Six In The Morning

On Sunday

Heroic Sandy Hook staff saved many lives as the killer struck
School employees praised as stories emerge of how they shielded their pupils

EMILY DUGAN SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER 2012
When Adam Lanza stormed into Victoria Soto's first-grade classroom, he was armed with semi-automatic weapons with which he had already killed 20 small children. She had only her courage, and her instinct to protect her class. Ms Soto, 27, faced the killer, and saved her children. Accounts of what happened differ. One, posted on Tumblr by a friend, says that she had bundled the class into a large closet, and told the gunman that they had gone to the gym. Another says she was found huddled over the children. Either way, Lanza shot her, and then turned the gun on himself. Her cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC News: "I'm just proud that Vicki had the instincts to protect her kids from harm. It brings peace to know that Vicki was doing what she loved, protecting the children, and in our eyes she's a hero."

EGYPT Egypt ends first round of constitutional referendum
Voting has ended in Egypt's referendum on its new constitution, and attacks on opposition party buildings have been reported as officials began counting votes. The vote continues next week in other parts of the country.

EGYPT
The first round of voting on Egypt's constitutional referendum wrapped up late on Saturday after the closing time of polling stations was extended by four hours. Voter turnout was reportedly high. The opposition has argued that, if ratified, the constitution would undermine human rights in the country, particularly regarding women and religious minorities. "Adoption of [a] divisive draft constitution that violates universal values and freedoms is a sure way to institutionalize instability and turmoil," the opposition politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei wrote on Twitter.

Ivory sales must stop or Africa's elephants could soon be extinct, says Jane Goodall
The conservationist accuses China of fuelling poaching, as tusks are smuggled out in diplomatic bags

John Vidal The Observer, Sunday 16 December 2012
Jane Goodall, one of the world's greatest conservationists, has made an impassioned plea for a worldwide ban on the sale of ivory to prevent the extinction of the African elephant. Her call follows the seizure in Malaysia last week of 24 tonnes of illegal ivory and a report by conservationists warning that the illegal ivory trade now threatens governments as rebel groups use the sale of tusks to fund their wars.

Anxious Japan tipped to swing back to the right


December 16, 2012 Justin McCurry
THREE years after it was kicked out of office in an election that was supposed to herald a new direction for the country, Japan's biggest conservative party is on the cusp of a return to power. The Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed for much of the postwar era, is expected to win Sunday's election comfortably, led by a man whose first term as prime minister ended five years ago. The likely winner, Shinzo Abe, has been helped by widespread dissatisfaction with the present Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, whose Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide in 2009 by promising to take power out of the hands of bureaucrats, divert money from wasteful public works to families and welfare, and pursue a more independent foreign policy after decades of dependence on the US.

What are the health risks of space travel?
16 December 2012 Last updated at 00:44 GMT

By Philippa Roxby Health reporter, BBC News
Astronauts are limited to spending six months on the International Space Station, around 200 miles above Earth, for a good reason. The loss of bone and muscle mass they experience in space is so profound that they cannot stay any longer. But what about the health impact of forthcoming suborbital flights for space tourists who are not fit, highly-trained individuals? According to North American scientists writing in the British Medical Journal article, GPs should be prepared to answer patients' queries about their suitability for space travel in the near future. Yet there will be few GPs experienced enough in space medicine to provide advice.

An Afghan Mystery: Why Are Large Shipments of Gold Leaving the Country?


By MATTHEW ROSENBERG
KABUL, Afghanistan — Packed into hand luggage and tucked into jacket pockets, roughly hewed bars of gold are being flown out of Kabul with increasing regularity, confounding Afghan and American officials who fear money launderers have found a new way to spirit funds from the country. Most of the gold is being carried on commercial flights destined for Dubai, according to airport security reports and officials. The amounts carried by single couriers are often heavy enough that passengers flying from Kabul to the Persian Gulf emirate would be well advised to heed warnings about the danger of bags falling from overhead compartments. One courier, for instance, carried nearly 60 pounds of gold bars, each about the size of an iPhone, aboard an early morning flight in mid-October, according to an airport security report. The load was worth more than $1.5 million.