds tagged for studies, and if governments will not reject these types of rumors, then others will grab their weapons and hunt down wildlife -- the exact opposite of what conservationists want."

CNN's Dominique van Heerden contributed to this report.

Part of complete coverage on

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She grew up in one of the poorest spots on earth. She couldn't read, but still became the first titled female Ugandan chess player star.

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The U.S. National Intelligence Council predicts China's ascent as the world's top. That is, unless several "Black Swan" events skew their predictions.

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Fancy yourself as a bit of a news nerd: Do you know who parachuted from a helicopter into the Olympic stadium? Test yourself!

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As 2012 marches toward a close, we look back at the icons we've lost this year. Look through the photos to remind yourself of the legends.

For many people, Christmas is the most exciting time of the year. We want to see your best, most spectacular images of Christmas where you live.

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Motive unclear in Oregon mall shooting that left three dead

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

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

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

Play Video

Cell phone video: Ore. mall evacuated after shooting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Gunman 'Tentatively' Identified in Oregon Shooting

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

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

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

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

PHOTOS: Oregon Mall Shooting

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

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

Christopher Onstott/Pamplen Media Group/Portland Tribune

911 Calls From New Jersey Supermarket Shooting Watch Video

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

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

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

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

READ: Guns in America: A Statistical Look

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

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

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

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

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

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Japan researchers invent solar-cell fabric

TOKYO: Clothes that could literally light up your life were unveiled Tuesday by Japanese researchers who said their solar-cell fabric would eventually let wearers harvest energy on the go.

The new fabric is made of wafer-thin solar cells woven together that could see people powering up their mobile phones and other electronics with their sweater or trousers.

But its creators conceded there was work to do before taking the fabric to market.

"We still have things to solve before commercialisation, such as coating for the conductive wires and improving the fabric's durability," said an official at the Industrial Technology Center in central Japan's Fukui Prefecture.

"But we've already been contacted by electronics makers, blind makers and others who showed interested in our invention."

The centre developed the fabric with a Kyoto-based solar cell maker and other private firms, the official said.

Solar power generation is attracting renewed attention in Japan as the country looks to alternative energy sources in the aftermath of last year's tsunami-sparked atomic crisis, the worst nuclear accident in a generation.

-AFP/fl

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Mouned, but inspiring

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

Singer Jenni Rivera

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Sen. Marco Rubio calls Rivera "a real American success story"


• Not only for her music but for her strong, resilient attitude when faced with adversity


• Jenni Rivera was also a woman of many firsts and a businesswoman


• Made breaking into the male-dominated music genre look easy with her perseverance

(CNN) -- Jenni Rivera is being mourned as the Diva of Banda, after the musical superstar died Sunday in a plane crash in Mexico.

She built a recording and performing career, several businesses and a devoted following -- and her life was as full of the ups and the downs as any of the characters she sang about.

She was born 43 years ago in Long Beach, California, to Mexican parents Rosa and Pedro Rivera who named her Jenny Dolores Rivera Saavedra.

In an interview with CNN en Español in 2010, Rivera spoke about how she once sold cans for scrap metal and hawked music records at her family's stand at a Los Angeles flea market.

When she was just 15 and a high school student she became a mother herself, giving birth to her first child, Janney "Chiquis" Marin Rivera in 1985. She then had two more children -- Jacqueline Marín Rivera and Michael Marín Rivera -- with her then-husband, José Trinidad Marín.

Rivera spoke about how Marín physically abused her because while she wanted to attend college, he wanted her to quit school and be at home "cooking and cleaning." She said she grew up with four brothers so she knew how to fight back.

They divorced in 1992 when Rivera found out Marín molested their daughter, Janney, and Rivera's younger sister, Rosie. Marín was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Divorced and on welfare with three children, Rivera worked in real estate and took a second job at her father's record label, Cintas Acuario, which led to her passion and career in Regional/Banda/Norteño music.

Singer Jenni Rivera dies in plane crash

HIDE CAPTION

Since the release of her groundbreaking debut album "La Chacalosa" in 1995, Rivera has released more than 12 hit albums, all reaching Platinum and Gold status in the U.S. and Mexico. Her heart-wrenching ballads often center on infidelity, social issues and relationships. One of her independent albums was "Farewell to Selena," a tribute album to slain singer Selena that helped expand her following.

Rivera married Juan López in 1997 and had two children with him: Jenicka and Johnny López Rivera. They divorced in 2003, and he then died in 2009. Then in 2010, Rivera married baseball player Esteban Loaiza but they filed for divorce earlier this year.

Perhaps it was her personal struggles that made Rivera known not only for her music but for her strong, resilient attitude when faced with adversity.

"In Mexico, she represented a lot of ladies that can't talk about their feelings," Jose "Pepe" Garza, Rivera's godfather and friend of the family, told CNN en Espanol. "The public feels represented by Jenni Rivera, and by the lyrics of her songs."

Garza is very well-known within the banda and norteña music genres and has worked with other big artists in the regional Latin music. He also gave Rivera her big break.

Rivera was also a woman of many firsts. She became the first artist to sell-out two back-to-back nights at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California, in 2010. And she was the first female Banda artist to sell-out a concert at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, California.

The business mogul also started companies including: Divina Realty, Divina Cosmetics, Jenni Rivera Fragrance, Jenni Jeans, Divine Music and The Jenni Rivera Love Foundation. Rivera made her film debut at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival with the indie family drama Filly Brown, set to be in theaters in January 2013.

Her fan base was only expected to grow with a show in development with ABC, confirmed a source with knowledge of the deal to CNN Entertainment.

A multi-camera family comedy, according to Deadline, was expected to star Rivera as a strong, middle-class, single Latina woman working to raise a family, struggling to run a family business and manage her extended family -- all while fighting the cultural perception that she needed a man to do it all.

"It is very flattering when they tell me I'm a great artist and performer," said Rivera in a 2010 interview with CNN en Espanol. "But I am a businesswoman, I'm primarily business-minded."

Breaking into a male-dominated music genre was not easy, but Rivera made it look that way with her endless perseverance.

"I think she just did it with her pantelones, and you need a big personality to do it. She's been through so much," said Damarys Ocana, executive editor of Latina magazine, in an interview with CNN, "She's been a victim, but never thought of herself as a victim."

CORRECTION
An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the singer commemorated by Jenni Rivera's 2003 album "Farewell to Selena." The album was a tribute to Tejano star Selena Quintanilla.

The drama that surrounded Rivera's life received just as much attention as her successful, career but that never stopped her from being a "mama bear to her five kids," said Ocana. Family always came first for Rivera.

Flashback: Jenni Rivera reflects on her success

In May 2011, Latina magazine put both Jenni and Janney Rivera on their cover, the first time the magazine put two people on the cover.

"We put both of them on the cover because they were the stars of 'I Love Jenni' and the show was doing incredibly well on Mun2," said Ocana.

Rivera also spent part of her life volunteering at the Love Foundation, an organization that promotes programs to support immigrants, children with cancer, women victims of violence, reports CNN Mexico.

In 2010, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence named Rivera as their spokesperson.

Photos: Singer Jenni Rivera

Speaking on the U.S. Senate floor Monday afternoon, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida described Rivera as "a real American success story."

"She was a singer in a genre of music that's largely dominated by males, and she brought a powerful voice to that genre where she sang frankly about her struggles to give her children a better life in this country," he said.

Universal Music Group also released a statement, saying: "The entire Universal Music Group family is deeply saddened by the sudden loss of our dear friend Jenni Rivera. The world rarely sees someone who has had such a profound impact on so many. From her incredibly versatile talent to the way she embraced her fans around the world, Jenni was simply incomparable. Her talent will be missed; but her gift of music will be with us always."

Also believed aboard the plane were her publicist, Arturo Rivera, her lawyer, makeup artist, Jacob Yebale, and the flight crew.

"It's hard to accept. It's painful. I cry," said Rivera's brother Gustavo Rivera in an interview with CNN en Espanol, "But the support from the fans is consoling to us."

She told CNN in 2010 that she wouldn't let scandals or personal tragedy stop her.

"Staying defeated, crying and suffering was not an option," she said. "I had to get off my feet, dust myself off and press on. That's what I want to teach my daughters."

In an interview with the Immigrant Archive Project she said:

"If I had the opportunity to speak to a young immigrant girl that just arrived to the U.S. the advice I would have for her would be: ask, speak, search; because there are opportunities out there. And, know that you aren't the only immigrant or the last to come to this country. Many that have come before you have succeeded. It is possible."

Jenni Rivera is survived by her parents, Rosa and Pedro, three other siblings: Pedro Jr., Gustavo and Rosie; and her five children: Janney, Jacqueline, Michael, Jenicka and Johnny.

Journalist Jaqueline Hurtado, Catherine Shoichet and Rafael Romo contributed to this report.

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HSBC settles U.S. money laundering case for $1.9B

WASHINGTON HSBC, the British banking giant, said Tuesday it will pay $1.9 billion to settle a money-laundering probe by federal and state authorities in the United States.

The probe of the bank, Europe's largest by market value, has focused on the transfer of billions of dollars on behalf of nations like Iran, which are under international sanctions, and the transfer of money through the U.S. financial system from Mexican drug cartels.

Stuart Gulliver, Group Chief Executive of HSBC, released a statement Tuesday saying: "We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again."

A U.S. law enforcement official said Monday that HSBC will pay $1.25 billion in forfeiture and pay $655 million in civil penalties. The $1.25 billion figure is the largest forfeiture ever in a case involving a bank. Under what is known as a deferred prosecution agreement, the financial institution will be accused of violating the Bank Secrecy Act and the Trading With the Enemy Act.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the source was not authorized to speak about the matter on the record.

Under the deferred prosecution arrangement, HSBC will admit to certain misconduct, the official said, but the details of those admissions to be made in a New York court were not immediately available late Monday. Nevertheless, the deferred prosecution agreement means the bank won't be prosecuted further if it meets certain conditions, such as strengthening its internal controls to prevent money laundering. The Justice Department has used such arrangements often in cases involving large corporations, notably in settlements of foreign bribery charges.

In regard to HSBC and Mexico, a U.S. Senate investigative committee reported that in 2007 and 2008 HSBC Mexico sent to the United States about $7 billion in cash. The committee report said that large an amount of cash indicated illegal drug proceeds.

Money laundering by banks has become a priority target for U.S. law enforcement.

In another case Monday, a British bank, Standard Chartered, which was accused of scheming with the Iranian government to launder billions of dollars, signed an agreement with New York regulators to settle their investigation with a $340 million payment.

Since 2009, Credit Suisse, Barclays and Lloyds all paid settlements related to allegations that they moved money for people or companies that were on the U.S. sanctions list.

Last summer, the Senate investigation concluded that HSBC's lax controls exposed it to money laundering and terrorist financing.

HSBC bank affiliates also skirted U.S. government bans against financial transactions with Iran and other countries, according to the report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. And HSBC's U.S. division provided money and banking services to some banks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh thought to have helped fund al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, the report said.

The report also blamed U.S. regulators: It said they knew the bank had a poor system to detect problems but failed to take action.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the committee chairman, cited instances in which HSBC had promised to fix deficiencies after being sanctioned by regulators but failed to carry through.

Levin also said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S. agency that oversees the biggest banks, tolerated HSBC's weak controls against money laundering for years and that agency examiners who had raised concerns were overruled by their superiors.

In his statement Tuesday, HSBC's Gulliver said: "The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organization from the one that made those mistakes. Over the last two years, under new senior leadership, we have been taking concrete steps to put right what went wrong and to participate actively with government authorities in bringing to light and addressing these matters."

HSBC announced Monday that Robert Werner, a former head of the Treasury Department agencies responsible for sanctions against terrorist financing and money laundering, is taking a new position within HSBC as head of group financial crime compliance and group money-laundering reporting officer. Werner has been head of global standards assurance since August.

In January, HSBC hired Stuart Levey, a former Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, as its chief legal officer. And a former policy adviser in the Obama administration, Preeta Bansal, in October became HSBC's global general counsel for litigation and regulatory affairs.

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SEAL Killed in Rescue Mission Identified

The Pentagon has identified Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas Checque as the Navy SEAL who died of injuries sustained in the successful rescue of an American doctor from the Taliban over the weekend.

Checque, who hailed from Monroeville, Pa., died of "combat related injuries," according to a Pentagon release. Though the release only said Checque was assigned to "an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit," ABC News previously reported the fallen servicemember was a part of the Navy's elite SEAL Team 6, the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden.

Checque, 28, sustained his mortal injuries while on a nighttime mission Saturday to free Dr. Dilip Joseph, an American doctor who worked for an non-governmental organization based in Kabul. Joseph was kidnapped by the Taliban earlier this month and American officials believed he was in imminent danger.

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Joseph's family released a statement thanking the U.S. government and military for the operation and offering their condolences to Checque's family.

"We could not be more grateful for that soldier's heroism and for the bravery of all involved in the mission to bring Dilip home," the statement said.

Before Checque was identified publicly, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday he was "deeply saddened" to learn one of the servicemen had died.

"The special operators who conducted this raid knew they were putting their lives on the line to free a fellow American from the enemy's grip. They put the safety of another American ahead of their own, as so many of our brave warriors do every day and every night. In this fallen hero, and all of our special operators, Americans see the highest ideals of citizenship, sacrifice and service upheld. The torch of freedom burns brighter because of them," Panetta said.

President Obama also praised the Special Operations force for their bravery.

"Yesterday, our special operators in Afghanistan rescued an American citizen in a mission that was characteristic of the extraordinary courage, skill and patriotism that our troops show every day," he said Sunday.

Read More..