News uncoloured

Virginia Tech mom: Ignore gun lobby

Labels: World

Newtown funerals: A community says goodbye

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Lori Haas: The magnitude of the Newtown shooting shocked me

Haas: It reminds me of when my daughter was injured in the Virginia Tech shooting

She says our elected leaders have abandoned all sense of right and wrong

Haas: How many victims would be alive today if leaders took their responsibilities to heart?

Editor's note: Lori Haas lives in Richmond, Virginia. After her daughter Emily was shot and injured at the Virginia Tech massacre, she became involved in gun violence prevention efforts, working for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

(CNN) -- Sitting in front of the TV on Friday, I watched in horror as the death toll climbed with each news report coming in on the mass shooting in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. The magnitude of the shooting shocked me.

It also took me back to five years ago, when I received a phone call on a blustery April morning that changed my life forever. I was out shopping, and my cell phone had rung several times, but I had chosen to ignore the calls. Luckily, I answered the third call, which came in at 10:38 a.m. My daughter Emily, then a sophomore at Virginia Tech, was on the phone. She said, "Mommy, I've been shot."

Clutching the phone, my knees buckling, I tried to make sense of what I was hearing. Emily quickly handed the phone to the EMT who had triaged her and was waiting with her for an ambulance. The EMT assured me that Emily was going to be fine, that there were very seriously wounded students that needed to be transported immediately and she was waiting with Emily for the next ambulance. She also shared that the situation on campus was "very bad."

Lori Haas

The world soon knew how bad it was. The incident at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, remains the worst mass shooting in U.S. history in terms of casualties. Thirty-two students and school staff were killed that morning by a dangerously mentally ill student with guns, including high-capacity magazines. The killer should have been prevented from purchasing firearms, but when he purchased his weapons, his mental health records were not in the FBI database against which background checks are run. He used 30-round magazines, which had been outlawed up until 2004, when Congress let the Assault Weapons Ban expire.

We were one of the lucky families -- our daughter survived, when so many others did not. Eleven of the 17 students in her classroom were killed, along with her professor. A classmate dialed 911 when they first heard the shooter, but dropped his cell phone when almost immediately, the killer burst into the classroom and began spraying bullets at everyone. Emily reached over and picked up the phone and kept the dispatcher on the phone during the entire ordeal by hiding the phone. Law enforcement repeatedly told me how brave Emily was to keep them on the line.

Law enforcement has also told me that the single most effective thing we can do to prevent gun violence would be to require all purchasers for all gun sales to undergo a background check. Then-Gov. Tim Kaine appointed a panel of experts to investigate all aspects of the massacre and report back their recommendations. Recommendation VI-2 stated, "Virginia should require background checks for all firearms sales." Sadly, that hasn't happened, and gun deaths now outpace motor vehicle deaths in my state.

America has witnessed mass shooting tragedies grow in frequency in the last five years to the point that, according to one report, there have been 16 mass shootings between February 22, 2012, and December 14, 2012, leaving over 80 dead and many injured. I can't help but ache with sorrow, anguish and concern for all those families suffering the sheer agony that I saw the families of the 32 killed at Virginia Tech suffer.

And I can't help but be angered at the cowardly behavior from our elected leaders. They have abandoned all sense of right and wrong, despite epidemic deaths from guns, and ignored their duty not only to keep our communities safe from gun violence, but to keep our children safe as well.

When I think of those killed -- over 60,000 Americans have been murdered with guns since the shooting at Virginia Tech -- I have to wonder how many might be alive today if our elected leaders had taken to heart their responsibilities.

Why is it that our elected leaders have not only ignored the pleas of survivors and family members of victims of gun violence, but those of our public safety officials -- police and law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line day in and day out -- only to listen to the gun lobby when determining public safety policy? What sense can that make when the gun lobby's sole purpose is to sell as many firearms as possible to make as much money as possible?

We have come to a time when many say the unimaginable has happened again -- the mass shooting in the Newtown school where 26 people were killed, including 20 children. It is sheer senselessness. My heart goes out with the utmost compassion to the families suffering so terribly from Friday's massacre.

For those whose loved ones have been killed, there is no real closure; there are permanent holes in their hearts. Time may lend a helping hand to healing, but their lives have been changed irrevocably. As my friend Lynnette, whose son was murdered in the Virginia Tech shooting, laments, "There is no ending to the heartache." I am brought to tears thinking of all we have seen, all we have not done and all we have let die.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Lori Haas.

Quake risk at Japan atomic recycling plant: experts

Labels: Technology

TOKYO: Japan's only reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel could sit on an active seismic fault vulnerable to a massive earthquake, experts warned Wednesday.

If regulators agree they will have to order its closure and Japan would be without any recycling capacity of its own, a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

This would leave it dependent on other countries and with no way to deal with waste from the Fukushima plant crippled by last year's earthquake and tsunami.

Yasutaka Ikeda, assistant professor of geomorphology at Tokyo University, said a nearly 100-kilometre (60-mile) fault runs under the Rokkasho reprocessing plant in northern Japan.

"Even though experts' opinions are divided on whether this fault is active or not, I think the possibility of it being an active fault is extremely high, given the evidence," Ikeda told AFP.

"This fault could cause an 8-magnitude earthquake, so any nuclear-related facilities in the region are in danger," he said, referring to the Shimokita Peninsula where the Rokkasho plant is located.

Mitsuhisa Watanabe, professor of geomorphology at Tokyo University, separately told Wednesday's Tokyo Shimbun that part of an active fault runs directly under the Rokkasho plant, warning it is likely to move when the bigger fault moves.

Active faults are those that, amongst other things, have moved within the past 120,000-130,000 years. Under government guidelines atomic installations cannot be sited on a fault if it is still classified as active.

The comment came days after government-appointed experts found that a nuclear power plant in the same region may sit atop an active seismic fault.

A panel appointed by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said Friday fractures in the earth beneath the Higashidori plant's compound on the peninsula may be active faults, meaning it would likely have to be scrapped.

An unfinished nuclear fuel storage facility is also on the peninsula, in addition to the recycling plant and the Higashidori power plant. It is also home to another part-built atomic power plant

A NRA official told AFP Wednesday the nuclear watchdog "may have to consider whether to conduct additional research at Rokkasho, but for the time being we will watch that being carried out by the plant operator."

Operator Japan Nuclear Fuel said last month it would conduct more research on the fault, but a spokesman said the purpose is to back up its claim that the seismic fault is not active.

Resource-poor Japan has poured billions of dollars into a nuclear fuel recycling programme, in which uranium and plutonium are extracted from spent fuel for reuse in nuclear power plants.

All but two of Japan's nuclear reactors remain offline after being shuttered for regular safety checks after the meltdowns at Fukushima. They must get the go-ahead from the newly-formed NRA before they can be restarted.

The only working reactors are at Oi in the west, but experts including Watanabe are investigating whether the fault that runs underneath it is active.

Hundreds of thousands were made homeless by the Fukushima accident, and tracts of prime land were left unfarmable after radiation spread across a large area.

Anti-nuclear sentiment has run high in Japan, which used to rely on atomic power for around a third of its electricity needs. However, it did not translate into votes for anti-nuclear parties in the weekend election.

- AFP

Report details final minutes for ambassador, 3 others

Labels: Lifestyle

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in September of this year

He was the first U.S. ambassador murdered since 1988

Along with Stevens, three other Americans were killed

(CNN) -- They were hiding in a place security officers called a "safe area." It was anything but.

Outside an angry crowd grew, gunfire rang out and a fire blazed.

Thick smoke blinded the three trapped men. The intruders banged on the fortified safety gate of the bunker-like villa.

A security officer handed his cell phone to Ambassador Chris Stevens. Prepare for the mob to blast open the locks of the safety gate, the officer said.

Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya

HIDE CAPTION

It was a little before 10 at night on September 11, 2012. And time was running out for Stevens.

Vivid new details of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, were released Tuesday night by a federal committee trying to come to grips with the violence that led to the first murder of a U.S. ambassador since 1988 and the deaths of three other Americans.

The report spoke of grossly inadequate security, an issue that Stevens had complained about well before September 11.

Inquiry cites 'failures' at State Department

The brief phone call

Instead of blasting their way into the villa, the crowd retreated for some reason. But the fire still blazed.

Stevens used the cell phone to try to alert others about the attack.

Struggling to see, choked by smoke, he dialed.

He may have wanted to tell embassy officials in Tripoli that he and the small security detail at that 13-acre compound were in big trouble.

They were outmanned, outgunned. The militants had doused a large area with diesel fuel and started a hideous fire.

He may have wanted to say that he was trapped in a building they called Villa C with a security officer, and Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith.

They had to flee to the villa after intruders stormed the walled-in consulate compound armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

But in that 9:50 p.m. phone call, Stevens could only tell the U.S. deputy chief of the mission in Tripoli that they were under attack.

The call promptly dropped.

Warning signs

Though fierce and sudden, the attack may not have been surprising for some.

U.S. diplomats who worked in Libya, a country struggling to form a government after overthrowing longtime dictator Moammar Ghadafi, had repeatedly asked for more security.

American officials, for the most part, were well-received in Libya, where many locals were grateful for the help the United States provided in overthrowing Ghadafi.

But danger remained.

There were still many Ghadafi loyalists, there was easy access to guns and the new fledgling government was having a difficult time maintaining security.

On June 1, a car bomb exploded outside a hotel in Tripoli where Stevens was staying.

The same month, Stevens had to move with his security team from the hotel because of a "credible' threat.

On June 6, a roadside bomb exploded near the U.S. compound in Benghazi, hurting no one but blasting a large hole in a wall of the compound.

The threats continued for U.S. officials and diplomats from other countries -- but security staffing remained unchanged.

The ambassador is missing

But now, there was no time to fret about woeful security.

Black smoke was filling up the safe area.

Stevens, Smith and the security officer crawled to a bathroom, hoping to open a window.

The security officer placed towels under the bathroom door and flung open the panes.

It made things worse.

The open window pulled more smoke into the bathroom, making breathing impossible.

Despite the explosions outside, they would have to flee the safe area, the officer thought. The smoke had choked out the lights. They were in total darkness.

The officer left the bathroom, crawled through a hallway, banging on the floor and yelling that the ambassador and Smith follow him.

He slipped though another window and collapsed in an enclosed patio area.

And then he noticed it.

Stevens and Smith were not there.

The officer slipped back through the window several times, even though the intruders were still shooting at him.

The smoke and heat was unbearable. He could not find either man.

He used a ladder to climb to the roof of the villa and radioed for help.

He had been in the smoky room for so long he could hardly speak. It took some time for the officers on the other end of the line to understand what he was saying.

He did not have Smith, he said. And the ambassador is missing.

The battle at the Annex

Three other security officers had barricaded themselves in another building when the siege began.

Once the first wave of attackers seemed to retreat, the officers got out of their "defensive" positions and drove an armored car to the villa. They found their colleague on the roof, vomiting, about to pass out.

The three officers crawled through the smoke inside.

They found Smith. They dragged his body out. But they were too late.

A team, from a nearby U.S. facility called the Annex, arrived and helped search for Stevens. They could not find him.

Concerned that the large crowd of militants was about to overtake the entire compound, they decided to flee back to the Annex without Stevens.

Men in the crowd began shooting, the bullets almost piercing the armored vehicle and blowing out two of its tires.

They drove on. At least two vehicles followed them.

They made it to the Annex, preparing for another fight. It was about 11:30 at night.

Just before midnight, bullets began hitting the Annex. This started a gun battle that lasted for an hour.

Hours later, another wave of attacks hit the facility with mortars, killing security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

Finding Stevens

Hours passed and no one knew where Stevens was.

About 2 a.m., the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli received a phone call.

It was from the cell phone of the security officer who had given his phone to Stevens.

The man on the line spoke Arabic, telling embassy officials that Stevens had been taken to a hospital in Benghazi.

Officials could not determine what hospital Stevens was taken to.

Some wondered if the phone call was a trick from militants who wanted to lure U.S. officers to their death.

A Libyan official was sent to Benghazi Medical Center. He said Stevens was there.

Hospital staff said six civilians brought Stevens to the emergency room about 1:15 a.m.

Even though the ambassador showed no signs of life, doctors worked to revive him for 45 minutes.

It was too late.

This narrative account was pieced together from a report released Tuesday night by the Accountability Review Board, an independent panel selected by the State Department.

Obama tapping Biden for gun violence policy review

Labels: Health

President Obama will announce Wednesday that he's naming Vice President Biden to lead an inter-agency process to formulate policies designed to lower the likelihood of any future Newtown-like tragedies, White House officials tell CBS News.

The White House aides say Mr. Obama won't announce significant new policies on gun control or other Newtown-related issues. Instead, he will discuss an administration process to look at all issues related to the elementary school massacre, the officials say.

After a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Friday, the president declared that changes must be made, but was initially vague on what sorts of changes, especially to gun laws, he would seek, other than to say he would talk with mental health professionals and lawmakers about how to move forward.

On Tuesday, a day after Mr. Obama met with Biden and members of his Cabinet about guns and violence, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney provided more details about the sort of gun control legislation Mr. Obama could back.

Carney said the president would consider measures limiting high-volume ammunition and closing the "gun show loophole" - a provision that allows people to circumvent background checks by purchasing a gun from an unlicensed seller at gun shows, online and via other venues.

The president also backs a ban on assault weapons, Carney said. Mr. Obama's advisers insist he has long been behind such a ban, even though the president did not push the issue after previous mass shootings in Tucson, Ariz., and Aurora, Colo.

But Carney insisted that legislation alone won't solve the problem of gun violence. "It is a simply a fact that legislation that addresses access to certain types of weapons or magazines or how we perform background checks, while they have merit and the president supports the ones that I've mentioned, would not alone address this problem," he said.

Since the Newtown carnage, sentiment on Capitol Hill and in polls appears to have shifted toward tighter gun control laws. The nation's most influential gun rights group, the National Rifle Association, initially went mum after the Newtown shooting, but now promises "meaningful contributions" aimed at avoiding another Newtown.

Guns in Circulation Is Biggest Obstacle, Expert Says

Labels: Business

Editor's Note: This post is part of a larger series by ABC News examining the complex legal, political and social issues in the gun control debate. The series is part of ABC's special coverage of the search for solutions in the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

The Second Amendment of the Constitution reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Despite that seemingly clear statement that Americans have the right to buy and own guns, legal experts say it does not preclude the government from enacting measures to regulate the manufacturing and distributing of firearms.

"The biggest misconception is the idea that the Second Amendment imposes serious hurdles to gun control," says Adam Winkler, law professor at UCLA and author of "Gun Fight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America."

"The Supreme Court has made it crystal clear that there is plenty of room for effective gun control laws," he said. "The right of people to have guns and gun control are not mutually exclusive."

Legislation introduced which proports to control gun violence has historically focused on regulating high-capacity ammunition clips and certain types of semi-automatic firearms. Polling shows that these types of regulations are generally popular, and therefore proposals to ban the sale of these types of weapons and weapon accessories makes political sense.

Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

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But legislation to control sales of weapons don't address the biggest hurdle to effective gun control -- the guns that are already in circulation.

"The biggest problem for gun control today is a number: 300 million," Winkler said. "That's roughly the number of guns there are in civilian hands today. Any new law you pass confronts the reality of 300 million guns already in circulation."

Federal and state government hands are tied when it comes to regulating these already circulated firearms, he said.

"You can outlaw assault rifles for instance, say that anyone who has one, it's illegal, you have to turn it in," Winkler said. "You could do that, but they won't be turned in. It's not that you can't outlaw them, it's just that practically speaking you can't get rid of them."

Additionally, the politically popular avenue of banning the manufacturing and sale of certain types of semi-automatic weapons is inherently flawed.

For a gun to be classified as a semi-automatic, it must be designed to automatically reload a bullet after the shooter pulls the trigger. Virtually every civilian-owned gun is a type of semi-automatic gun, which means banning all semi-automatic guns would likely be read by the courts as a violation of the Second Amendment, and therefore any ban on these weapons would be limited in scope.

Automatic firearms -- those in which a shooter pulls the trigger once and the gun fires multiple rounds of bullets -- are tightly regulated and have been since the 1930s.

While regulation of certain types of semi-automatics, such as assault weapons, has broad public support, broader legislative actions are not. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., found that 71 percent of Americans oppose banning the sale of handguns to everyone except law enforcement officials.

"The court's reading of the Second Amendment is completely in sync with the American public's views on firearms," said Randy Barnett, professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University. "That is, you're allowed to have firearms, you're allowed to have them in the home for self-defense. ... Americans are willing to consider reasonable regulations of that, and courts are also willing to consider that."

Honor the victims -- with action

Labels: World

President Obama addresses Newtown

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

David Gergen says we should take a cue from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

He says U.S. must deal with its culture of guns and find real solutions

Gun owners should be licensed, and assault weapons should be banned, he says

He says we will be held morally accountable for what we do -- or fail to do

Editor's note: David Gergen is a senior political analyst for CNN and has been an adviser to four presidents. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Follow him on Twitter.

(CNN) -- Yet again we are struggling to bear the unbearable. How can we find meaning in the massacre of so many innocent children, savagely cut down in a hail of bullets?

Abraham Lincoln is much on our minds these days and, fortunately, there is much his life teaches us about giving meaning to human horror. Eleven months from now, we will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of his journey to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he consecrated a national cemetery in honor of the thousands slaughtered in the Civil War battle there.

In the most eloquent address in American history, Lincoln told us, "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to (their) great unfinished work." In their honor, he concluded, "we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom."

David Gergen

These were not idle words; he devoted himself to action. In the final months of his life, as the new film on Lincoln shows, he threw himself into the enactment of the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery in the entire nation. After his death, the nation continued to act as he had asked, passing the 14th Amendment and quickening its progress toward realizing the dream of the Declaration: that all are created equal.

The shootings in Connecticut are not Gettysburg, but surely the long, unending string of killings that we have endured must do more than touch our hearts. As Lincoln saw, we must find meaning in the madness of life -- and we do that by honoring the dead through action.

The moment to act is now upon us, not to be lost as we rush headlong into the holiday season and more twists and turns ahead. We are better than that.

There is a common thread running through most of the mass killings we have seen in recent years: A deranged gunman gets his hands on a gun, usually a semi-automatic, and rapidly cuts down innocents before anyone can stop him.

Clearly, we must find better answers for the mentally unstable. We have the ability to recognize the characteristics of those more likely to commit such acts of violence, and we must do more to provide long-term treatment.

But just as clearly, we need to change our culture of guns. There is something terribly wrong in a nation that has some 300 million guns floating around, easily accessible to the mentally ill. Of the 62 mass shootings in the U.S. over the past three decades, more than three-quarters of the guns used were obtained legally.

Unless we act to change our laws as well as our culture, we will all be enablers when the next loner strikes. The blood will be on our hands, too.

Experts can come up with precise policy prescriptions that will allow us to maintain the constitutional freedoms of the 2nd Amendment while also changing our gun culture. Contrary to what the National Rifle Association says, it is very possible to do both. What is needed immediately is a conversation determining what principles we want to establish -- and then action to realize them. From my perspective, there should be at least three basic principles:

FIRST: To own a gun, you must first have a license -- and it shouldn't be easy to get. The right parallel is to cars: Everyone over a prescribed age is entitled to drive. But cars are dangerous, so we first require a license -- determining that you are fit to drive. Citizens have a right to bear arms, but guns are dangerous, too. So, get a license.

There are a number of issues with our current system of state-based permits. First, variation in gun regulations from state to state deeply complicates enforcement efforts. Arizona, for instance, allows concealed carry without any permit, while its neighbor California has implemented the strongest gun laws in the country. We must design a sensible federal gun control policy to address the current legal chaos.

As we construct a federal licensing system, we should look to California. The state requires all gun sales to be processed through a licensed dealer, mandating background checks and a ten-day waiting period; bans most assault weapons and all large-capacity magazines; closes the nonsensical gun-show loophole; and maintains a permanent record of all sales.

SECOND: If you are a civilian, you can't buy an assault gun. Hunters don't need military style weapons, nor do homeowners who want to be able to protect their families. They are far too popular among people who shouldn't have access to guns in the first place.

We should restore the federal ban that has expired.

THIRD: Parents should be heavily advised to keep guns out of their houses and out of the hands of kids. No one wants to blame the poor mother of the Connecticut shooter, but everyone wonders why she kept so many military-style guns in the house, so accessible to her son. It's hard to believe, but roughly a third of households with children younger than 18 contain at least one gun. In too many neighborhoods in America -- not just in big cities -- parents who don't allow guns in their homes are apprehensive, even frightened, by their kids playing at homes where they are kept.

Some years ago, no one thought that we could change our tobacco culture. We did. No one thought that we could reduce drunk driving by teenagers. We did -- thanks in large part to Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Years from now, no one will note what we say after this latest massacre. But they will hold us morally accountable for what we do. To honor all of those who have been slain in recent years -- starting with the first-graders in Connecticut -- we should highly resolve to change our culture of guns.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Gergen.

Thai woman's bid to bring in 3.4kg of Ice foiled

Labels: Technology

SINGAPORE: A 27-year-old Thai woman's bid to bring in approximately 3.4 kilograms (kg) of Ice was foiled by authorities on Monday.

The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) successfully halted the attempt at the Changi Airport terminal 3 arrival hall.

The estimated street value of the drugs found is about S$850,000.

The 27-year-old had arrived on a flight from New Delhi and was to transit to another flight in Singapore when she was stopped by officers for a more detailed check.

Her backpack was screened via the x-ray machine and anomalies were detected.

The officers also noticed her backpack was unusually heavy.

A big packet of crystalline substances, believed to be Ice, was discovered in a false compartment of the backpack.

She was immediately put under arrest and is being investigated for drug-trafficking.

If convicted, she may face the death penalty.

- CNA/lp

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Labels: Lifestyle

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NBC's Engel free after abduction in Syria

Labels: Health

Updated at 5:26 a.m. Eastern

LONDON NBC News said Tuesday morning that veteran foreign correspondent Richard Engel, two of his colleagues and their security guard were free after five days of captivity at the hands of unidentified assailants in Syria.

NBC said in a statement that Engel, who went missing along with his crew on Thursday, was "freed from captors in Syria after a firefight at a checkpoint on Monday, five days after they were taken prisoner." The network did not identify the others who had been abducted with Engel.

"We are pleased to report they are safely out of the country," NBC added.

It remained unclear exactly who abducted Engel and the rest of his team. NBC said only that the captors "were not believed to be loyal to the Assad regime."

According to NBC, two of the captors were killed in the shootout at the checkpoint manned by a Syrian rebel group, the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, an Islamic Salafist group which operates across Syria, but has its strongest presence in the northern city of Idlib.

Several Western journalists have been detained by the increasingly isolated regime of President Bashar Assad, which has virtually banned independent reporting inside Syria. The journalists held by the regime have generally been set free in a matter of days. Others have been abducted and held briefly by armed militant groups fighting against Assad. The myriad rebel militias in Syria have vastly varying

One American journalist, freelance writer Austin Tice, remains missing after disappearing in mid-August. His parents visited Beirut, Lebanon in November, seeking information about their son, but said they still had not learned who was holding him or what condition he was in.

The U.S. government has said Assad's regime is likely holding the 31-year-old former Marine, who had been reporting on Syria's civil war for The Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers and others.

Engel, NBC's chief foreign correspondent, has extensive history reporting on and living in the Middle East. He was reporting on the war from inside Syria when he was captured. His work has won him numerous awards, including five News & Documentary Emmys.

According to NBC, Engel speaks and reads fluent Arabic and can comfortably transition between several Arabic dialects spoken across the Arab world.

Siblings of Sandy Hook Victims Face Survivor's Guilt

Labels: Business

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

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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.

News uncoloured

Category

Archive

Virginia Tech mom: Ignore gun lobby

Quake risk at Japan atomic recycling plant: experts

Report details final minutes for ambassador, 3 others

Obama tapping Biden for gun violence policy review

Guns in Circulation Is Biggest Obstacle, Expert Says

Honor the victims -- with action

Thai woman's bid to bring in 3.4kg of Ice foiled

Watch Dallas Mavericks try to sing

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