18 Children Killed in Grade School Shooting in Connecticut – NYTimes.com.

ברוך דיין האמת

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( Words are worthless here.  My heart is with the families… MY GOD, MY GOD ! )

Shannon Hicks/The Newtown Bee

State police led children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., after a shooting was reported there.

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

Eighteen children were killed on Friday morning in a shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., about 65 miles northeast of New York City, according to a person who had been briefed on the shooting. Another law enforcement official said preliminary reports suggested there could be as many as 20 fatalities, ranking it among the worst mass killings in United States history.

One state official said that an adult gunman was believed to be dead in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The gunman was in possession of at least two firearms, the official said. There was some speculation that there were two gunmen involved in the mass shooting.

A 9-year-old boy who is a student at the school said he was in the gym when the shooting erupted.

“We were in the gym, and I heard really loud bangs,’’ said the boy, as he stood shivering and weeping outside the school with his father’s draped around him. “We thought that someone was knocking something over. And we heard yelling and we heard gunshots. We heard lots of gunshots. We heard someone say, ‘Put your hands up.’ I heard, ‘Ddon’t shoot.’ We had to go into the closet in the gym. Then someone came and told us to run down the hallway. There were police at every door, there were lots of people crying and screaming.’’

Another student at the school told an NBC affiliate in Connecticut: “I was in the gym and I heard like seven loud booms, and the gym teachers told us to go in the corner and we huddled. We all heard these booming noises, and we started crying. So the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us. Then a police officer told us to run outside.”

State police said the Newtown police called them shortly after 9:30 a.m., according to Lieutenant J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police. “On and offduty troopers responded to the school and with Newtown police immediately upon arrival entered the school and began an active shooter search,’’ Lieutenant Vance said.

Meredith Artley, the managing editor of CNN.com, has a friend who works at the school. “She volunteers with the school as well,” Ms. Artley said on CNN.

The woman was in close vicinity to the shooting, which happened in the hallway, according to Ms. Artley. “She described it as a ‘Pop, pop, pop,’” Ms. Artley added. “She said three people went out into the hall and only one person came back, the vice principal, she said, who was shot in the leg or the foot, who came crawling back. She cowered under the table and called 911. She never saw the shooting. There must have been a hundred rounds.”

President Obama was briefed on the shooting at 10:30 a.m., the White House said.

Danbury Hospital said it was treating three patients from the shooting scene, according to its Facebook page. The hospital, which is not far from the elementary school, said it was on lockdown.

At Danbury hospital, stunned-looking personnel in white coats looked shaken as they gathered in small groups talking about the shooting. In a corner near the gift shop, one woman comforted a weeping colleague.

In the coffee shop, a few customers finished their sandwiches at the lunch counter and the cashier wiped tears from her eyes as she rang up customers.

In a mostly empty fifth floor waiting room, three women watched local coverage of the tragedy, shaking their heads at each new horrifying detail.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy arrived at the scene of the shooting on Friday afternoon.

The school, located among wooded hills and suburban tracts in Fairfield County, 12 miles east of Danbury, serves kindergarten through fourth grade. The school has about 700 students.

“It’s just a liittle country school,’’ said Robert Place, 65, as he stood near the scene. “The look is very 50s or 60s. One floor. It’s always had a good reputation. People come to Newtown for the schools.’’

The school’s principal, Dawn Hochsprung, was reportedly one of those shot. But at the home of her daughter Cristina Hassinger, in Oakville, Conn., the family was still awaiting any news of her fate.

“We’re looking for any hope,” said Ryan Hassinger, the son-in-law of the principal. “If she’s in the hospital, any chance is better.”

He said that his wife, Cristina, 28, and “her sister are there now,” with Connecticut State Troopers, and that he and other relatives were awaiting word on any news.

“I looked on Twitter and it says that she is passed,” said Mr. Hassinger. But, he added, the family was, “just waiting.”

A photograph published by a local newspaper, The Newtown Bee, showed a line of children being escorted out of the school with some of the children crying.

Next door to the school in front of a senior center, a 20-year-old woman was with her 4-year-old sister who was in the school at the time of the shooting. The older woman cam to pick up her younger sister along with their mother. The four-year-old girl had her arms and legs wrapped around her older sister.

When a reporter asked the 20-year-old woman what the little girl knew of what had happened, the woman said, “Absolutely nothing, and we don’t plan to tell her anything.”

IDF officer: Gaza border the quietest in 20 years – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Senior IDF officer tells Reuters Hamas took major blow during Operation Pillar of Defense; says army won’t keep to surgical strikes in next round

Reuters

Israel’s offensive on Gaza has deterred Hamas from new hostilities despite its claims of victory and the front is now at its quietest in 20 years, a senior Israeli military officer said.

Vastly lopsided shelling exchanges over eight days killed 170 Palestinians and 6 Israelis before the November 21 truce brokered by Egypt.

Hamas, which for the first time managed to fire rockets towards Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during the conflict, says it won in the absence of an Israeli ground invasion that might have toppled its Gaza administration.

The officer said Hamas should be allowed to save face after failing to inflict more pain on the Jewish state.

“Their jubilation was not from victory, it was from their relief at being able to emerge from shelters,” said the officer, who could not be identified by name under military regulations.

“They took a major blow and they have to patch up their honor,” he said.

There have been scattered confrontations since, with Israeli troops killing two Palestinians who neared the border fence.

The officer said such incidents were rare and lacked the backing of Hamas and other armed Palestinian factions, which he said were now “thoroughly daunted” by Israel and trying to shore up the calm or at least avoid breaching it.

“A quiet like we had over the past month hasn’t happened in 20 years,” the officer said.

Harsher than next

The officer would not be drawn on how long the calm might hold but threatened heavier bombing in any future offensive.

Though Israel killed the Hamas military chief, Ahmed al-Jaabari, in a November 14 air strike, the officer said several other commanders had been spared because non-combatants were nearby.

During the fighting, Israeli officials accused terrorists of sheltering in Gaza’s Shifa hospital and other civilian sites.

In the next round, the officer, said, “I won’t fire on Shifa. But I won’t be able to keep to sterile strikes like I did in this round. I intend to kill the brigade commanders and battalion commanders wherever they are.”

Gaza hospitals said at least half of the Palestinian dead in the offensive were civilians. Israel put the number of slain combatants at 120, around two-thirds of the toll.

Iran negotiator pessimistic on p… JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

IAEA reports progress in Iran nuclear talks – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Deputy director of UN atomic agency says talks to be held on January 16 expected to lead to deal on investigation into Tehran’s nuclear program

Reuters

Talks between the UN atomic agency and Iran are expected to lead to a deal next month on how to conduct an investigation into Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, the chief UN inspector said after returning from Tehran on Friday.

“We were able to make progress,” Herman Nackaerts, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters at Vienna airport after Thursday’s discussions in Tehran.

More talks are due with Iran on Jan. 16.

“We expect to finalize the structured approach and start implementing it then shortly after that,” he said, referring to a framework agreement that would allow the IAEA to resume its long-stalled investigation into suspected atomic bomb research in Iran.

“We had good meetings,” Nackaerts added.

The comments were in line with those made by Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, to Iranian media after the one-day meeting in Tehran. Iranian media also said a new meeting would take place in the capital on Jan. 16.

Nevertheless, Iran’s state TV says there’s no agreement with the UN nuclear watchdog agency on visiting the Parchin military base.

The IAEA suspects Iran tested explosives that could be used in nuclear weapons there. Iran denies that and says the evidence was “forged.”

Iran, one of the world’s largest oil producers, denies Western allegations it is seeking to develop the means and technologies needed to assemble nuclear weapons.

Its economy is struggling with the burden of increasingly tough Western sanctions.

AP contributed to this report

The Difference Between Iran and Syria for President Obama – Jeffrey Goldberg – The Atlantic.

Dec 13 2012, 10:20 AM ET 145

From a Goldblog reader:

I saw you on Meet the Press on Sunday, where you were very harsh about the Obama Administration’s policy on Syria. You definitely seem to think they haven’t done enough (I agree) to stop Assad from doing what he’s doing. On the other hand, I remember you saying over and over that you think Obama will deal with Iran’s nuclear issue, including the use of force if necessary. Doesn’t Syria show you that he’s going to appease Iran?

Well, no. What Syria shows me is that Obama isn’t doing enough in Syria. The president is seized by the issue of Iran because it is developing, he believes, a nuclear capacity. He knows, for reasons readers of Goldblog understand already, what a nuclear Iran would mean for the Middle East, for America’s allies in the Middle East, and for his campaign against nuclear proliferation. He takes Iran more seriously as a threat to American national security interests than he does Syria. One issue doesn’t necessarily inform the other. I, of course, think that earlier, bolder intervention in the Syrian conflict (more support earlier for the rebels, for instance) would not have only been wise from a humanitarian perspective; America has an Iran-related national security interest in breaking apart the Iran-Syria axis. But the Administration did not move in this direction. So be it. But I still don’t know why inaction on Syria would axiomatically translate into inaction on Iran.

Here’s an alternative explanation for Obama’s hesitancy in Syria — perhaps he understands that he may eventually have to strike Iran, and he doesn’t want the U.S. entangled unncessarily in Syria. I’ve always suspected that one of the reasons he was so eager to depart Iraq, and is so eager to leave Afghanistan, is that he believes Iran to be the paramount issue, and so wanted to clear the decks. Better not to have America burdened and exposed in these places if he’s going to make a move against the Iranian nuclear program.